After a rough start at Black Canyon 100k in February, this race season is turning around. Desert Rats 50k in May went exactly as planned. My day at North Fork 50 miler, however, did not go exactly as planned.  It was better. This isn’t a big race, and the women’s field is tiny, but I figured if I had a good day,  a top 10 finish might be possible.

At mile 28, there is a 10 mile out and back section along the Colorado Trail, that provided a good opportunity to see who was in front of me. By the time I reached the turnaround, I had seen 6 women, and heading back the next closest woman was 30 minutes behind me. Normally, I wouldn’t care. Normally, I wouldn’t even pay attention to where anyone else was, and that is because I never “race”. I’m out there to have a long day on the trails, but I have never pushed myself that hard. Even before my brain injury, I’ve always looked at races as long runs in the mountains with extra snacks. It was never about going as fast as possible…until now.

There are a few changes I have made this season that are directly contributing to my recent race outcomes. The number one thing that has changed for me- I decided to push myself this season.  For a long time after my brain injury if I pushed too hard I would get dizzy, nauseous, and it would guarantee a migraine. Running was part of my therapy and I didn’t want it to be hard. That meant when things got hard, I slowed down, gave up on any time goal I had, and just focused on getting to the finish line. I ran comfortable…well as comfortable as you can be for 50 or 100 miles. When I registered for Leadville, I knew I would need to change things up. The cutoffs are tight, and I would need to get faster. My big goal this year has been to explore what happens if I dig a little deeper. It turns out, I actually have a lot of room to dig.

My new coach has changed things up for me. The weekend before my 50 miler was a bigger mileage weekend than I would typically do before a 50. It made me nervous. I told myself that I’m paying him to analyze the data and tell me what I need to do. Given the results of this race, maybe I need to just sit back and trust his process.  When you’ve worked with a great coach for 6 years, and then a new coach is changing things up, it is hard to not think, “but that is not the way I usually do it”. I suppose that is the point though. When you want the outcome to be different, the process needs to also be different.

This season, music has been a game-changer for me. I mentioned in my last post that I have been experimenting with running with music. I cannot tell you how much energy this gives me when I’m starting to struggle.  It has taken a lot of work to get to the point where I can listen to music while running, and it is paying off now. I’m a long way from 7 years ago when I couldn’t even tolerate any sort of music whatsoever. I was in an amazing flow state flying down the last descent  to this song:

I’ve made some tweaks in my race nutrition and hydration strategies, mostly trying a more aggressive nutrition plan, and working on purposeful timing of caffeine and simple carbs.  I’m loving Spring Energy – Awesome Sauce, and am currently accepting donations so I can afford this in vast quantities.

The last big change is what my husband refers to as “iron doping”. I’ve been iron deficient for years, and while I have tried and tried to maintain my iron levels with oral supplements, I just haven’t been able to do it. I’ve had some iron infusions in the past, but not with any regularity. I would feel good for a while afterwards, and then my ferritin would tank again. Now, once a month I’m going in for iron infusions, and it is making a huge difference. As I’m writing this, my iron is dripping away for a few hours, and as a bonus, the hospital feeds me lunch. Mmmm, who doesn’t love hospital lunch?

North Fork 50 miler did not go as planned, because nowhere in my plan was “finish on the podium”.  I took 45 minutes off my fastest 50 miler, which had a very similar elevation profile and true mileage (it is always more than 50 miles). It was a huge confidence boost, and is making me feel great about Leadville 100 approaching. I don’t know what you’ll be doing this summer, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be running. Run, eat, work, eat more, sleep, repeat.

Only 10 weeks until the next TBI to 100.