2014 Double Chubb 50K

Apropos of nothing, this week's off-day race report comes from 2014:

Run April 19, 2014.

As far as I know, I only possess one course record and it's not even officially recognized: my 60:15 run in the Clydesdale division at Pere Marquette (yes, I did weigh over 200 pounds in 2001). Last year, Joel Lammers set the 50+ record at Double Chubb on the "Quad Bypass" course (which is used when the flat Lone Elk side of the trail is underwater; it's 4 times of just the hilly Tyson section). As he's returning this year and the full length of the trail is high and dry, it seems a pretty safe assumption that the mark will be lowered this year. In fact, after a reconnaissance run three days before the event, I decide that conditions are sufficiently good to warrant taking a crack at a sub-4 hour, which would likely be a record that would stand for a while.

Of course, I still need to beat Joel, which is no sure thing (he was third to my second overall last year). He seems to feel the same way and at packet pickup, Race Director Greg Murdick tells me that Joel actually emailed him with a request to update the race site to show his record from last year for fear that it won't be there for long. We joke about that prior to the start the next morning, but neither of us kids ourselves. It will be a tough fight between two tenacious old guys who know this trail very well. While he hails from Wisconsin, Joel has attended all 16 runnings of this race and I train on this trail all the time.

Since I'm running all six events in the Eastern Missouri Ultra Series (EMUS) this year, my volunteer opportunities are limited. So, I spend some time race morning handing out t-shirts and numbers to entrants that didn't stop by the previous evening. Things quiet down around 7AM and the others working the table assure me they've got things under control and give me the last half hour to get in a warmup. My pacing strategy for this event is to run it just off marathon effort with no stops or walk breaks, so 15 minutes of light jogging is beneficial. That leaves me just enough time to setup my drop area and get back to the start line for the gun.

The 200m of park road to the trailhead is steep enough to sort the field. There's a little further shuffling in the first mile and then I settle into fifth place. By the picnic table at the course high point two miles in I'm pretty much on my own; I'm surprised by how quickly the field has separated. I hit the first crossing of the railroad tracks in 25:27, slightly off 4-hour pace, but not by much. The effort feels right so I make no adjustment.

The trail on the other side of the tracks could hardly be more different. The opening three miles through Tyson is all steep terrain strewn with loose rock. You really don't have much choice but to work it hard. Now, on the smooth dirt trail through the flood plain, two pacing options present themselves. The first is to keep pressing and knock out some really fast miles. The other is to back off and use this gentle hour to recover for the next passage through Tyson. I choose the latter, getting to the far turn at Lone Elk still just off 4-hour pace.

As it's an out-and-back course, I now get to see the gaps in the field. Brian Bauer is out front alone. Rob Raguet-Schofield is a couple minutes back along with Josh Wright (who is in the 25K). Then there's another two minute gap back to David Pokorny who's just ahead of me. After making the turn, I note that Travis Redden, David Stores, and Joel are around a minute behind me. Nobody appears to be in any trouble at this point, so it's far too soon to guess how this will all shake out.
I keep the effort steady and controlled back to the tracks. David P spends a bit of time getting refreshments at the aid station while I simply grab the water bottle I'd dropped on the way out, so I head up into Tyson ahead of him.

In my visualization of how the race would unfold, this next hour struck me as the crucial section. The strategy of knocking the pace back a bit on the flats only makes sense if it enables crushing the Tyson side. I push up the ridge to the picnic table. David is hanging tough behind me, emitting spontaneous yelps in the process which I guess is his way of keeping his head in it. It's not annoying, just a bit odd. Of course, by toeing the line of an ultra, we all qualify for that assessment.

I feel like I'm pressing but the watch doesn't agree; I'm still just a bit off 4-hour pace. I cross the line at 2:00:25 with David right behind me. As the second lap has an additional quarter mile on the park road and the rapidly rising temperature is starting to be a factor, breaking 4 hours is looking unlikely.
I stick to my no-stop strategy, grabbing just a gel packet from the aid station and a couple fresh bottles from my drop. Shortly into the second passage, Travis, David P, and Joel all catch up (David Stores has apparently fallen off the pace). We run together to the tracks, but I've gone from setting the tempo to hanging on. It's not really the position I want to be in with 90 minutes of racing still to go.

If there was any doubt that I was getting close to the breaking point, Joel answers it by laying down a blistering pace on the flood plain. Unlike the first lap, I'm not willing to drop off the pace at this point in the race. However, there is simply nothing I can do to match it. David comes closest, losing only a minute to the Lone Elk turn. Travis and I lose a couple minutes more.

Travis and I are both coming unglued, but I manage to push for another couple miles to solidify my position in fifth. I'm disappointed, but also cognizant of the fact that the EMUS series is just that: a series. And, a rather closely spaced one at that. Recovery is every bit as important as performance. With only 4 weeks until the Berryman 50-mile, I run the final bit through Tyson just hard enough to stay in front of Travis to claim fourth.

Wait! Fourth? How did that happen? Brian was so far ahead at the Lone Elk turn on lap 2 that when I saw him stretching out at the Tyson trailhead a mile from the finish I assumed he had already won and then jogged back up there to see how others were doing. Turns out he got bit by cramps just a couple miles from the finish and, when a few walk breaks didn't fix matters, had to completely stop to work them out. He manages to hobble in for sixth behind Travis. Rob gets the win in 4:02 but Joel's big surge makes it close, lowering the 50+ record to 4:05. David takes third (first in 40+).

At the post-race barbecue, I offer my genuine congrats to Joel, who really ran a very fine race. He was certainly the better runner today and he'll have at least another year with his name next to the record. Probably a lot longer than that. His race was almost an exact copy of what I ran last year: solid, but unspectacular start with a steadily improving pace moving him all the way up to second (including the fastest second half). I'm not quite sure why that strategy eluded me when I had already proved its effectiveness. Truth is, I really thought I was in better shape. The first half didn't feel like overcooking it, but it obviously was. While I would have preferred to finish strong, I'm not completely down about the result. Despite my flagging pace, only the top three ran the second half faster and the age-group placing puts me solidly in the lead in the EMUS series. As of this writing (10 days after the event), I feel like I'll be sufficiently recovered for Berryman, where it just so happens the current 50+ record holder is entered...