2015 Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile Race Report
Posting Date: 7/27/15
Race Date: 7/25/15
Finishing Time: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Placing: 40/213, 18th percentile (not counting 43 DNF's)
One of the many things I love about ultras is that you leave every event feeling like you truly had a life experience. Voyageur delivered on that feeling, and I find myself rehearsing and daydreaming the different sections of the truly epic course in my head days later. It was a phenomenal course and a fantastic race. I now know why the MN Voyageur has stood the test of time and remains one of the premier ultra-marathons in Minnesota. The day was also memorable for me because it marked a very significant improvement in my race times, having run one 50-miler on the trail before in 12:12 minutes. I shaved 2:22 minutes off of that previous time, granted it was on a very different and overall less challenging course than the Zumbro Endurance Run, where I completed my first 50 mile ultra just this past spring.
Short Description from the Race Website:
"Founded in 1982, the Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile Trail Ultramarathon is one of the oldest trail ultras in the nation. The race follows a rugged, varied, out-and-back course that takes runners on a journey from Carlton, MN through Jay Cooke State Park and heads northeast over difficult, rough woodland trails to the Duluth, MN and back. Enjoy scenic overlooks of Duluth, MN and Lake Superior, the iconic Swinging Bridge over the St. Louis River, and the infamous Power Lines."
Source: http://www.voyageur50.com/
The weekend started off with Isabel and I heading up to the Motel 6 in Duluth to meet my running buddy and co-worker, Jeremy Eckert. Upon arrival we checked in and immediately took advantage of the Duluth Grill, which shares a parking lot with the Motel 6. For those of you who don't follow my blog, The Duluth Grill is a phenomenal restaurant that serves up responsibly raised, organically grown, and overall health conscious food. They even have a huge garden in their back parking lot where they get their veggies. Well worth a stop. After dinner, we took a few minutes to prep things for the next morning and headed to bed.
Race morning kicked off at 4am, with us arriving at Carlton High School, the starting point of the race, at about 5:15am. After checking-in, and utilizing the bathrooms a cumulative 4x each (to avoid any mid-race poo's, of course), Jeremy and I lined up at the start. As is classic of ultras, there is no starting gun, fireworks, horns, or anything of that nature. Instead, one of the race directors stands on the hill by Carlton High School and yells "GO!" From there we were off, heading towards Duluth, just 25 short miles away.
The first section of the course, from the start through aid station four at Grand Portage, lends itself to a fairly fast pace on the way out. I paced myself off of effort for these sections, and felt very good between an 8:10-9:00 pace. After the Grand Portage aid station you quickly realize that this course is not going to be a walk in the park. This section is known as "The Power Lines." The power lines is a section that goes underneath high line poles that run from Duluth to the surrounding area. This means no tree coverage for shade, and no erosion control. Oh....and there are the steepest climbs (aside from one rope-aided climb later in the course) of the whole race in this section. On the way out, this section was a total mess. The hills were muddy as could be, and the pack of runners was still close enough together that people were slipping, sliding, falling on each other and downright scrambling to try and traverse these steep hills that lacked any traction whatsoever. After traversing this section, I realized why this portion of the course has become so notorious among the ultrarunning community. I left this section feeling drained, but was very happy to get to the next aid station where I started putting ice in my hat, a practice I continued throughout the rest of the race.
After the power lines you run some fun single track down through a creek bed/ravine area, up a few big climbs (one aided by what has become known as the "ropes course"), then emerge to run up Beck's Road, on to Skyline Parkway, and then along the ridge of Spirit Mountain underneath the ski lift chairs. Finally, you descend down about a 1/2 mile to the Duluth Zoo, the turnaround point. I hit the turnaround feeling gassed. Isabel was nice enough to meet both Jeremy and I at the turnaround with our favorite sports drink, "Tailwind," and some much needed love and encouragement. At the turnaround I remember having a hint of doubt about my chances of finishing the race in a reasonable time. I suppressed those thoughts, drank a bottle of Tailwind, filled my water bottle, got some ice, and headed back up Spirit Mountain. While climbing the hill, I switched on my iPod to get my mind off the effort I was putting in. That was a great decision, as within about 5 minutes I was feeling much better. After hiking up the hill, I began running a solid pace again. I didn't really slow down again until I hit the Power Lines section for a second time.
The second time on the Power Lines was much better! With the field wide spread enough that I only caught a glimpse of one other runner the whole second time through this section, I was able to traverse the hills quickly and descend them as quickly and as sloppily as I wanted without risking running into other competitors if I slipped. I left this section feeling energized and ready to conquer the rest of the course. Following the second pass through the Power Lines I kept grinding out the miles, not fast, but as quickly as I could without completely draining what energy I had left. Hitting the ravine section on the way back takes the cake as my favorite part of the whole run. You go from grinding out the miles in the previous section to flying down a big section of downhill switchbacks. I felt amazing during this section, both surprised and excited that my legs had held up well enough to traverse this mostly downhill section at about an 8:00/mile pace.
