Well, I finally ran my first sub 4 hour trail 50k. 3:58 to be exact. It probably could have happened a lot sooner, and definitely on a paved course (I've split 4:10 for 50k during a paved 100k), but I have never run a faster 50k trail race before.
I decided the Frosty 50k in Winston-Salem was an ideal event to finally go for the sub 4 goal. I was also using the race as a starting point to gauge my fitness goals for the rest of 2017. January can be a weird time of year for me to figure out what kind of shape I am in because my running tends to taper off heavily around the holidays. My fitness seemed decent enough through the fall and I capped off 2016 with a solid 12 hour run, but my speed work had been lacking. I had also only logged about 25 miles per week of running since Christmas and a quicker 50k is a much different beast than running for 12 hours. Lastly, I went into the Frosty 50k about 5 lbs heavier due to plentiful holiday feasting and an increase in strength training, which is great, but not necessarily for running.
Not much to report on my race. The Frosty 50k course is fast, but still contained some rolling hills around Lake Salem and wet packed dirt from rain the day before. Temps were in the low 50's and muggy, but good for running. The 50k's four 7.75 mile loops made the overall pacing strategy fairly easy, since all I needed to do was make sure each loop was completed in under one hour. I basically ran it like a trail marathon with 5 miles tacked on. Loop 1 was probably a bit fast, loop 2 was right on goal pace, loop 3 had a 1 minute gear swap pit stop, loop 4 saw a marathon split of 3:18 but was plagued by bad stomach issues the last two miles. If I could have just maintained the 7:45's I was running for miles 30 and 31, I would have had a 3:55-3:56 finish, but the final two miles ended up taking 19 minutes. Thankfully, the stomach issues had little impact on placement, other than one spot, and no impact on making the top 3.
On a funny side note, I had totally forgotten that there was a 25k race also going on. I was admittedly a bit baffled by the number of people that magically disappeared after the second lap, but was also happy to find out I was well ahead of the 25th or 30th place I thought I was in.
I think my lack of any regular training runs in the 15-20 mile range was really noticeable after mile 20. Legs got pretty heavy and pace dropped off a bit, but still in the high 7:40's. I think with more ideal training and continued speed work, I could average sub 7:30 pace for the 50k, which would bring me into the 3:52 range for this kind of course, or even 3:40's for a road 50k. For now, I'm just happy to knock out another PR and check off another ultra running goal.
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