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| Cameron Taylor & I Pre-Race. |
Kansas may not have the altitude, but we’ve got the humidity. I ran the Psycho Psummer 50k for the 5th straight year a couple of weeks ago and the humidity was in full effect. So here is my better-late-than-never race report.
I’ve had the fortune (or maybe misfortune) of running this race every year since it began back in 2007. The Psycho Psummer 50k at Wyandotte County Lake is just like its winter counterpart, the Psycho Wyco 50k, in terms of seriously gnarly terrain. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more difficult or demanding course in the mid-west. Throw in some Kansas July heat and humidity and you’ve got a race that has sent people back on gurneys. I wrote a lengthy Winter Wyco race report in February so I won’t harp on the terrain too much here but when you run at Wyco, you have to bring your “A” game and you have to expect to move slower than normal.
Friday July 8th. I hit Gary Gribbles Running Sports for packet pickup and spent some time talking to Bad Ben and Travis Kierre, where I learned that the summer course had been changed so they could offer a 10-miler and then re-routed because of some flooding. 2011 would see us run counter-clockwise around the lake on three 10+ mile loops rather than the two clockwise 15+ mile loops like in years past. Also gone were “Festers wander”, the “Wyco Triangle”, and “Sonic the hedgehog” ridge and hill. A brand-spankin’ new section of single track built by the trail masons & earth riders would replace the missing sections. So, while it sounded like it’d be an easier course, there’s really no such thing as an easy day at Wyco…and then there’s that humidity…
Race Day: I was a little worried going into this race. From February through April I was averaging 60 to 70 miles a week. Since the start of the internship my weekly mileage has been around 40 miles (50 on a good week). I’d also been getting less sleep, feeling chronically tired, and had NOT really gotten acclimated to the heat. I still wanted to run well and liked my chances given how 2011 had been going so far (winter wyco PR, my first 50-miler, my first 100k, ½ marathon PR, etc). Still, I was not overly confident and was thinking as much when Bad Ben said “go”.
1st Loop: As usual I took off entirely too fast and was sucking wind by mile five. When I realized I was ahead of Larry Long and Brandon Hidaka I knew I needed to back way off (Larry had finished the Free State 100k about three hours ahead of me). I also ran part of the first loop with Wes Brown and saw Rick Troeh, both these guys were running really strong and I had to let them go ahead. From mile 4 to mile 10 I felt like I was moving in slow motion and just couldn’t get my wind. Still, my first loop was 2:09:00 so I was in decent shape.
2nd Loop: I got in and out of the aid station really quick. A little ways into the second loop I met Todd Kibsgaard and we would leap-frog each other a number of times the rest of the day, although he did find a strong surge late in the day and finished ahead of me by a few minutes. At the mile 17’ish aid station I was feeling a little sick. Dave Wakefield, Topeka’s super-star ultra-runner (fresh off his run of the entire 142-mile Kokopelli trail) was working the aid station and gave me some advice on getting some calories. In the heat I was kind of just doing water and S-Caps and unconsciously avoiding food. He must have seen how jacked-up I was and diagnosed me as “un-fueled”. Other than that brief near-bonk, it was a good loop. The second loop “felt” better than the first loop but was 30 minutes slower! I was; however, in position to PR for this race as long as I could avoid the third loop “death march” of past Psummer Psychos.
3rd Loop: Again, I got out of the aid station as fast as I could. I knew that despite the heat I had to keep a sense of urgency on the final loop. I was using one of my hand-held bottles to douse my head in water every 10 to 15 minutes but still felt that I was over-heating. I started pushing the S-caps as well and downed a couple of Stingers to avoid a repeat of the second loops near-bonk. I hit the three hills section and climbed pretty strong through all three of them. Finally, I hit the finish line to smash my previous psycho psummer PR by 30 minutes.
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| Another 50k in the books. |
I don’t know how much of my best time can be attributed to the course changes but I’d like to think that the late race surge was a contributor. After the race, I felt as good physically as I ever have following a 50k so I feel like the race was a breakthrough of sorts. Anyway, this post was way longer than it needed to be, coming so far after the race.
As always, huge, huge thanks go out to Ben Holmes and the Kansas City Trail Nerds for another stellar event. Thanks also to the great volunteers that braved the heat to take care of us. Thanks to Dick Ross again for an awesome batch of pictures. Thanks to Rick, Todd, Matt, Wes, Larry, Brandon, and a ton of other runners I’m sure I’ve left out. You guys all ran great and kept me moving on a day I struggled early. I’ve also got to mention my friend and fellow former-Marine Cameron Taylor who has recently returned to the world of running. He ran the 10-miler and had a nice race. Most importantly, thanks and love to Jessica, Alyena, and Ayden who continue to support me as I find out just how fast and far I can run!
Next up: Coleen’s Sweaty Ass Trail run at the Prairie Center. I’m trying to run two 50k+ runs in three weeks. I ran the Frozen Ass back in January as my first 50-miler but I don't typically run as strong in the summer heat as I do through the ice. I'd like to do 35 to 40 miles but we'll just have to see how the legs respond.
