My first Mega was a breeze… No seriously =) Okay here’s what I have to share, which I think would be helpful for Mega hopefuls to Mega novices, as this was my first ever extreme race of any kind, not just first Mega: • New Balance trail running shoes plus Asics Trail Shield socks = not even a hint of a blister, plus great traction on the rocks. NB are preferred brand for me because most of their shoes are made in the USA, plus they perform well as equally. • I carb loaded starting the Monday before, with high protein pasta 3 times per day, plus protein shakes 2 times per day in between. I’ve read just worry about carb intake not protein, but I can’t do that, I’ve come from weightlifting world and know that effort in gym not matched by supporting nutrition equals wasted effort. Friday before my last meal was at 7pm. • The morning of I ate two bananas and drank 32oz of water before the race, plus water and Gatorade at each stop, and had zero cramping or dehydration issues. • During the race I ate 4 peanut butter cups (which I brought) at each check point. I figured peanut butter for protein, chocolate for energy, and it proved very effective for me. My energy stayed strong, teeth stayed mostly clean when followed with gum and water (I’m OCD about that), and I never felt hungry. • Stealing from my weightlifting pedigree, I decided to try using a preworkout drink during the race. For years I’ve used VPX Sports preworkout called NO Shotgun, I like it because it has a strong kick but without jitters like I’ve got with other brands, and also because each serving has close to 20 grams protein. I brought two servings with me, each mixed with 16oz of Gatorade, and drank about half (8oz) at each checkpoint, and I never lacked for energy. • I don’t have the time to do long distance training hikes, but I do hike my dog daily on average about 6 miles. One month before the race I pushed it to 7-10 miles per day. Prior to Mega the biggest hike I ever did was 11 miles. I knew this was a huge leap, but believed that 6 miles a day 365 must account for something. I have a place close to me that I hike which is about 400 vert gain, and there are three trails going up it. One trail is 1.1 miles, second is about 0.6 miles, the third is about 0.3 miles. On training days I will climb all three sides to vary the challenge, for a total of about 1,200 ft gain and 4 miles, which I do 1-3 times per week pretty much year round. So what I’ve learned is, if you can be consistent with daily workouts about 20-25% of Mega, you can DEFINITELY pull off a Mega. • If this was your first, and you didn’t finish, don’t feel discouraged, only 634 of almost 1100 entrants completed the race. Yes I made it, however my training partner who came with me for her fourth consecutive Mega, had to stop the race at the first checkpoint as she was feeling very sick. This girl is a tremendous athlete, mentally rock solid, and even toughed out 2010 which I hear was absolute brutal weather on her first ever trip Mega. Sometimes things go wrong, even if you are more than capable of handling the Mega, that’s what I learned from her experience. • On that note… on to my lackluster finish of 591 out of 634. Yes I just rambled on declaring how strong I was thru this entire race, which is certainly true… however if you have any weakness, Mega will expose it. I always believed I had minor knee arthritis prior to Mega, now it is quite clear that I have more advanced knee arthritis. About the 15 checkpoint my knees starting hurting, but by the time I crossed 19 I was in pain, and before getting to 24 I was in pure agony. I brought with me prescription pain pills just in case I had problems, and with the assistance of them I was barely able to make it to the finish line. In fact I called friends to pick me up at the top of the road where the woods let out. By the time I got there, the combo of being off the rocks and the pain pill kicking I was able to call them off, and finish the race. SO HERE’S MY POINT – if you have a physical weakness, you really need to address before this race to avoid it ending in frustration. I know now that I must get to the Dr and review the options for a 44 year old with advancing knee arthritis, not just continue to tough out the knee pain, which is something athletes just learn how to do over the years. There isn’t any toughing thru advancing-aging or injury issues on the Mega, if you try you will pay. My body truly felt great during, and after the Mega, and my recovery these past two days has gone very well, but my knees are still a mess. After my first extreme race I know that I am hooked, but now I must wait to first recover (however long that takes), then take time to learn what treatments I can implement to be able to do more races. I wish now I would have done that a looong time ago. • It was more than pain pills that got me thru this race, it was my TEAM. In fact, it was my team that got my team thru. We were Team GE, which also broke down to groups from Erie, PA, then further broke down to six of us who regularly work out and hang out together. We wanted to finish in under 10 hours, but it’s soo much more than finishing time, isn’t it?! Upon reaching boulder field, my regular training partner began feeling sick, so two of us decided to stick by her side and encourage her on and supervise her safety. It slowed us down, time we just knew we would have to pickup later. By the time we reached checkpoint 11, she had to surrender to her condition with tears of frustration in her eyes. We stayed with her, assured her she was making the right choice, and moved on after she was receiving attention from the First Aiders. Now it was up to Anthony and I to gain some ground, which we were going a great job of. Around mile 17 we came across one of our group of six, who was sick to the point of almost being incoherent, stopped on the trail as he heard our voices coming. We slowly and nervously escorted him the rest of the way to the 19 checkpoint, where again we waited until First Aiders were giving attention and assuring us all would be okay. Anthony and I moved on, but no longer was I in a condition to catch up ground, so we continued together at the best pace I could. When we got to 24, the decision was most difficult on what to do next. I didn’t want to quit, but it was highly questionable if I had a choice. As Anthony and I discussed it, we decided together to take the risk, and after swallowing my second pain pill we moved on. We crossed the finish line together at 12.21, far behind the 10 hours Anthony was hoping for and could have accomplished, and 2.30 after getting to the 24 checkpoint. That’s right, the last 4.6 miles took us 2.30 to finish, thanks to the condition of my knees. After helping to save two of our friends prior on trail, Anthony now had to help make sure I could finish. Without him I could not have risked the chance of being stuck on RAW alone, nor would I have likely been able to mentally approach it alone without him being there for me. It’s amazing what you get out of Mega, and I could further word what I am talking about here, but I am sure you can get there on your own. • Unless you are one of the Ironmen who absolutely are out to, and are able to, finish this race for top placement, I believe this to be 100% a team sport. If you do not have a great group of hiking friends that you do this together with, I am sure you can find people you can unite with thru hiking clubs, pages, etc. Just like addressing any physical issues you may have before taking on the Mega, I highly recommend you find a group of people you can train and enter the race with, if you don’t already have that. I didn’t address my knees, but I fortunately had my amazing friends around me, and for that I was able to go from a person who never went over 11 miles in a hike, to a person who proudly has at home a Mega Medallion. Hopefully we can all break the 10 hour mark next year as a team, maybe even better. But if that doesn’t happen for any reason, I know we all have each other’s back first and foremost, just like this year.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:52:11 +0000
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