2016 Kat'cina Mosa 100k Adventure Mountain Run Race Review Report - Springville, Utah

The 2016 Kat’cina Mosa 100k - Race Review

It’s done. 5th place overall with about 70 people registered, and about 55 or so finished. I have no idea how many of those were DNS or DNF. So bottom line, getting in the top 5 is certainly evidence of a good performance and I’m proud of it. Read on for the details.

I woke up about 1:30am after about 3 hours sleep and got as ready as I could and showed up at the start about 30 mins early. I did all my normal pre-race stuff. I ate a banana, a PB&J and some potato chips and gummy bears. Drank some water and called it good. My brain wanted me to have a bathroom stop before the race but that didn’t happen. Oh well, I’d probably be stopping somewhere mid-race for a visit to the bushes. The start was about as expected and at 3am we were off.

I had a really cheap headlamp with me that I used and was certainly not the dumbest decision I made during the race, but it’s certainly not the smartest either. The headlamp was barely sufficient to light my way along the Squaw Peak road. I had never used this headlamp for anything and I wasn’t even certain the batteries were fresh. With everyone else and their stellar headlamps around me for the first few miles it wasn’t so bad. I was living off the other headlamps as much as I was my own. Eventually though my excitement and determination to finish this race in good time was enough to get me out a head by myself with a few other runners so far ahead of me that they were nowhere to be seen.

Of course one of the things about being out in the front of the pack is the marking of the course. I was fairly certain I was where I needed to be but boy were the markings for this course sparse. Throughout the race I went uncomfortably long distances without seeing markers and at least 2 times I was very near turning around.

The dark lasted quite a while and my pace was well above my goal pace and I knew that this wasn’t too bad because the climbing was certainly going to slow my pace a bit. The first 3 aid stations were over and done in the dark and I was feeling good and knew I was very close to the front. The 2nd big climb to Lightning Ridge came up and I was now passing some of the early starters. I asked one of them and they said I was the third runner. I was pretty excited by this and thought that if I could maintain that position I would be in good shape.

I consider my pace climbing up to this ridge to be a good performance on my part. I was able to keep a good pace all the way up and was feel pretty good. Eventually after the ridge there was some downhill that was a little bit more than I was expecting but not overly difficult. The trail did relent every now and then and I was able to pick up the pace some more and that was going good.

I got to the next aid station at Big Springs and was in and out in what was probably too fast of a time. I don’t even know what I ate or drank looking back at it. I was too excited to keep going.

As I was leaving I heard someone say about it being a really big hard climb coming up and I almost didn’t believe them. I thought that it probably wouldn’t be that bad. But well, it turned out it was. The sun was now up and making the exposed portions of the course rather hot and there were some tricky rocky portions of the trail that wasn’t exactly easy to cross. Again, I kept up my pace as best as I could and passed a few more of the early starters and some other hikers that weren’t participants in the event.

Windy pass seemed like it was forever away from the last aid station. I kept thinking that I could see it but I really didn’t have any clue where it was. Eventually I saw some people on the skyline that was pretty far off and I felt pretty sure that’s where I was headed. I did the best I could muster and eventually made it to Windy Pass. The aid station wasn’t much and I didn’t take much from them. I distinctly remember having some chips with me outside the aid station and throwing them down because my body didn’t want to eat it. I think this might have been an indication that something wasn’t quite right.

I was told that from windy pass it was downhill to the next aid station. Yes. I wanted that more than anything. Well, there was still some climbing then it did go down. But about 5k after windy pass the course was not downhill. It was more of a roller coaster than anything and again, it felt like forever to get to the next aid station. I kept up my pace as best as I could but I was in fact walking more than I would have like to.

The trail started to go down about a mile from the next aid station and I ran as much as I could. I was low on water and energy and it was more difficult to run than it really should have been at this point.

I got to the next aid station and knew that I had to make it quick or I was going to lose my 3rd place position. I changed my shoes and socks and wiped off my feet with wet wipes - they were very dirty. At this aid station there is an out-and-back portion that must be completed. I went up and back and was in pretty poor shape by the time I got back to the aid station. I stopped and knew that I was in bad shape but didn’t know what to do about it. I was a little nauseous and low on energy and didn't have any appetite. So the only thing that I could think of doing was moving forward. I could still do that and that’s what I came here to do.

I didn’t really know what the course looked like from here. I was about mile 40 and knew that it was more or less downhill from mile 52. So I had about 12 miles that I was hoping was going to be some flat, fast road but soon after the aid station was just up and nothing but up.

I was very low on energy and wasn’t eating like I should. I thought at the time that I had been getting enough liquids but looking back I’m not sure.

I walked a lot of this part of the course and kept expecting for another runner (or fifty) to just pass me like this race was a 10k. But surprisingly, no one did catch up to me.

