On November 1 I ran 50 miles. According to my GPS it was actually 52.4 miles. That’s two marathons back to back. And today, I feel miserable. It’s like I have the flu without the cough or the fever. But I finally earned that (50) oval sticker I mounted on the back of my car.
Three falls, several more stumbles, and three imagined falls, too.
Falling is probably still the thing I appreciate least and fear most when running. I fell three times during the race during the first and second laps. The first two times I caught myself and got right back up. The third time was the worst, and I landed with my right arm under me. It was a doozy. I managed to jam my elbow into my side. I was able to get back up and “walk it off” (actually jog it off) each time. As of today, just a skinned knee remains. Thankfully, I had decided to wear gloves during the entire run, and I’m glad because I would definitely would have had bruised and bloodied palms if I hadn’t. The worst part is probably the mental effect. Twice Saturday night I woke up to a start – dreaming/thinking I was falling again, and again later as I was just dozing off to sleep. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it’s unsettling to say the least.
It hurts – but not the things I expected!
One of my knees has been problematic for 40 years now. The other one had a torn meniscus surgically repaired last year. So it’s safe to say I have “bad knees.” Quite pleasantly surprisingly, my knees feel – and felt – perfectly fine today and during the race. No pain at all. This, despite my not using or needing my poles at all during the race. My quads, hamstrings, and abs all feel like they got a workout. Because… they got a workout.
While I was able to drive myself to a bar (for my first beer, burger, and fries in far too long) and then home with relative ease, mobility went downhill from there. The next day was the dreaded “oh God why do I have a condo with stairs” moment of truth. Hell, even getting out of bed hurt. My abs were on fire. My legs were pretty good – as long as I wasn’t moving. Three days later, I was walking and taking stairs normally.
So where does it hurt? You may want to skip ahead to the “Gear” section.
Lower GI distress. Nutrition to blame?
My lower gut only started to recover on day three. Since race day morning, it’s hurt to touch. At first I thought it was all abs and where I jammed my elbow on my last fall of the race. Only when I started to fall asleep did I realize I was in pain when breathing naturally. I had been taking shallow breaths because expanding my belly fully hurt! I later realized that my guts were in twisted in a knot for somewhere between 70-80% of the run, and that probably impacted my overall performance!
Over the last several months while training for this race, I realized I have become less tolerant of things my so called “iron stomach” used to be able to handle without issue. For a while I was eating Quest Protein Chips but it seemed that caused lower GI distress. Same thing happened when I was chowing down on Peanut M&Ms during my long runs – the same thing that fueled my long runs in 2022 and 2023 with no nasty side effects. Recently I realized a peanut butter ice cream sundae with peanut butter and
So I switched to primarily UCAN gels and Cheez-Its for my fueling, as they contain carbs but no sugar. It didn’t really work. I still had the same sensation and had to make an emergency pit stop around midday. Waking up at 3AM and trying to eat early enough to… get things out of the way… before starting the race was also a challenge – one that I obviously failed. I also tried taking Imodium, which I think may have only made things worse. Nearly all of the 37 minutes of “rest” time logged was in the “rest room.”
Apparently this is not an uncommon phenomenon in runners, but I’m hoping I can control it by tuning my nutrition. More work to do here, for sure.
Gear
My Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar was my constant companion. Even though I somehow managed to program it for a 100k run instead of a 50 miler, having it show me the metrics I was most interested in (pace, distance, distance remaining, time, and number of days of battery life remaining (are you listening, Apple?)) was awesome. My Apple Watch would have failed me, without question.
I had my iPhone with me the whole time, but left it in my pocket for most of the race. I did not use music for the first half. Some time during the third lap I started an audiobook I had downloaded. Finally, during the final hour, I kicked in my Energy Running playlist for a little extra “oomph.” It seems to have worked, because my last mile was my best mile (with an 11:50 compared to an overall 15:53 minute per mile pace.
What’s next?
Two weeks of rest. No running. Then my coach will put me on a 12 week maintenance plan so I can preserve the base that I have built. Then I’ll decide what’s next. Currently I’m considering the Authentic Athens Marathon (which I think would have made my dad proud), or maybe a 100k like the Race to the Stones. Both sound cool and are within reach.
Or maybe I’ll just do another 50.
And do better.
Stats
