Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
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Alex Kubacki
Seth Harrison
ounce
Michael Enright
Mark B
nkrichards
Tom H
Michele "1L" Keane
Jim Lentz
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Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
This year my training was better than last year. Last year I never had an non-interrupted long run over 18 miles due to injury. This year my longest run was 29.25 miles. The week before that I did 28.5 and felt like I could do another loop (9.5 miles) at Waterfall Glen. The downside was the weather. My legs do great in the cool weather, which we had, but the headwinds while going north were very tough on Saturday. The race starts going north and after 6.25 turns around back to the start and has 4 loops total. The wind chill at the start at 6:30 AM was 29 degrees. on this part of the path there is nothing to block the wind. We also had to deal with some strange debris on the path. There was one section where you had to run on the grass instead of the blacktop trail. The winds from the previous day had left, bricks, parts of piers and sections of concrete and trail blacktop on this section of path. Later in the race the city of Chicago blocked off parts of the trail and we had to run a slightly different route. There was another section partially blocked by a large tree, but that did not affect the race. The city came in and actually cut the tree apart and removed it in short order. I did a pretty good job of keeping the pace reasonable at the start of the race. One of my big challenges in this race is starting out too fast and crashing badly between 25-30 miles. I made 3 loops, 37.5 miles before I Started doing walking with a little running thrown in to keep warm. When I was about 1 mile from the finish I hoped if I ran in all of the last mile I could make it by 9:15. My watch had died around mile 40, so it was all an estimate. I dug deep and ran the last mile and thought I finished in 9:07, but the provisional report this morning showed 9:17 and change. While that was a slight disappointment not meeting my ad-hoc goal, I still felt really good about beating last year's time by 29 minutes given the wind situation. This is my favorite race as I love the easy going atmosphere. I am sure I will do it again next year and if the weather cooperates and I don't get injured so I can put in the miles, I should be able to improve on my results from this year. I did the 50K first in 2005 and have run either that or the 50 mile race every year since. In 2011 and 2012 I didn't finish the 50 miler as I crashed trying to run for the new to then belt buckle. It took me 3 years to get that right, but now I have 2 good races in a row. Every other time I did the 50 miles or 50K I finished and was good with my time.
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Congrats, Jim on a great race in some challenging conditions. Rest up and recover well.
Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Jim, sounds like you made the best of a less than optimum situation. Way to keep your head in the game with all the twists and turns.
Tom H- Regular
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Huge improvement especially considering the conditions! Congrats!
nkrichards- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Thanks Everyone! Perhaps next year I can PR (better than 8:29).
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Well done, Jim! Those conditions definitely complicated the day, but you seemed to have it under control.
Coming from a trail running perspective it seems astounding to me to see a 50-miler where you go more than 37 miles before you walk. A totally different sort of event.
Coming from a trail running perspective it seems astounding to me to see a 50-miler where you go more than 37 miles before you walk. A totally different sort of event.
Mark B- Needs A Life
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Note to self: Carry chain saw during race in case there is a tree down across the route.
Seriously!
Great job in a crazy setting. I can only imagine what the lake looked like roiling about in those conditions.
Seriously!
Great job in a crazy setting. I can only imagine what the lake looked like roiling about in those conditions.
Michael Enright- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
WOOHOO! Nicely done, sir. I had seen the news reports about Lake Michigan behaving badly.
I guess it took a while to thaw out?
I guess it took a while to thaw out?
ounce- Needs A Life
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Well done Jim...it looks like you keep getting better at the ultra distance as you learn how to manage it. Hope you're feeling well afterwards.
Seth Harrison- Regular
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Thanks, Mark.Mark B wrote:Well done, Jim! Those conditions definitely complicated the day, but you seemed to have it under control.
Coming from a trail running perspective it seems astounding to me to see a 50-miler where you go more than 37 miles before you walk. A totally different sort of event.
It is very differnet than a trail race. I ran a 50K trail race and not at all similar.
I wish I had pictures. I saw some things on the trail that I ahve no clue what they were.Michael Enright wrote:Note to self: Carry chain saw during race in case there is a tree down across the route.
Seriously!
Great job in a crazy setting. I can only imagine what the lake looked like roiling about in those conditions.
Thanks.ounce wrote:WOOHOO! Nicely done, sir. I had seen the news reports about Lake Michigan behaving badly.
I guess it took a while to thaw out?
There wasn't anything to thaw out when I was there as it was slightly above freezing at the start. Well, I did have to thaw out my face after the first leg going north
Thanks, I feel pretty good and will be doing an easy 3 tonight.Seth Harrison wrote:Well done Jim...it looks like you keep getting better at the ultra distance as you learn how to manage it. Hope you're feeling well afterwards.
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
That's a long day in the wind Jim. Great job staying with it. Congrats on getting it done.
Alex Kubacki- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Thanks Alex.Alex Kubacki wrote:That's a long day in the wind Jim. Great job staying with it. Congrats on getting it done.
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Schaweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! It sounds like this was your tenth straight year running this ultra. That's an impressive streak. But it's even more cool that you can still run these ultras without major setbacks due to injury. Very cool Jim. Keep on keepin' on!
KBFitz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Congratulations! I remember the wind out there when I ran the 50K 4 yrs ago. Keep up the great streak!
Julie- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Thanks Kevin! When are you next in Chicago, I owe you and Chris a dinner. Now that I think about it I only seem to get injured with stupid training tricks.KBFitz wrote:Schaweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! It sounds like this was your tenth straight year running this ultra. That's an impressive streak. But it's even more cool that you can still run these ultras without major setbacks due to injury. Very cool Jim. Keep on keepin' on!
Thanks Julie! The wind was challenging, but I wish I had taken a picture of the debris on the path.Julie wrote:Congratulations! I remember the wind out there when I ran the 50K 4 yrs ago. Keep up the great streak!
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Way to go Jim. Wind is tough no doubt about it. Nice to see you pain free.
mountandog- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Lakefront 50/50 - 50 Miles
Good run, Jim. I've been out there training during the event and was mistaken for a competitor. You really get exposed to those lake winds, congrats on a fine finish.
fostever- Explaining To Spouse
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