I didn’t know where exactly the next aid station was but it finally appeared. I sat down and asked for a Red Bull. They gave me one and I drank all of it. I took some food but don’t think I ate much of it. Putting food in my mouth was something my body didn’t want. Chewing was hard and swallowing was almost impossible. I thought I was just going to immediately throw it up. I never did yak but I was not feeling well.

The course out of this aid station kept climbing, I sort of knew it would but had hoped it wouldn’t be too bad. Well, it was still tough. The good news is at this point was that I did feel okay and was able to get up the climb with surprising speed. I wasn’t doing 9 min miles but I was able to maintain a good balance of walking and running. That red bull did something. I’m not sure what, but something. I guess.

But after the climbing up my energy began to wane again. The trail leveled out and the sun was beating down pretty hot and I hit a rough patch again. I counted steps and tried to make sure that I was walking at least as many steps as I was running and kept moving forward.

I thought to myself how hard this race was. I really was, at this point, completely hammered. I was toast. I was fried. I was whooped. I was exhausted. I was out of it. I was zapped. I knew that someone was going to pass me before the finish. I was just trying to not make it too bad.

Eventually, out of the blue, someone did pass me. He was doing a much faster pace than I was. I said good job and he and his pacer were out of sight. 4th place, well, that’s still not bad.

The next aid station finally after what felt like an eternity finally came to view. I didn’t know what to do. Drink? Eat? I could drink but didn’t really feel like I needed a lot of water. I was still disgusted by eating. Didn’t think there was any point or benefit to taking the time to force myself to eat some chips or pretzels. I sat down and the nice people at the aid station helped as much as they could. But I was done. Totally done. But totally NOT done at the same time.

So I drank some red bull and some water and just left. I was hoping that since the rest of the course was downhill I would be able to just put my head down and go but it was not to be. I ended up just walking and running. Walking a few steps and running a few steps. When the course went up I walked and when it went down I did my best to run it. But I was still just a zombie moving at a meager pace.

After what felt like another eternity I came to the next aid station. I tried to get some water and food in but didn’t do so well. Had some red bull and got some cold water. With something like 6 miles left on pavement I was thinking 4th would be good if I could just get down the canyon in a decent fashion.

Well, as I sat at the aid station another person who looked like they were on mile 2 of a 10k race flew in and out of the aid station. Good for them, honestly. Now I was in 5th place. I guess this isn’t the finish so I guess I’ll keep going. And 5th isn’t that bad, right?

My brother came up to this point on his bike and rode with me for a while. But this was no fun for him. I wasn’t able to mentally engage in anything else and I could barely run anything at this point.

Before the race started I was looking forward to some fast miles in this part of the race. I had hoped that the canyon would be downhill and shady and since it was a road be a nice way to wrap up the race. Well, for me it was about 4pm and the sun was at a perfect angle to not provide any real shade from the trees. The road was surprisingly flat from my point of view. There was nothing good about this part of the race. I even had to dodge the traffic and that was no fun either.

Well, again, I tried as best I could to run as much as possible but I really couldn’t go for more than about a quarter mile before I had to walk a little. When the road straightened I tried looking back fully expecting a group of runners to just run past me. But no one did. I couldn’t believe it.

Finally after 13 hours and 49 minutes of the worst bashing of my life I crossed the finish line. In 5th place overall!

I think I underestimated this race but then when I say that it’s sounds weird in the context of 5th place overall in a 100 kilometer race. I know I did well in that sense, but I don’t think I did well in the overall execution of it. I don’t know if I should have held back earlier in the race or did something drastically different with my nutrition. But the nausea and the heat were mighty foes.I would like to have been able to run a little bit more consistently in the last 10 miles of the race.

But this is a good effort and a good learning experience for me. Even before I did this race I knew I was going to go at it with much more of a “race” mentality than I did earlier this year at the Zion 100k (where finishing was paramount to pace or place). I wanted to take more risks with this race even if it did mean crashing and burning. I don’t see this as being my last 100k and since I think I could do better, there’s a non-zero chance I'll come back in the future.

Speedgoat 50k 2016

Done in 7:47 which is amazing. My watch says 7:46 but we’ll just take the ultrasingup.com at their word. I guess.