I got a huge energy boost again following the ravine section, and climbed back up towards Jay Cooke state park, bound and determined to finish strong. I kept thinking "I feel way too good to be this far into a 50-mile ultra." After the Jay Cooke State Park aid station, I felt home free. Only 3.4 miles to go and I would be done. Shortly after this aid station, I misunderstood some of the trail markings (which I'd argue were quite unclear where this particular trail split) and ended up going about a 1/2 of a mile off course, all uphill of course : ). After realizing my mistake, I turned around and descended back down the hill and took the correct trail back towards Carlton. As much as spending a good 6-8 minutes off course was a bit annoying, It lit a real fire under my butt to makeup the lost time. I traversed the rocky, rooty section along the St. Louis River quite quickly, never breaking running stride except to cross a few of the bigger rock beds. I really surprised myself during this section. I was traversing this fairly technical section of trail with agility and speed that I would have never guessed possible after running 48 miles. After this section you jump back on the sidewalk leading into downtown Carlton, decent the short hill to the high school and then hit the finish line. Isabel was waiting there for me to cross, and she was a very welcome sight after a long day of running. After finishing, we took a spot on the grass and watched runners cross the line for about the next hour before heading back to Duluth for a much needed shower and lunch.
Nutrition:
I knew this was going to be a challenge at this race, because they only had Powerade for sports drink at aid stations. Powerade is notorious for giving endurance athletes upset stomachs, so I avoid it at almost all costs. So...here is the makeshift nutrition plan I came up with based on what was at the aid stations.
Equipment:
Race Date: 7/25/15
Finishing Time: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Placing: 40/213, 18th percentile (not counting 43 DNF's)
 |
| Photo Credit: Shane Olson |
Short Description from the Race Website:
"Founded in 1982, the Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile Trail Ultramarathon is one of the oldest trail ultras in the nation. The race follows a rugged, varied, out-and-back course that takes runners on a journey from Carlton, MN through Jay Cooke State Park and heads northeast over difficult, rough woodland trails to the Duluth, MN and back. Enjoy scenic overlooks of Duluth, MN and Lake Superior, the iconic Swinging Bridge over the St. Louis River, and the infamous Power Lines."
Source: http://www.voyageur50.com/
The weekend started off with Isabel and I heading up to the Motel 6 in Duluth to meet my running buddy and co-worker, Jeremy Eckert. Upon arrival we checked in and immediately took advantage of the Duluth Grill, which shares a parking lot with the Motel 6. For those of you who don't follow my blog, The Duluth Grill is a phenomenal restaurant that serves up responsibly raised, organically grown, and overall health conscious food. They even have a huge garden in their back parking lot where they get their veggies. Well worth a stop. After dinner, we took a few minutes to prep things for the next morning and headed to bed.
 |
| Jeremy (blue shorts) and I at the starting area |
The first section of the course, from the start through aid station four at Grand Portage, lends itself to a fairly fast pace on the way out. I paced myself off of effort for these sections, and felt very good between an 8:10-9:00 pace. After the Grand Portage aid station you quickly realize that this course is not going to be a walk in the park. This section is known as "The Power Lines." The power lines is a section that goes underneath high line poles that run from Duluth to the surrounding area. This means no tree coverage for shade, and no erosion control. Oh....and there are the steepest climbs (aside from one rope-aided climb later in the course) of the whole race in this section. On the way out, this section was a total mess. The hills were muddy as could be, and the pack of runners was still close enough together that people were slipping, sliding, falling on each other and downright scrambling to try and traverse these steep hills that lacked any traction whatsoever. After traversing this section, I realized why this portion of the course has become so notorious among the ultrarunning community. I left this section feeling drained, but was very happy to get to the next aid station where I started putting ice in my hat, a practice I continued throughout the rest of the race.
 |
| Heat of the day (Photo Credit: Eve Graves) |
The second time on the Power Lines was much better! With the field wide spread enough that I only caught a glimpse of one other runner the whole second time through this section, I was able to traverse the hills quickly and descend them as quickly and as sloppily as I wanted without risking running into other competitors if I slipped. I left this section feeling energized and ready to conquer the rest of the course. Following the second pass through the Power Lines I kept grinding out the miles, not fast, but as quickly as I could without completely draining what energy I had left. Hitting the ravine section on the way back takes the cake as my favorite part of the whole run. You go from grinding out the miles in the previous section to flying down a big section of downhill switchbacks. I felt amazing during this section, both surprised and excited that my legs had held up well enough to traverse this mostly downhill section at about an 8:00/mile pace.
Nutrition:
I knew this was going to be a challenge at this race, because they only had Powerade for sports drink at aid stations. Powerade is notorious for giving endurance athletes upset stomachs, so I avoid it at almost all costs. So...here is the makeshift nutrition plan I came up with based on what was at the aid stations.
- LOTS of ginger ale and flat coke (3-5 small cups per aid station)
- A few Fig Newtons...like 5 on the whole course
- Two servings of Tailwind at the halfway point
- Electrolyte Caps at every aid station (2-3)
Equipment:
- Shiny new pair of my favorite New Balance Zantes (love those things! Who needs a "Trail" shoe anyway, it's not like we're climbing the Dolomites here..this is MN!)
- Brooks running shorts
- Injinji toe socks
- Nathan hydration bottle belt thingy
 |
| Before... |
 |
| After |
Comments
Post a Comment