Wednesday, July 23, 2008

2008 TRT 100M


(Catra headed back to the Start/Finish
in the first loop while I head towards Mt. Rose)

This was the first race where I gave up fighting. I quit when my stomach heaved a couple of times a few hundred yards out of the Tunnel Creek AS at mile 67.

Would I have finished had I continued? Most likely. Would it have been difficult? Definitely!!

So why did I stop? One thing that I can think of is that, having negotiated the course twice before (2006 50M and the 2007 100M), the section between Tunnel Creek and Mt. Rose had become a bete noire of sorts for me. It had taken a long time in 2006 and had forced us, Anil and I, to dig a bit deeper last year to make the 76 mile cutoff. Faced with the prospect of a queasy stomach, the fact that I was unable to put in decent amounts of food and a looming 9 mile trek to Mt. Rose, I decided that stopping was my best option.

Did I feel bad? Maybe. For a few minutes. Did I think that I failed? Certainly not! I had learned so much from the 67 miles about what I needed to do/not do for food & hydration. All through the first 50 miles I had taken in ample amounts of fluids and was peeing almost 2-3 times an hour. The 11 miles from 50 to 61 changed all of that - my pacer and I were down to one bottle each (I had forgotten to put an extra bottle in my Start/Finish drop bag). The amount of water going in decreased substantially. My energy levels, high even at mile 67, could not be relied upon to carry me through to the end.

I kind of shot myself in the foot with this race. I decided to tinker with what worked in the past 4 100M races - my nutrition. Instead of an entire bottle of Ensure, I downed only half a bottle every time I reached an AS with a drop bag. The result of this was that I ran for many long miles with hunger pangs gnawing at my stomach. I would then take in a gel and that would take care of my blood sugar for a few miles.

I want to do this race once again next year and "conquer" the Tunnel Creek to Mt. Rose section once and for all.

Congratulations to Diane Vlach (she and I ran the first 56 miles together) for finishing strong in 34:23. She rocks! Nancy Warren ran a superb 50M in 12 hours and change. Kudos to Catra and Andy who finished together in a superb 32 hours.

I reconnected with Karen Bonnett whom I had first met in the 2006 Helen Klein 50M where she ran the 30K. She finished her TRT 50M in good time and was there early Sunday morning to cheer the 100M finishers. She is an amazing athlete. Among her stellar achievements is the Paris-Breat-Paris brevet.

The volunteers in this race were as good as any. David Cotter and Kevin Bigley put on a superb race. Thank you all.

17 comments:

Anil Rao said...

Hard luck rajeev. Too bad to knw abt stomach issues. I remember the the sleep deprivation between tunnel creek and mt rose.. that section falls during a nasty time in the night. goodluck for next one.. Ahh Ensure havnt had that for a while.

Rajeev Char said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rajeev Char said...

A wise athlete is one who knows when to quit a race...you are now a wise athlete.
Take care of your health - you need it for the next 40 years (at least)

Rick Gaston said...

Sorry to hear about the stomach problems Rajeev. I was running with someone on the second half who had to drop because of GI issues. I suffered on the Tunnel Creek to Mt. Rose section both times. I hate that section. I called it the evil forest, in homage to the real evil forest at Cascade Crest. They are nothing alike except that I felt the same way going through both sections. Anyway I'm rambling. Good luck for next time and I hope to see you soon in another ultra.

Norbert Leinfellner said...

Hi Rajeev,
I saw you at Tunnel Creek on my way back (mile 85?). You even asked me how I feel! How *I* feel!! You can't stop cheering on friends while being in your own slump, can you? This makes you special. Thanks for the hug at mile 29 (after the turnaround at Mt. Rose) - you were with Diane still.
All the best, see you soon,
Norbert

Anonymous said...

Rajeev
stomach issues were rampant in this years addition of the TRT. It's always great to see your smile while out of the course. I wish you good running for the remainder of the year and I hope to see you back at TRT again.

Rajeev said...

Anil,

Thank you. It was so much fun with you last year. We had a party the did we not?

Rajeev said...

Char,

That's the exact thought that went through my mind. :)

Thank you for stopping by. Good luck with the Vineman next year.

Rajeev

Rajeev said...

Norbert,

You had a wonderful TRT 100M race this year. I am proud of you!!

We will meet again one of these days. Have a great summer in he meantime.

Rajeev

Rajeev said...

George,

Thank you so much!

I will be back again next year for the 100M race and will definitely do better.

See you soon.

Rajeev

Diane said...

Rajeev,
Diane V sent me the picture of you and Karen -another friend of mine. It seems everyone knows you on the trails! I'm sorry that TRT didn't go as planned but with your positive attitude it sounds like you learned some new things. I'll likely be crewing for Karen at RDL and hope to see you out there.
Diane Forrest

Anonymous said...

Rajeev!

I was anxious to see how you did at the race, and it sounds like it was a good experience and you learned a lot. I'm excited for you to do Lean Horse, it seems like a gorgeous race. Perhaps I'll have to put it on my list of future races to do....!

Tapori said...

Coach,
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ,ab aapke dil mein hain,
dekhna hai zor kitna TRT 100M mein hain.
Hope you have a good and speedy recovery..will watch the blog
Suraj

Rajeev said...

Diane,

Thank you for stopping by. I am looking forward to meeting you again in RDL. It will be fun to run with you and Karen.

Rajeev

Rajeev said...

Nicole,

Lean Horse is certainly a race you should do. It has a certain magic about it. The course is not very difficult. It does get hot during the day since there is very little shade along the way.

See you soon.

Rajeev

Rajeev said...

Suraj,

I'll conquer TRT (again) next year.
Thanks for stopping by. How is your running coming along?

Rajeev

-jc said...

Rajeev,

It wasn't the same last year- we (Snow Valley) missed you! See you in a couple days!

-Joe
carsonweather.com