Hills, Heat, and a 50k PR - Afton Trail 50k

Date: 7/10/14
Current Weight: 179 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 44
Long Run This Past Weekend: 32.5 miles at Afton 50k (finish time 6:06)

Nothing makes for an awesome birthday quite like a 3:30am wake-up call to go to a 50k trail race on a beautiful morning. The Afton 50k is the race I've been anticipating the most since registering for it back in March. Tony, my running buddy, has his best 50k personal record at Afton from a few years back, and I knew that with many 50k+ runs under my belt by the time of this race I would be able to go out and actually race it without worrying about just being able to finish the distance. That is exactly what I did, and it was a lot of fun!

Afton State Park is a beautiful area for running. It has a great mix of just about every surface a trail runner encounters in various races. Single track, double track, gravel fire roads and prairie. It also has the most wild elevation changes of any course I have done, so far. In total, the elevation change of the Afton course is 9,340 ft. I love the challenge that hilly courses provide. They keep things very entertaining, and they also make use of different muscles and movements during the run, which helps to keep your body from aching due to too much repetitive motion.

The course kicks off with a nice downhill section followed by a nice stretch of flat that allows you to get a good pace going. From there the loop progresses to the start of many hilly single and double track sections with some prairie sections, a nice big flight of stairs, and a particularly long and steep hill known by the course regulars as "The Meat Grinder." I found that the most challenging sections of the course for me were not the uphills, but the downhills, which were often steep and long. Downhills are a tricky part of a course as a runner, you want to take advantage of gravity and run them, but also do so in a way that is light on your feet and keeps your quads fresh. This can get challenging as you grow tired.

During the run I kept my energy levels and spirits high, with no real obvious "wall" where I felt miserable. I credit this to good nutrition and good pacing. I finished the second lap only 20 minutes slower than my first, pretty good for a ultra distance race. I finished the race with my new 50k personal record of 6:06. My first 50k back in late April was the Chippewa 50k, where I came in at 6:27. I can't help but be happy with the improvement. This was clearly a harder course than Chippewa, but my fitness levels have undoubtedly improved since April with all of the hard training we've been doing lately.

For fueling on the run, I drank HEED regularly at a rate of about 30 oz per hour. Surprisingly, between the HEED and a couple glasses of Ginger Ale to keep my stomach from complaining from all of the sugar, I was able to feel remarkably energized during the run. HEED is a sports drink by Hammer Nutrition, one of the sponsors of the event. I have used it during a couple races and been very happy with it. Since it was a fairly hot day, it was also important to keep cool. I adopted a practice one of the aid station volunteers recommended; putting a cool sponge and/or ice in your hat. This worked wonders and kept me from really being bothered by the heat. I have to thank the amazing volunteers at this race, they really did a phenomenal job running the event and the aid stations.

The Afton Trail Run was a great experience and I'll be looking forward to making it a part of my racing schedule again next year!

Elevation Chart for the Afton 50k (this shows one loop - the 50k was two loops)

So what's next on the agenda for this year? Here is a quick list of the events we have coming up:

8/18 - The Entire Luce Line Trail - 66 miles. We will be doing this as an unsupported run from the start of the Luce Line trail in Winstead, MN to Golden Valley, MN (ending at SNAP Fitness)

9/13 - The Wheels Off Half Marathon in Duluth, MN

9/20 - Surly Trail Loppet Half Marathon in Minneapolis, MN

10/25 - Surf the Murph 50 mile in Savage, MN