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| Possum Kingdom Lake |
So
much for the race schedule I wrote down a month ago, I’m already having
to cut back on that ambitious road map to Cactus Rose 100 Mile,
starting with my race at the Possum Kingdom 55K Trail Ultra, held at
Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas. I signed up for the 52 Miler at Possum
Kingdom over a month before the race, hoping my ITB would be healed
enough to make a go of it, but after having my ITB give up on me again
23 miles into Hells Hills 50K 3 weeks before PK...who was I kidding;
apparently myself, as I still held out hope there was still a small
chance I could complete the 52 Mile race at PK. The original plan was
to run the first two loops of the 52 miler, if my legs were still
holding together by the end of it I would have gone on to complete the
final third loop, if not I was going to end my race at the second loop
and claim a 55K finish. However, just one small problem, the Race
Director informed me I couldn’t decide to drop to the 55K mid race (I
should have read the race documents), I had to decide before the race
started...within 15 minutes of hearing the news I dropped to the 55K option.
While
the feedback I was getting from my ITB was promising in the few long
training runs I did between Hells Hills and Possum Kingdom, my
confidence in it holding together over 52 challenging trail miles was
close to zero...the quick decision to settle for the 55K race came as a
relief more than anything. In hindsight, I should have settled for the
shorter 25K option at Hells Hills as well, but I was eager to get back
into the Ultra running scene that was such a huge part of my life the
previous year; the two months of no racing between Rocky Raccoon and
Hells Hills seemed like an eternity, ignoring what my body was telling
me, I went ahead with the 50K option and promptly tweaked my ITB in the
process...fortunately it was nothing too damaging. I read an article
awhile back written by Scott Jurek about how he takes off from running
completely for 2 months to recover from a grueling year of races; after
Rocky Raccoon I was planning something similar with 2 months of running
very low weekly mileage (20 miles or less), and run the occasional 5 or
10K race. Then the thought of completing my next 100 miler at Cactus
Rose entered my head and the drumbeat grew louder calling me back to the
world of trails and ultras. You can read and hear all the advice you
want about training and recovery, but first hand experience counts for
everything, especially when it comes to stubborn Ultra runners like
myself (stubbornness is practically a virtue when it comes to completing
Ultras), never rush a recovery process, you’ll only end up paying for
it later.
Resetting my mindset into completing a 55K, maybe I can push myself a little faster now with the shorter distance, good thing because I would have a lot of great speedier company along the way during the first of two loops. The race was a little bit confusing starting out, it has a lot of intersecting points that’ll send you through a mini-loop before reconnecting with the main trail in a sort of figure 8 pattern. I don’t always look up the course map before a race and didn’t for PK, so it threw me off a bit the number of times I would be criss-crossing with the lead runners during the first loop (was I that slow, I kept wondering...). The course was very well marked though with bright red arrows pointing runners in the right direction on the intersections, and it was great to have the chance to run into your faster friends more often during a trail race; as opposed to maybe seeing them once at the start of the race that only goes in one direction (or when they lap you...).
Resetting my mindset into completing a 55K, maybe I can push myself a little faster now with the shorter distance, good thing because I would have a lot of great speedier company along the way during the first of two loops. The race was a little bit confusing starting out, it has a lot of intersecting points that’ll send you through a mini-loop before reconnecting with the main trail in a sort of figure 8 pattern. I don’t always look up the course map before a race and didn’t for PK, so it threw me off a bit the number of times I would be criss-crossing with the lead runners during the first loop (was I that slow, I kept wondering...). The course was very well marked though with bright red arrows pointing runners in the right direction on the intersections, and it was great to have the chance to run into your faster friends more often during a trail race; as opposed to maybe seeing them once at the start of the race that only goes in one direction (or when they lap you...).
