Last year's Red Hot was my first race at altitude, having moved from sea level to 8000 ft just three months prior. That sounds like lots of time, except I was simultaneously still recovering from Pine to Palm 100, so my recovery was slow and sluggish. Last year I went out at a fun pace that was inevitably too fast, and by the time I hit slick rock after mile 20 I was passed by one person after another. An ultra friend I met in NY who also (independently) moved to CO was also there, and per previous races that was the point he passed as well. My memory was that it took over six hours, but it was actually 5h 50m.
This year I stuck to the plan, and I got an opportunity to see how I have truly adjusted to altitude and to a training schedule that includes 1h 30m of commuting by car each day.
- Wore my Hokas (maximalist cushion), which was much better for downhilling on slick rock
- Went out slow, keeping caution to my pace with downhills
- Kept my nutrition schedule the entire time: drink every 8m, gel every 45m, salt at every aid station and an extra salt pull if getting tight during uphills/effort, ate at aid stations regardless of where I was in the gel schedule.
- Trusted the Hammer products, which previously my stomach didn't like but this time their Heed drink went down fine.
- Enjoyed chatting with other runners: Sean from SLC who I accordioned with most of the day, Leah from Durango who will run her second Hardrock this year, Ben from Crested Butte who had fun "old school guy" ultra stories, and Vicki from Albuquerque for whom this was her first race back after having her first kid six months ago. The PT in me always enjoys getting people to do better than they thought, and Vicki was able to push it the last four miles (once out of slick rock and climbing territory) to finish strong what with a little course knowledge.
- Regular strength training works!! I always joke, calling it my "old lady routine," but sticking to it meant that I held my own on all the climbs despite not having true hill sessions this winter, and it meant I had much more technique to rely on once tired at the end. It's not big weights, nor are they long session. Just get in, get out, and keep it a part of the program. It has been necessary to undo all those hours in the car every day.
- This year no one passed me on the slick rock section. One guy really did not want to get chicked, but his repeated drives to stay ahead took their toll. I also kept expecting my ultra friend from NY to pass, since he is better at starting slow/appropriate, but he never did. He finished about ten minutes after me, slowed by the heat. (We are not used to high 60s in CO!)
Finished in 5h 45m, which meant 9th female (a bit of a personal pride point) and five minutes off last year's time.
And since that was also Valentines Day, Nathan and I went to a movie that night. That's about as deep as we get with such things.
