How many
years will it take me to figure out how to run this thing well? Fifteen so far
and still counting! Or is 100 km a distance that I, being as stubbornly
impatient as I am, can never run comfortably? Well, I won’t know the answers of
these questions for at least another year. But first things first…
My training
in the 4-5 months leading up to the race might have been the best I have ever
done. No injuries and good consistency, except for a 15-day setback caused by a
nasty chickenpox infection, which was immediately followed by some pretty
intense field work. The key change I made relative to the previous two seasons
(a whole lot more hills) seemed to be paying off, as I had a very good race at
the Brecon Beacons 40M and completely exceeded my expectations in the leg of the Welsh Castles Relay
that I ran in early June. My only concern, having to run the brutal Welsh 1000m Peaks race only two weeks before the Vitosha 100 km, was resolved through demonic intrusion
in the form of torrential rain and flooding that prevented me from even starting the race.
Аfter a
longer than usual taper, I was raring to go and had to work hard to keep my
emotions in check. Meeting old friends at the start and chatting with them definitely
helped, but I was still relieved when we were finally off and running. I
was feeling great, despite my complete lack of heat acclimation, and ran the
initial climb pretty hard. Iliya Kutsarov and Bojko Zlatanov made it clear that they had no intentions of letting me go, so we ran together for a
good hour, with Dimitar Davidov lurking not too far behind us. Running and
chatting with these guys was probably my favorite part of the race. I had
literally run into Iliya in Sofia’s North Park last Christmas break, and we had
several excellent sessions on the ice- and snow-covered alleys and trails. I
was very impressed with his athletic ability, but even more so with his
extremely positive outlook and enthusiasm for running, so seeing him in the
race and sharing some time with him and his friend Bojko was awesome!
Both of
these guys, however, had turned up with inadequate lights and the inevitable
eventually happened. At a rocky stream crossing, Bojko stumbled and took a
pretty hard spill, Iliya gentlemanly stopped to wait for him, while Dimitar and
I kept plugging away (not so gentlemanly, but after making sure Bojko was not seriously hurt). The two
of us ran the following 8-9 miles of flat(ish) single- and double-track to
Kladnitsa fairly fast by ultramarathon standards, probably averaging around 7:30-min.
miles, and that still felt pretty effortless. We even had a little chat, before
I started pulling away ever so slightly. The rough section around Studena
Reservoir also went pretty quickly for me this year, and I got to the Studena checkpoint
(~21 miles) in 2h49, by far my fastest ever split for the first third of this
race, and about 13 min. faster than last year!
The long,
gradual climb from Bosnek to Chujpetlovo is often the crux of this race for me.
It started out well enough – I was feeling strong and calm. But then my stomach
quickly started going south and, although I tried every trick in my bag for
turning it around, it kept getting worse. I had experienced this before, but things
had always improved after no more than an hour. This time was clearly
different, and I had no idea what to expect. I knew I would slow down a lot –
there is no way to hold pace after four hours of running hard and with no chance
of getting any calories in. The question was just how much I would slow down
and how many people would catch me.
The rest of
the race was a strange combination of extreme physical pain (running 100 km
will do this to you, even without the severe stomach cramps I was experiencing)
and a manic-depressive state of mind. I would go through bad patches during
which the stomach cramps were so intense, I had to slow down to a crawl, or even
stop, and I felt like I wanted to cry. But then things would improve
temporarily and I would pick up the pace substantially, incredulous that I
could still run so fast. I would then get very optimistic and try to eat
something and make the effort more consistent…which would immediately lead to
closing the cycle.
Under
different circumstances, I would have quit as soon as I was certain my stomach
would not turn around. But with so many friends and relatives supporting me the
whole way (my mother-in-law volunteered all night and most of the day at a
checkpoint, without getting any sleep or rest!), this was simply not an option.
I was committed to running until I fell in a ditch and could not move anymore. So
I ran, walked, drank a cup of Coke at each checkpoint if I could, and prepared myself
mentally for seeing Dimitar turn a corner and catch me. Strangely, the thought
of that was not entirely negative. I knew he was going to run well this year,
and I was happy for him and for the race atmosphere this was creating. I was just
very pragmatically preparing myself for one last push when/if that happened. In
the end, I didn’t find out if I really had that in me, and cruised to a
surprisingly stress-free finish.
All is well
that ends well, they say. But I am not so sure I agree on this occasion. Yes, I
won the race and finally broke the 9-hour barrier, something I have been
dreaming of for a long time. But the way this happened leaves a lot to be improved.
Like running for more than five hours on three cups of Coke and a handful of
pretzels! And once again fighting demons through the entire second half of the
race. What did I do wrong this time? No
heat acclimation (new problem)? Starting too fast (permanent problem, and
seemingly hopeless)? Or is this just the way it is when you are pushing
yourself close to your limit?
I am
writing this literally minutes before jumping in the car and driving off to Coniston
for the start of the Lakeland 100M.
So, hopefully, I have at least subconsciously figured it all out (very doubtful
;)
Finally, here
are a few pictures from the finish (courtesy of Krasimir Metodiev, Geotrade-Ivanov, Garmin
Bulgaria):
Looking
better than I felt.
This is
about right – never again!
Best part
of ultrarunning?
I really
enjoy and value the way Dimitar and I have pushed each
other in the last two Vitosha 100 km races.
other in the last two Vitosha 100 km races.
Left to
right: Dimitar, myself, Plamen Tsukev, and Iliya.
Can’t wait to race these guys
(and many others)
again – it will take a huge effort to keep up
with their
improvement.
