2018 Rebecca Mountain 50 Miler Post-Race Analysis (DNF)

Rebecca Mountain 50 Miler Post-Race Analysis:

The 2018 Rebecca Mountain 50 mile race is a point to point run on the Pinhoti Trail in the Talladega National Forest, starting from Porter’s Gap Trailhead to the Sylaward Trail at Lake Howard. The run has easily over 5,500 feet of gain and passes by some of the best views in Alabama. This was the second year of this race put on by Todd and Pinhoti Trail Series. As I am writing this post, looks like next year (2019) the race will have two options 50 miles or 50K and will be held on September 7, 2019.

Below I provide a day by day recap of the entire race weekend. If you don’t read the recap, be sure to checkout the dashboard below, the Strava segments of the race (click the segment images), info about camping and other race details.

If you haven’t checked out my pre-race analysis post, click here. In that same post I created a finishing time predictor calculator using Google Sheets, be sure to check it out before the next race.

theBidon’s Pre-Race Analysis Post | Race Website | Ultra-Signup | Elevation Profile | Aid Stations

My Post-Race Analysis:

Where should I start? Well, as the title stated above, I did not finish (DNF). My buddy on the other hand, who shall rename nameless because he works for a secret government agency, finished the entire damn thing. It was a day that we and our wives will never forget.

Race Check-in:

Race check-in was super easy and I was able to pick up my buddy’s race packet, which was incredibly awesome because he didn’t have to deal with that the morning of the race. +1 to the race organizers. At race check-in they gave us our race number, a super soft t-shirt, Sylacauga welcome magazines, sunscreen and safety pins.

Camping was allowed throughout, with most lining up near the finish line in the grass. It was on a first come first serve basis, but with tons of space that probably could have held all 89 of us. The grass was just cut so it was super nice to layout the tent on and relax before the big day. I highly recommend camping the night before. It’s technically free but there is a donation box near the trailhead.

A few items to note about Lake Howard “Campground/Trailhead”:

• Cell phone service is very limited (Version could get one bar, while AT&T had zero service).
• Restrooms: They had both male (one stall) and female (two stalls) restrooms with running water (not vault style toilets).
• No showers however, they do have a hose that you can use to rinse off.
• No Swimming: There is a lake but you cannot swim in it 🙁
• The campground is lit by street lights that are on all night. Not super bright but could affect your sleeping.
• We brought all of our water, maybe you could have drank out of the restroom sink or hose.
• Don’t forget bug spray.

Race Morning:

The buses arrived at Lake Howard around 6:00 in the morning for a departure time of 6:15am. We were up around 5am to use the restroom before the mass arrived and to get a little nutrition in us before we hopped on the bus.

My pre-race nutrition was a chocolate chip Clif Bar and some instant coffee. My buddy’s was hot oatmeal and pressed coffee. Next year I’ll be copying his method for success. We both laid out our clothes and backpacks with our gear the night before so we didn’t waste too much time preparing anything in the morning.

At 6:15am we jumped on the one of the two buses and took off for Porter’s Gap Trailhead. It was about a 30-40 minute bus ride to the start. And, I would say about 90% of the runners used the buses. They did have a few porta potties at the trailhead in the small parking lot, which queued rather quickly but at least we didn’t have to go in the woods. +1 to the race organizers. At the trailhead we had about 20-30 minutes to gather ourselves, take a group photo and have our pre-race meeting.

Click the image to go to the segment on Strava.

The Start: 

The start was on the west side of State Route 77. The beginning consisted of a short out and back up a relatively flat gravel road, which allowed the pack to spread out before heading into the woods. Once into the woods we had around a 6 mile segment to the top of the first aid station.

Between the start and the first aid station, I took in two gels, both Clif Citrus Energy Gels with 25mg of caffeine. Mistake number one. I was feeling good during this time and we were moving pretty good, probably… thinking back and now knowing the outcome, the pace was too quick for me. We jogged where we could and hiked the uphills. We fast hiked the long climb to the top of the first aid station at a pretty quick pace. Again, I was feeling good… but should have eased back a little because of how hot and humid it had already gotten.

Click the image to go to the segment on Strava.

From Aid Station 1:

At the first aid station we met our wives and filled up our hydration packs and picked up some more gels. We were in and out in under five minutes. Leaving aid station 1 we took off running and pushed the pace passing a few people, who later caught up and passed us. We pushed the pace pretty hard almost all the way to aid station number two.

During this time I started to notice my feet were cramping, especially when I stepped on a rock or root the wrong way. My quads were starting to lock up and I could feel that they wanted to cramp. Here is when I made the second mistake of the day. I should have had the guts to say that I needed to back off the pace. We made plans to stick together, but should have ultimately separated early on when my buddy was feeling better. I only took in a Raspberry Clif Gel and drank some of my SOS Electrolyte endurance drink that was in my hydration pack. The heat and humidity were already taking their toll on my body and dehydration was setting in.

The Fall: About a mile or so before aid station 2 (AS2) I stubbed my left toe and fell instantly to the ground. My left calf seized immediately and I was left laying there in the middle of the trail locked in place, gritting my teeth. I’m sure it was a site to be seen that only my buddy got to enjoy. Lucky for me no one ran up on me laying there. It eventually released and my buddy helped me to my feet and then limped my way to the second aid station. During my limping to AS2 multiple people passed us that we passed earlier.

Click the image to go to the segment on Strava.