So the race starts. I’m still not that certain of how things are going to go. I know I have a plan but I don’t really know if I’m in better shape than last year or what to expect. I sort of thought that thinking that I could do better would be stupid to think. But anyway. Nothing too big transpires on the first part of the race. Getting to the first aid station I’m 3 mins ahead of my time from last year and I remember last year I was at the aid station longer because I had to tie my shoes. Well, I got in and out pretty fast. Got down to the halfway point in decent time. Right now looking back I do think that I might have been able to make it to the halfway point just a little bit faster if I would have tried just a little harder to make it down the river of torture. But still, at half way I was ahead of my estimated time. Now for the uphill. I took the uphill very well. I decided that I was going to run 10 steps and walk 10 steps. That may not seem like much but it was enough to get me ahead of at least 5 other people. It may have been a wash at the end of the day because some of those people passed me again but I still made time on myself compared to last year. About 6 mins faster than last year, which is absolutely awesome. So I get to the Mineral Aid Station the 2nd time and I’m doing and feeling great. I’m well ahead of last year. Of course to get to the next aid station is a lot of up so I just get out there and do it the best that I can. I was hoping to get some running steps in here but it wasn’t happening. This section is pretty steep and about 10,000 ft elevation. All I could do was just keep moving forward. No problem.

Get up to Mt Baldy in decent time and get down to the tunnel aid in good time. My split last year was 6:06 and this year I got to the same aid station in 5:40 - so i’m 26 mins ahead of my target time and I hadn’t even counted the time from getting lost last year. Hooray for that all the way home.

No problems to really speak of. In hindsight I sort of think I should have just gave a little bit more effort to get down and up parts of the course. But when I’m exceeding expectations in every way it’s hard to say that something different should have been done.

So I’m huffing and puffing up to Hidden Peak for the 2nd time and it’s great. I like the fact that there aren’t a lot of runners around me and that every 20 mins or so I pass someone.

Eventually I get to Hidden Peak the 2nd time and get in and out as quick as I can. Getting to the finish is by no means a picnic with some climbing and some pretty steep downhill still to manage. But I do okay.

Funny thing? I'm rolling up to the finish and couldn't have been more than about 1/3rd of a mile from it. I decide that I'm making good time and I'm thirsty enough that I need a drink. I take out my water bottle and slow down just a little. As I tilt my head back to drink my foot lands on a rock a little sideways and my calve muscle cramps and stops me dead in my tracks. I don't know what to do because I've never had this happen before. I can't move my leg. I try to rub it but that doesn't seem to do anything. Within probably 20 seconds I'm back up and moving to the finish. That was weird.


Notes:

Ate pbnj, a ziplock bag of chips, banana a few gummy bears about 30 mins before the race.

Did go to the bathroom before it started - always a good sign.

Felt like I drank a lot. I tried to finish off my water bottle before every aid station or finish it as I was coming in to the aid station. Tried to do the same with the electrolyte drink stuff they had as well.

Also felt like I didn’t eat as much as previous races.

Had some Red Bull at an aid station or two. No complaints.

Had some good pizza at the finish line with a sugar free red bull. An acceptable way to end the race.

Had my camp chair at the finish and that was very nice to have available.

Sponge bathed myself at the finish - at least my arms, legs and feet. Then put on some clean dry clothes. Always worth it.

Didn’t hang at aid stations at all. Always left with my water bottles filled. One with water the other with the sports drink stuff.

Ate more fruit on this course than I remember ever eating before.

Fruit is really great for eating right after eating chips or something like it. It “washes” out the crumbs. I really liked it. I hadn’t done this before. And I need to remember to do it again.

There were no gels at the aid stations? Just a big bottle that they would transfer to another container that you would have (if you did). Not a preference of mine to have it this way but I understand the desire to avoid trash and cut down on waste.

I only had maybe 2 gels outside of aid stations for the whole course. I think that last year I was trying to eat some religiously and that was probably 6.

Walk 10 steps and run 10 steps works (this is counting one as every other left footfall). It worked for me as long as I was at the right elevation which is about 8-9,000 feet. About 9500 feet it gets harder depending on how steep the trail is, of course.


I think my foot got caught up on a rock or two but no problems at all - just a very minor stumble.

I fell on my butt twice. Once while going down on the snow. No problems. Another time just going down some loose dirt and small rocks. My hands went back and luckily didn’t hit anything sharp. Very minor problems.

My Hokas (Challenger ATR) are, um, okay, I guess. They are light shoes and light doesn’t really go super well with durable. So while they have been okay shoes I’m worried that the soles are going - they look very torn and chewed up. Will they last me through the next race? I'm not confident. 

Conclusion: Knowing what to expect help me a lot and that alone probably got me plenty of time over last year. Drinking a lot helped, too. Of course training played a big part and I did have more trail miles and vert then I did last year. I'm not committed to returning next year but I'd say chances are better that I might. 

Speedgoat 50k Prep

Well no current word from the RD if the race course is going to be changed. I'm hoping it doesn't get changed but even if it does it's still going to be torture. 

I've been dedicating some mental energy to this race the last few days trying to figure out how I'm going to do better than last year and each time I go through a whole spectrum of feelings about it entirely. I go from thinking I'm in better shape than last year and that I'll do better to thinking this is the worst race ever and to think I can do any better is stupid. 

Thinking I can't do any better is usually the result of remembering how hard parts of the course were last year. I'll give it my best and I hope I can at least gain a little bit of time over last year. 