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| Google Earth image of the course |
With
this no longer being a 52 mile race for me, I reverted to my usual plan
for shorter Ultras like 50Ks; start fast, inevitably crash somewhere
past the midpoint, and muddle my way to the finish. I usually don’t
plan much for Ultras in the 50K range anymore, and more or less just show up and
see how long I can run before burning out, they’re training runs these days for longer distance goals; pretty much all my Ultras will
be training runs leading up to Cactus Rose anyway. It’s a good thing I
ran into some friends early on that are rock solid middle of the pack
pacers than before I could burn myself out. I shared the majority of
the first loop drafting off of Jeremy Day, who pretty much runs on
auto-pilot, and his friend Ted. This was all of our first time to run
at Possum Kingdom, and we spent the majority of the run just noticing
how great the trail is to run on. Looking at the course elevation
profile, I was preparing for some steep climbs, but it’s a bit
deceiving, since those climbs are spread out over the entire 17.35 mile
loop; the climbs were actually so gradual I practically ran the entire
first loop with very little walking breaks, even though there’s around
1,280ft elevation gain per loop. The trails at PK was also pretty
smooth to run on, while it does have a fair amount of loose rocks in
certain sections, you can generally avoid them, most of the trails were
wide enough for two people to comfortably run side by side on
(especially helpful since you’ll be running across other runners all
day), so there’s a lot of room for side-stepping the rocks; I had very
little problems running with my Vibram Spyridons, but all that would
change on the second loop.
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| Image taken from Endurancebuzzadventures.com |
Around
the midpoint of the first loop, another friend, Kim Gray, caught up to
us, for someone who was slightly feverish and could hardly breath while
running, it was an impressive feat. With Boston still on a lot of
Runner’s minds, we mainly chatted about her experience running the
Boston Marathon this year, where she finished just twenty minutes before
the bombs went off...a reminder never to take running for granted.
With around 2 miles to finish the first loop, our little group broke
off, and I took the opportunity to stretch out my legs a bit by speeding
down a long straight-away, my favorite section of the course, with
trees closing in on you on both sides of the trail and plenty of stones
to play hopscotch around, the sensation of speed barreling down this
section of the trail was exhilarating. I eventually caught up with
another friend Peter, who was out here training for the Tahoe Rim Trail
100, one of my top 3 dream races; naturally I started quizzing him on
his training plan to tackle a monster 100 miler with 20,000ft elevation
gain and loss...I was probably better off not knowing at that moment,
without saying much, I have my work cut out for me if should I ever find
myself signing up for that race. I’m also thankful to receive some new
exercise tips from Peter on how to strengthen my ITB, I’m at the point
where I’m willing to try anything to get my ITB healed, short of seeing a
sport’s therapist just yet. Jeremy and Ted caught up with us less than
half a mile to the finish, and we all finished the first loop together,
that would be the last time I saw those guys on the trail.
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| Section of the Straight-away |
With
cool early morning weather, good company to share the trails with, and
beautiful new sights to take in, running that morning almost seemed
effortless as I finished the first 17.35 mile loop in a breezy time of
3:25 hrs. I stopped to stretch my ITB a bit at the start/finish area,
while the guys I was running with all left pretty soon after finishing
the first loop, except for Kim who had to DNF...finishing nearly 17 and
half tough trail miles in her condition was commendable as it is. Now
the race gets frustrating, I’m not exactly sure why, but shortly after I
started my second loop my feet and legs were hit with pretty bad
fatigue and felt like dead weights to lift for the rest of the race.
Was my conditioning only good for 18 miles or so before I had to
struggle to run, or was I not getting enough nutrition, relying mainly
on Clif bars to fuel the first half of the race instead of gels? Both
points are most likely, as I’m still slowly recovering from Rocky, and
maybe my body just can’t process those Clif Bars fast enough to provide
the energy for racing Ultras (I had the same crashing problems at Hells
Hills at similar moments in the race) and I still need to rely on energy
gels that I’m trying to move away from in my training runs. The rising
temperatures into the 70s and disappearance of the morning cloud cover
didn’t help matters either, the second loop will mainly be a quiet
struggle from here on out.
Finding myself moving at a lethargic 13-14 minute/mile pace, I might as well enjoy the sights and take some pictures with the camera I brought with me (the first loop was for scoping out good sites to photograph later). I don’t know how many times I’ve regretted not bringing a camera along on the many trail races I’ve entered; beautiful sights I’ve encountered on the trails from areas all around Texas such as the gorgeous and cavernous Pine forest of Tyler State Park (Whispering Pines 50K), the rugged beauty of the Hill Country Natural State Area Park (home of Bandera and Cactus Rose), and several areas around Central Texas (those huge granite domes of Reveille Ranch were spectacular to run on) are better shown with pictures than any description I could provide. Possum Kingdom is definitely one of those races you’d wish you had a camera on you as well, but it’s not so easy trying to take photo’s on the run. Stopping so frequently to snap photos of scenic views of the Lake and trails may have compounded the problem I was already having with fatigue, since it broke my momentum to a standstill, making it rather difficult to pick up and run again. After several stops for photo’s I had to put the camera away for good and focus on running my race; I’ll need to start practicing taking photos on the run for future trail races.