From Aid Station 2:

At AS2 I took in a little coke and refilled my hydration pack with water. Mistake number 3. I should have filled my hydration pack with SOS or another electrolyte drink because I was falling way behind. I’m sure I ate something but I can’t remember what it was. All I know is that I didn’t eat enough or drink enough. Your crew is not allowed at AS2 so it was a little disappointing when we arrived and didn’t see our wives. Next year I’ll print out the elevation chart with the aid stations and miles listed. That’s a tip I learned while we were out there.

Again, we were in and out in less than what it felt like 5 minutes. We took off trotting to the power line view and paused for a second to take it all in. Mistake number 4. Same mistake as earlier, I should have insisted that my buddy take off. I needed to take in fluids and walk slower. The heat had a tight grip on me already.

AS2 to AS3 should be one of the easier segments of the race. The average gradient is -1% and ends with a long descent down to the aid station. After leaving AS2 I was never able to recover or feel better again. I could not run more than 50 feet without getting out of breath. It sucked, but you will probably have a better time on this than I did so enjoy the long descent.

Click the image to go to the segment on Strava.

From Aid station 3:

We took our time at AS3 while our wives filled our bottles and cooled us off. It was great seeing them again and being able to sit for a few minutes. We where there for probably 15 minutes. I should have stayed longer and let my buddy run on, but he stayed with me. We still had about an hour before the cutoff so in hindsight… I should have taken 40 more minutes to recover.

With a poor judgement I took off for AS4, but before I left I told my wife I would drop at AS4. I knew I would end up walking all the way and just didn’t have anything left in the tank. Mistake number 5. I should have DNF’d at AS3. I looked like a walking zombie, pale and with huge bags under my eyes.

Anyways.. we took off walking up a gradual incline for a while, until a nice lady caught up to us. We talked for a while chit-chatting about the race and how it was our first ultra race, where we were from and so on. During this time we covered roughly 3 miles from AS3 and then all decided that my friend should take off and the nice lady who had been walking with us would take care of me and make sure I make it to AS4. She already made up her mind leaving AS3 that she would drop there. She tried at AS3 but they told her to keep walking and maybe she would turn around. If you are reading this, Thank you! You should know who you are, I know your name but decided to keep it out the post.

After my friend took off basically sprinting away from us, we slowly made our way to AS4. I had to stop multiple times and during those times other individuals caught up and offered up words of encouragement and anything that they had (hydration pills, food and water). I politely declined everyone except the lady with the hydration pill. Thank you! As we made our way an older gentleman caught up and walked with us the entire way to AS4. He also dropped there as well.

My Heat Exhaustion Symptoms:

• Ear cloudiness – stopping up – like in an airplane. almost like vertigo.
• Cramping – toes, calves, quads, thumb and abdominal, side hip IT band?
• Body temp just felt high.
• Nausea but did not throw up, each time I felt like it could happened I stopped and took a break.
• Increased heart rate (or felt like it), out of breath after easy efforts.

Before AS4 you come out of the woods and out onto a paved road, leading you to believe the aid station is right there…. But no… it is up the longest and steepest incline that a person with dehydration does not want to encounter to DNF. It is totally exposed to the sun and is demoralizing to the soul that popped out of the woods in good spirits thinking they are at the aid station. I got a quarter of the way and fell to the ground and laid out spread eagle on the hot pavement. I knew my body was at its limits and I could go no further. My body has never felt that hot before. Stopping didn’t really do anything for me, I was too far gone. I laid there for about 30-45 minutes. Multiple people gave me their water bottles and asked if I was okay. I kept saying that I was going to wait there until they packed up AS4 and drove past me because there was no way for me to make it up that hill.

So the father and son of the nice family at AS4 drove down to where I was sitting and picked me up. I felt terrible that they had to do that and felt terrible they had to put my stinky body in their car, but luckily they had old sleeping bags for me to sit on. Once at the top I sat there for the next 2 hours until they could shuttle us back to Lake Howard.

Once back at the finish/Lake Howard. I hobbled over to my camp chair and waited until my wife and my buddy’s wife returned. They were coming back from meeting my buddy before he crossed over the road and headed into the crazy 10 mile Sylaward trail system. Then we hung out until my friend finished, talked a little bit when he arrived and then all went to sleep. We were exhausted.

Potential excuses that led to my DNF:

• Not having the goal of finishing last.
• It was too hot and too humid.
• Not enough heat training.
• Started off too fast.
• Not knowing the cutoffs and using them to my advantage.
• Tried to run the race with my buddy.
• Drank coffee for breakfast and ate one Clif-bar.
• My nutrition and hydration was not correct:
  – Took 3 or 4 gels with 25mg of caffeine each (Clif Citrus gels) and 2 Raspberry gels.
  – Drank 1.5 liters of 1 packet SOS (hydration mix), 1.5 liter of water during the first 18 miles.

Ways to improve:

• Increase number of trail runs into my weekly runs to condition my feet properly.
• Dial in nutrition and hydration for hot and humid weather.
• When it is race time, run my race (nice and slow)

Race Recap:

In hindsight, I took off too fast and ran beyond my means. I hope to come back next year stronger and wiser, and with a goal to complete the race by finishing dead last.

Many thanks to the wonderful volunteers and the race organizers for putting on a well organized event. There was so much work that went on beforehand to clear the 30+ miles of singletrack, it was quite unbelievable. My buddy and I even talked about it while we were running. There were many parts of the trail that were completely overgrown but looked to have been recently bush hogged. Volunteers walked in miles with weed whackers and clippers to clear the miles of trail. Pretty amazing to see that much work.

Also MANY thanks to my wife for meeting me at the aid stations and putting up with me during my training and complaining back at camp Saturday night.

-thebidon