Dry run for Rio Del Lago

Originally published October 19, 2018

I wasn’t going to run this race. My training plan called for 22 miles on Saturday and 20 on Sunday. Running 68.5 miles at once seemed excessive. But my friend and RDL pacer Josam said, “FLUT is a must.” He hasn’t steered me wrong in the past, so I went for it.

FLUT is short for Folsom Lake Ultra Trail. It’s a 110K footrace that circumnavigates Folsom Lake. It starts and ends at Beal’s Point in Granite Bay (same as RDL). You can enter as a solo runner and run the 68.5 miles, or you can enter as part of a 3-person relay team where each runner runs 23-ish miles. The race changes direction each year. 2018 was a clockwise year — which means we headed north from Beal’s Point up to Horseshoe Bar, Rattlesnake Bar, Gate 142, No Hands Bridge, and Cool, then we headed south on the east side of the lake back to Beal’s Point. And THAT is why this was a must in the build up to RDL.

You see, the first half of the FLUT course overlaps to a great extent with that of Rio Del Lago 100M, my goal race on November 3rd. It was a great opportunity to run on these trails and test my fitness seven weeks before the big dance, as well as identify any adjustments I needed to do in my preparation.

I felt undertrained going into the race, mainly because my mileage in August was low due to vacation and travel. I also wasn’t properly tapered, having run 39 miles the prior weekend via the Night Sweats Marathon on Saturday night and SF Giants Half Marathon on Sunday morning. To speed up my recovery from that back-to-back effort, I soaked in Epsom salt, massaged my legs, and refrained from running in the days leading up to FLUT.

FLUT in a nutshell

• Includes 8300 feet of climbing; about half of them from relentless rollers. It reminded me of Lake Sonoma 50M — “death by a thousand cuts”. It features the Meat Grinder, Cardiac Hill, and No Hands Bridge.

• One highlight of the race was definitely the boat ride between the Flagstaff and Salmon Falls aid stations, at around Mile 42. It gave me a chance to sit even as we moved forward.

• There were 10 miles of pavement in the midday heat (between Cool aid station and Flagstaff aid station), then 5 more pavement miles at the end (from Folsom Point aid station to the finish).

• One out-and-back section to Salmon Falls allowed me to see my friends on the trails.
• There is a 20-hour, 15-min course cutoff with 6 intermediate cutoffs; the first one is at Gate 142 aid station at Mile 21.6 — it is the tightest and requires a 16:00 min/mile pace.

• 12 aid stations ranging from 2.7 to 10.5 miles apart were manned by awesome volunteers and stocked with the usual aid station fare; later in the race, Salmon Falls and Brown’s Ravine aid stations provided special treats including donuts and chicken noodle soup.
• Bib pick up and pre-race briefing were held at The Aid Station in Auburn on race eve. The awards ceremony was held on Sunday at the Claimstake Brewery. The RD called every finisher to the front of the room and awarded each one a handmade wooden buckle and hoody. Special awards and prize money were given to the top 3 male and top 3 female runners, as well as the Dead Last Finisher.
• Finishers earned 4 UTMB points.

Goals for FLUT

• Gauge my readiness for RDL;
• Test my gear and identify gaps;
• Run the first half conservatively but stay ahead of cutoffs, and run the second half “strong”, meaning, run or shuffle the runnable parts;
• Stay on top of nutrition and hydration to avoid bonking, but be adaptable if things go south;
• Finish under the 20 hour-15 minute cutoff — and earn that buckle!!!
• And last, but not least, finish the race without feeling wrecked.

At Josam’s urging, I set a Target of 19 hours — an attempt to avoid chasing cutoffs the entire race. I’ve been there many times in the past, and it’s just too stressful.

Initially, I asked my friend Ken to pace me from Mile 46 to the finish. But two weeks prior to the race, the Race Director sent an email saying we were allowed a safety pacer from Mile 29. Fortunately, another friend, John, was available and willing to help. Yayyyy!!! I’m very lucky and extremely grateful for friends who generously offered their time and efforts to help me reach my goals!

I had my team, my gear, my pace chart, and my drop bags. I was as ready as I could be.

To my enormous relief and delight, the race went better than expected. I crossed the finish line in 18:50:42. Better yet, I was still shuffling the flats and downhills in the second half of the race. I also learned a few things that will, hopefully, help me navigate RDL.

What went well

1️⃣  Pacers

I ran the first 29 miles mostly by myself. The first few miles were buffed, runnable trails; then we hit Meat Grinder; then relentless rollers which made my hip flexors complain, then Cardiac Hill! Finally, a hill to climb! I got to Gate 142 just 14 minutes ahead of cutoff. I saw my friend Jaime there. We hustled out of the aid station, then headed down towards the river, got sand in my shoes while walking on the beach, then started the climb up to No Hands Bridge. At NHB, I was surprised to see John!!! He was pacing me from Cool (next aid station) but he stopped by to cheer me on. The next 3.4 miles were uphill. I walked most of them and rolled into Cool just 16 minutes ahead of cutoff. John and Karen helped me refill my soft flasks, then we were off.