Finding myself moving at a lethargic 13-14 minute/mile pace, I might as well enjoy the sights and take some pictures with the camera I brought with me (the first loop was for scoping out good sites to photograph later). I don’t know how many times I’ve regretted not bringing a camera along on the many trail races I’ve entered; beautiful sights I’ve encountered on the trails from areas all around Texas such as the gorgeous and cavernous Pine forest of Tyler State Park (Whispering Pines 50K), the rugged beauty of the Hill Country Natural State Area Park (home of Bandera and Cactus Rose), and several areas around Central Texas (those huge granite domes of Reveille Ranch were spectacular to run on) are better shown with pictures than any description I could provide. Possum Kingdom is definitely one of those races you’d wish you had a camera on you as well, but it’s not so easy trying to take photo’s on the run. Stopping so frequently to snap photos of scenic views of the Lake and trails may have compounded the problem I was already having with fatigue, since it broke my momentum to a standstill, making it rather difficult to pick up and run again. After several stops for photo’s I had to put the camera away for good and focus on running my race; I’ll need to start practicing taking photos on the run for future trail races.
The
first fully stocked and manned aid station is around 6 and half miles
into the loop (there’s a water only table 3 miles in); stopping for
awhile to stretch my ITB (really starting to bug me by this point) and
taking in gels at the aid station helped returned some of my energy
levels, but my legs still felt dead all the same. With dead legs,
slight inclines became mighty hills and all the rocks were increasingly
difficult to side-step and dance around resulting in painful feet
compounding my problems, I swear someday I’ll actually use those Altra
Lone Peaks again on a trail race... Around 4 miles later, and several
stops along the way to stretch and massage my ITB, I made it to the
second aid station, a remote outpost deep in the forest manned by two
dedicated, if slightly bored, guys. Compared to the first aid station
that was parked near a boat ramp and had kids running all around, I
always prefer those remote aid stations that seem like an oasis in the
middle of the desert when you come upon them; there to save weary
travelers from oncoming thirst and starvation. I’ve been meaning to
volunteer for the longest time at trail races (much like I’ve been
meaning to donate blood again for the longest time...), and if I were to,
it’ll be at these distant and quiet aid stations where you probably
won’t have much to do after all the shorter distance races are
completed, except wait for the occasional straggler running the Ultra
distances to stop by for a refill. I would get so much reading done
volunteering for a 50 to 100 miler this way, I figure; thanking those
guys for their volunteer work, I set out for the long 7 mile slog to the
finish.
The wheels, so to speak, would start falling off soon after I left the aid station; not only would I have be to dealing with a stubborn ITB problem, my quads were starting to tighten up on me. My ITB never got as worse as it did at Hells Hills (which I'm very much relieved of), thanks to some diligent stretching and massaging exercises I was doing periodically on the run, so I was able to run a lot further and harder at Possum Kingdom. With PK being my longest sustained run since Rocky Raccoon, a distant 3 months ago, my legs felt almost as trashed as I remember them feeling after my first couple Ultras from last year...kinda disheartening to realise just how quickly one can lose their endurance conditioning after a long recovery period of limited running; or maybe I shouldn’t have taken these shorter Ultras for granted and so naively believe that I can do them now practically on autopilot after already having ran a 100 miler a couple months back. I struggled back to the last aid station around 2 and half miles before the finish, which is actually the first aid station that you loop back to, and stayed far longer than I would have wanted, to stretch and massage out the tightness in my quad muscles.
I did have one final objective in this race, and that was not to get beat by the lead 52 mile runners, my ego would at least take some solace in that very small but minor victory. As long as I made it under 8 hours, I thought I could finish before them...so much for that, the lead male and female runner passed me by at under 7 and half hours, and finished the 52 mile race at 7:45 Hr and 7:47 Hr respectively (and a full hour before the 3rd place finisher). I was in awe, especially of the lead female, Nicole Studer, who cheerily and effortlessly passed me by around her 50th mile (I was merely on my 32nd and half mile), as if she were out there on a simple five mile training run. Sucking in my pride, and still having a comfortable margin to make it in under 8 hours, I took it a bit easier the last 2 miles...I didn’t have the strength left in me to push the pace over possibly the worst section of the course anyway. About a mile to the finish, there’s a long stretch of beach like sand, and you’ll be trudging through that sandpit slightly uphill for most of the way...the conditions of the trail could have been so much worse, considering there was a 40% chance of rain the previous night *shudders*.
