'13 Virgil Crest 50

Sat. September 21, 2013
Virgil Crest Ultras
50.2 miles
~10,000' elevation gain
8 hours 29 minutes
2nd Place Overall

Overview
Virgil Crest was my first ultra and it is quite a burly course.  Although my training was very condensed (just 7 weeks) my overall result was much better than I could have predicted.  The trails were very runable and only a few small sections were really steep hikes.  My training runs up and down Killington and Pico Peaks were much more rocky (technical) and had longer steep sections than any part of Virgil Crest.  Herrick Mtn in Castleton, VT was very similar to the alpine loop and ascent to the Rock Pile.  With that said I was extremely lucky to have dry conditions for the entire 50 miles.  Later in the afternoon it stormed severely creating extremely muddy and slow conditions across all of the trails.  My hat goes off to the few and courageous 100 mile finishers!

Course profile and results from the Virgil Crest 50.  Courtesy of http://www.virgilcrestultras.com/Results.aspx#

Nutrition
I spent the week before the race making my nutrition plan for my first 50.  My plan consisted of GU's every 22 minutes, half Nuun and half water for about 20 oz per hour, salt tabs (SaltStick) as needed, and peanut butter crackers for overall hunger as needed.  My actual nutrition and hydration intake is graphed out below.  I started taking in calories an hour in to the race and started hydrating during the first 5 miles.  I ended up taking 14 GU's, slightly below projection.

Nutrition and hydration recap.  Each point represents an Aid Station and the intake since the last Aid Station.

The Aid Stations were well supplied, but my wife Hillary was the mobile chef of the day and had everything ready for me as I came in to the Aid Stations so I didn't have to stop for more than 20-30 seconds at each one.  I was feeling great until during the second alpine loop.  It is a long section from Rock Pile down to the Lift House and I dropped a water bottle along the way, I should have stopped to hydrate more before starting the Alpine Loop again.  I was starting to see black splotches in my periphery and knew I was pretty dehydrated.  The large spike in hydration was me pounding 20 ozs of water after the Alpine Loop.  I felt great again and started up the only road section on the course up a 1.5 mile hill.  As soon as I started the hill I took a GU and realized that I didn't restock calories at the Lift House since I was so worried about water.  In 30 minutes I was in need of calories, but I wouldn't get any more until the Gravel Pit.  My pace slowed and it didn't reach the Gravel Pit for another 25 minutes.  I ate everything at the Aid Station (peanut butter sandwiches, chips, chicken broth, M&M's, oranges, peanut butter crackers, ...) and took about 3-4 minutes total before taking on the last 4.4 miles to the finish.  All-in-all I had a good plan, but I learned a lot about my body and its requirements.  It is important to keep up on calories, salt, and water or else ...

Virgil Crest Course Map. Courtesy of http://www.virgilcrestultras.com/images/course/VCUCourse.jpg