Headed To VT!

Today I'm squeezing a quick post in during a duty night. I have less than 48 hours until I take to Killington for the Ultra Beast. It's been a while since my last entry (over 20 days), and I figured I would share a few of the many thoughts running through my head. Preparation is over. There is nothing I can do physically to improve performance for Saturday except eat/drink intelligently. My final two "long" workouts included hiking "Lions Head" to the summit of Mount Washington and descending with a modest sized pack (Sept. 9th) and a seemingly short 12 mile trail run. It's nice that a 12 miler in the woods feels short and doesn't leave me sore and tired. I dropped the 20 mile trail runs the week before Mt. Washington with the intention of tapering off mileage. I won't really know if I had trained properly until Saturday night but I'm trusting in my training for a couple of reasons. First, and most obvious reason, I don't have a choice but to trust it. Secondly I feel like I put forth a solid amount of effort and utilized my time to balance a Hal Higdon marathon workout schedule and strength training (clearly a weakness of mine at a whopping 144lbs). I doubt many people have this type of racing (at this distance) down to the same science Hal Higdon has for the marathon. I see no reason to worry that I am not prepared or have not put in enough effort.

The Unknown
Spartan HQ has made sure that we have stayed in the dark on MANY things including course distances and obstacle specifics. The punishment for failure at any obstacle is 30 full burpees. The assumption is there will be 50+ obstacles therefore the potential for a lot of time/energy robbing burpees. Mandatory gear has been made pretty clear since the race is unsupported (See my previous post to see my self aid station inventory.) One thing that I do know is that I have a very easily to identify bin, thanks to my inner dweeb.

Custom.

The Race Plan

My plan is pretty simple. Finish. I would really like to finish before 7:00pm which may sound like it will be easy, however that leaves 11 hours to cover a lot of ground. I averaged 16:XX minute miles for the SPRINT (3 mile) distance. Killington is steeper, longer and may have MUCH more challenging obstacles so a 20min. mile would be terrific in my opinion for this race. As an avid long distance runner I throw around terms like "negative split"...this time I would be silly to even think about that given the variables and the fact that a single Beast can gas out some of the best athletes. The first lap I will be carrying 100oz. of NUUN enhanced water (NUUN is flavor tab added to water that has electrolytes and caffeine), 8 servings of Clif shot blocks (clean carb source that taste like gummy bears) 2 servings of GU, and one clif bar. I know I will be forcing a lot of this stuff down but to sustain a potential 12 hour race it needs to happen.  Depending on how I feel at the drop station (halfway) I will repack as i feel is necessary.

 

Concerns

I expected myself to be much more nervous for this event. I was even nervous when my application came back "accepted". As I have grown to know my competitors (comrades would be more fitting with this outstanding group of individuals) my tension has eased. Sharing gear and training advice will prove very valuable. I also feel a little less stressed because I have no similar experience to compare this to. I run local 5ks with a lot of anxiety because I want that "PR" but with the Ultra Beast there is nothing to compare this event to. I will DEFINITELY "PR" for a marathon distance obstacle race. All I have to do is finish. While finishing is a major accomplishment, it doesn't seem super daunting since I have nearly ALL DAY to do it.

 

DNF

These are three very scary letters for anyone who has worked hard for something. My thoughts:
DNS<DNF

Did Not Start will always be worse than Did Not Finish! ( I stole this from somebody...sorry)

 

GO TIME

Everybody has a different style of getting them through the low morale points of a race. It changes for me depending on the goal. "I deserve to be here" is what I will be using to kick myself in the ass repeatedly. I know that I will be alongside some of the "greatest athletes in the world" according to Spartan Races Facebook page. This may be extremely discouraging for a mediocre road/trail runner like myself, so telling myself that I have proven enough to Spartan HQ that I deserve to be there should prove effective during the guaranteed lows. I expect to hurt, I expect high and low moments, I expect to finish.

BIB#69972

Standing at the top of a Mountain seemed a good way to close this out!