I ran it in to finish at 7:55 Hrs, not the time was I expecting (was hoping to finish between 7:15-7:30 Hr), but I can live with it; if my legs were healthy and I can nail down my nutrition just right (and stop taking pictures...), I know I’m capable of going Sub 7 for the 55K on this course, and I’ll definitely be back here next year to give it another shot, though I may try for the 52 miler again. Upon finishing the race, I wondered out loud to the Race Director (besides joking that the course is 5K too long), why haven’t I ever been to the trails of Possum Kingdom before, with it being fairly close the DFW area? I want to thank Endurancebuzz Adventures and all their volunteers for putting together another fun race, and for especially on finding a gem of a trail just 2 hours away from the DFW area. I probably would have never discovered that such a beautiful, diverse, and fun to run trail existed close to the DFW area, and will be looking forward to their next race held on the first of June on the gorgeous and lush Pine-needle covered trails of Tyler State Park, the Whispering Pines 50K Trail Ultra...it’s been much too long since I’ve last visited that trail running paradise in North Texas.
The wheels, so to speak, would start falling off soon after I left the aid station; not only would I have be to dealing with a stubborn ITB problem, my quads were starting to tighten up on me. My ITB never got as worse as it did at Hells Hills (which I'm very much relieved of), thanks to some diligent stretching and massaging exercises I was doing periodically on the run, so I was able to run a lot further and harder at Possum Kingdom. With PK being my longest sustained run since Rocky Raccoon, a distant 3 months ago, my legs felt almost as trashed as I remember them feeling after my first couple Ultras from last year...kinda disheartening to realise just how quickly one can lose their endurance conditioning after a long recovery period of limited running; or maybe I shouldn’t have taken these shorter Ultras for granted and so naively believe that I can do them now practically on autopilot after already having ran a 100 miler a couple months back. I struggled back to the last aid station around 2 and half miles before the finish, which is actually the first aid station that you loop back to, and stayed far longer than I would have wanted, to stretch and massage out the tightness in my quad muscles.
I did have one final objective in this race, and that was not to get beat by the lead 52 mile runners, my ego would at least take some solace in that very small but minor victory. As long as I made it under 8 hours, I thought I could finish before them...so much for that, the lead male and female runner passed me by at under 7 and half hours, and finished the 52 mile race at 7:45 Hr and 7:47 Hr respectively (and a full hour before the 3rd place finisher). I was in awe, especially of the lead female, Nicole Studer, who cheerily and effortlessly passed me by around her 50th mile (I was merely on my 32nd and half mile), as if she were out there on a simple five mile training run. Sucking in my pride, and still having a comfortable margin to make it in under 8 hours, I took it a bit easier the last 2 miles...I didn’t have the strength left in me to push the pace over possibly the worst section of the course anyway. About a mile to the finish, there’s a long stretch of beach like sand, and you’ll be trudging through that sandpit slightly uphill for most of the way...the conditions of the trail could have been so much worse, considering there was a 40% chance of rain the previous night *shudders*.
I ran it in to finish at 7:55 Hrs, not the time was I expecting (was hoping to finish between 7:15-7:30 Hr), but I can live with it; if my legs were healthy and I can nail down my nutrition just right (and stop taking pictures...), I know I’m capable of going Sub 7 for the 55K on this course, and I’ll definitely be back here next year to give it another shot, though I may try for the 52 miler again. Upon finishing the race, I wondered out loud to the Race Director (besides joking that the course is 5K too long), why haven’t I ever been to the trails of Possum Kingdom before, with it being fairly close the DFW area? I want to thank Endurancebuzz Adventures and all their volunteers for putting together another fun race, and for especially on finding a gem of a trail just 2 hours away from the DFW area. I probably would have never discovered that such a beautiful, diverse, and fun to run trail existed close to the DFW area, and will be looking forward to their next race held on the first of June on the gorgeous and lush Pine-needle covered trails of Tyler State Park, the Whispering Pines 50K Trail Ultra...it’s been much too long since I’ve last visited that trail running paradise in North Texas.
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Garmin Link of the 17.35 mile loop (Garmin is off by half a mile) - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/304700914
Race Report from Endurancebuzz.com, scroll down for a picture of me on the trails - http://endurancebuzz.com/2013/05/08/possum-kingdom-trail-run-2013-results/