So going forward and regardless if at this point I think that I'm going to do poorly, I'm still going into the race with some strategies to improve over last year. In no particular order here they are:

1. Get to the top of Hidden Peak the first time in about the same time as last year. No logic tells me that going out faster here is going to yield positive results overall.
2. Go from Hidden Peak the first time to Pacific Mine slightly faster than last year. My hope is that I'm more prepared for technical downhill now more than I was last year. I feel as much. 
3. Go from Pacific Mine to Mineral Basin faster than last year. I think my biggest failure of last year was not moving faster across this section and doing so this year will help me get done sooner. 
4. From Mineral Basin to the Tunnel aid station is going to be a gamble for me here. I'd like to clear this distance in one hour if at all possible. 
5. Go from Tunnel to Hidden Peak as efficiently as I can. There's no doubt that at this elevation and point in the course I'm going to be knackered. All I can plan to do is move and not stop. 
6. From Hidden Peak to the Finish I just need to focus and move. 
7. Don't linger at aid stations and drink and eat a lot. 

Well, I sort of don't like that these tips for myself are a little non-specific, but it's what I have right now. I have my splits from last year and I have some target splits for this year.

It really can't be understated how hard this course is. The majority of participants are walking within the first mile. Sure maybe they are saving their legs for later but on average it couldn't be ran in the first place. Then just getting to the very top the first time is just excruciating and even more so for those who came from sea level to run this race. Then after you're trashed going up you go down and down. And then there's a lovely road that can only be described as a rocky river bottom with rocks up on rocks the size of footballs. There is absolutely no smooth shoulder and no easy way down. It's a few miles of ankle busting awesomeness. 

Then you get to the half way aid station. Wow! Half way! Then you look at your watch and double the time and feel pretty good about yourself and you're projected finish time. Then you leave that aid station benefiting from a smooth road and a few calories in your stomach and just about the time you think "this race isn't so bad" the road turns - and doesn't get rocky or technical, it just gets steep. You're forced to walk probably 90% of the time it takes to get to the next aid station because all it does is go up at a very steep grade. Up and up and up. The next aid station is basking in the sun and it is here you think, well, I made it this far and the next section is just up to the top of the tram, so I guess I'll go for it. 

You get back on the trail and again, you're just walking because who can run up 20% grades at 10,000 feet? The trail turns a few times and now you're just confused about where the course is going. You're on the course because you can see the flagging and other runners but you think you should be going a different direction. Then after you burn your legs and lungs some more going straight up a ski slope you get a road for about 100 yards and then the trail gets even worse. It goes straight up an even steeper grade and now your reaching 11,000 feet and you wish you were dead. Well, you look at your watch and think, the finish is now less than 10 miles away. You can do that, you do that distance often you just have to keep going. But why? 

Well, you did it. You got to the Tunnel aid station. and feeling pretty beat up but ready to head down to the finish just as soon as you get to Hidden Peak for the second time. All you have to do is go through the tunnel and do a mile or two. Easy. It can't be that hard. You don't remember the course profile being that bad between these aid stations. Then you go through the tunnel and go down a nice road. Just about the time you are okay the trail turns of the road and you enjoy a decent section of single track before the trail goes up again at another gruelingly steep grade. Your lungs are done. Your legs are done. Your feet can't clear the rocks any more. But I guess maybe it's the delirium setting in or maybe it's the energy from a fellow runner but you try to press on. But you think about the climbing you've done this far and how rough it's been and you don't really want to keep going. 

After a struggle with yourself that, for better or worse, took a while because your mind can't function very quickly. During that time you were able to clear another half mile or so you finally realize that the top is the only good idea. Good? Did you just think that? 

Well after you suffer through the sun exposed ridge and get to the next aid station the only thing keeping you in the race is the knowledge that the course is down to the finish. You are so convinced of this that you don't even need to ask anyone or question anything. It's down all the way to the finish. Only 5 more miles. You can do that in 40 minutes on a good day so how about an hour on a bad day? You leave the aid station and the trail is rocky and it's tricky but you manage. Then the trail takes a turn and starts going up. 

What?! Up? There is no up here. There is only down. What is up doing here? I can't do it. I don't want to do it. But I have to. There's no one else around me right now. I don't even know where else to go but to follow these stupid blue flags. You keep going the trail goes up. You die some more. Your water is almost gone and your last gel is going to kill you it tastes so bad. Finally the trail starts going flat then down again. But your body can't do either. It's done, remember. You push, you dig, you suffer, you count steps, you keep looking at your watch as the minutes tick by very, very slowly.  Finally there's signs of life and an end. It's still farther than you want it to be but you're still upright and moving forward. 

You cross the finish line and vow to never do it again. Then a few months pass and you sing up as soon as the registration opens.