John paced me for the next 17 miles. He ran behind me on the single tracks, and shielded me from traffic when we ran 10 hard miles on pavement. We ran at a comfortable pace on the flats and walked fast (his walking pace) on the long, hot, pavement climb from Oakview to Flagstaff aid station.

We had a lot of fun chatting, but we also enjoyed moments of quiet — I didn’t have time to dwell on my discomfort nor complain. And we got to ride a raft across the lake on our way to Salmon Falls!

By the time we got there (M46), we were ahead of cutoff by 1 hour, 36 minutes (25 minutes ahead of Target). Say what?!? This allowed me to take a little longer at the aid station to change my shirt, shoes and socks, and refuel.

Then it was Ken’s turn to pace me. This time, he ran in front of me. As day turned to night, it was good to just follow his lead. The big climbs were over, and for the next 22 miles, we had to run on endless rollers! The next two segments were long and rough (7.7 and 6.7 miles between aid stations). I was getting tired and was very glad for his company.

Every time we shuffled our feet, Ken would say “we’re cruising now!” Each time we had a good mile, he would say so. I liked that we celebrated the small successes. And because he ran FLUT last year (counter clockwise), he knew the course and warned me about turns and what’s ahead. The last 4.6 miles were on paved road and we got into a good clip (13:45 min/mile) and finally arrived at the finish, back at Beal’s Point at 11:50pm, 1 hour and 10 minutes under cutoff; 10 minutes under the 19-hour Target.

Clearly, my pacers are ROCK STARS! I know I would have been extremely challenged to make cutoffs, much less Target, if it weren’t for these two amazing pacers! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

2️⃣ Gear

• UltraSpire 600 waist light at low setting, coupled with Petzl headlamps, provided the perfect illumination. Batteries lasted. No tunnel vision.
• Iced Cap helped me stay cool from midday to late afternoon. Forgot to pick up my bandana from my Gate 142 drop bag. Made do without it.
• Salomon Advanced Skin 5 Set pack with 2 soft flasks was perfect for carrying all the stuff and hydration I needed between aid stations/drop bags.
• Switching to HOKA EVO Mafates at Mile 46 provided relief. My feet were sore after the 10 miles of pavement in my Speedgoat 2s.
• Changing from soaked tank top to a dry top and socks at Mile 46 was refreshing.

3️⃣ Take care of problems early

When I mentioned to John that I had sand in my shoe and a hot spot on my left foot, he made me sit at the Oakview aid station, removed my shoe and sock, cleaned my foot and applied Cramer Skin Lube all over it, then put my sock and shoe back on. Now that’s going over and above the call of duty!!! I’m sorry you had to touch my gross foot. But thanks to you, it didn’t become a big issue later.

4️⃣ Caffeine

Drank Pepsi during the day when I got a bit drowsy. Then at Salmon Falls, drank some Starbucks Cold Brew. Took salt sticks with caffeine from 6pm on, and drank Pepsi as needed at the later aid stations.

5️⃣ Goals and targets

I made a handy dandy pace chart with the elevation profile and target ETAs at each aid station, and we all used it to guide us throughout the day. We just focused on getting to the next aid station, but we also knew that if things went well, we’d be able to hit our goals.

What could be improved

1️⃣ Clothing

Wearing compression sleeves was a bad idea. By Mile 30+, my ankles were swollen and the tongue of my shoes were rubbing against the exposed skin above my ankle. Removing the sleeves solved the issue. For RDL, will wear compression socks instead.

2️⃣ Shoes

Speedgoat 2s are not meant for road running. Must wear road shoes for the pavement portion of RDL and switch to trail shoes after.

3️⃣ Redundancy

Without crew, I relied on drop bags. I forgot to get my cooling bandana from the first drop bag, and I didn’t have extras in the next two drop bags. For RDL, place one in each drop bag.

4️⃣ Don’t stuff yourself

At Brown’s Ravine, I was so excited that they had chicken noodle soup that I drank a 10oz cupful! Well, I got bloated that I burped uncomfortably and couldn’t run for the next mile or so — unfortunate since it was so runnable!

5️⃣ Rollers and low grade inclines

In the weeks remaining before RDL, I need to focus on running rollers, especially inclines up to 3–4%.

FLUT is an excellent race in and of itself. Kudios to the race directors, staff, and volunteers at SingleTrack Running for an amazing job! Would I run it again in the future? Sure! I bet the counter-clockwise direction would feel like a totally different race.

More importantly for me this year, it was the perfect tune up race leading up to RDL. It gave me confidence that my body is capable of running 68.5 miles (a personal best) in 19 hours. I learned a few things that will, hopefully, help me in the final weeks of training for RDL. But in ultra running, there are no guarantees. 100 miles is a very long way to run, and no matter how well you prepare, there are many variables — some of which are outside of your control. The only thing you can do is prepare to the best of your abilities, toe the start line (hopefully) healthy, and give it your best on race day.

#runwithjoy #befierce #rdl100training

STATS

• Finish time — 18:50:42
• Avg pace — 16:31 min/mile
• Overall — 52/60 finishers (includes solo and relay teams; 81 starters)
• Women — 20/22 finishers