Tussey Mountain Back USATF 50 Mile Road Championships: Race Recap

     I had Tussey Mountain Back (TMB) on the schedule since last spring. Usually I don’t plan this far ahead, but the experience was definitely worth it! The course was beautiful and quite a bit different than the other courses I have raced. TMB hosts the USATF 50 Mile National Road Championships. The roads utilized are mostly gravel fire roads that run through the Tussey Mountains in Rothrock State Forest. The elevation gain is 5,035 feet. Very little of it seemed like rolling hills, but more often long gradual climbs with a few steep climbs, and long gradual descents with a few steep descents. A really nice description of the course can be found at the TMB website.

Switchback on 3mi climb at start

     I was very fortunate to have Gary Twoey, a local ultramarathon runner, help me acclimate, and crew for me. He took me to see the entire course the day before the race. It was really nice to be able to mentally picture what was ahead of me. He also joined me for an easy 7 miler up the first 3.5 mile section, and back down the day before the race.

     The way the race unfolded was really interesting. I started out up the first 3.5 mile ascent with Mario Mendoza. We went up the gradual climb at a pretty good clip considering it was up hill. At the top, we began a rather long gradual descent, where Mario slowly gapped me by the time we reached mile five. I could see him up ahead on the less winding sections of the course. Right before the aid station at mile 11 Nick Accardo cruised up next to me. It was a bit of a surprise because I didn’t hear him coming. We chatted for a bit and picked up the pace. By the time we had passed the mile 11 aid station Mario’s gap was about half of what it had been before. I looked at my watch and noticed I was averaging a 6:27 per mile through almost 12 miles. I realized this was pretty quick for this course as Michael Wardian’s course record of 5 hrs. 33 min. 46 sec. averages out to about 6:40 per mile pace. So, when Nick pushed on I let him go.

Leaving an aid station

     I could see in the distance that Nick had caught and passed Mario. When I pulled into the next aid station I was told I was about two minutes back. With my pace still averaging 6:27 per mile, and feeling really comfortable, I was optimistic I would be able to close the gap at some point. After mile 20 I could see that Mario and Nick were not as far up as they had been. They jostled back and forth a bit as I came closer to them. At mile 25 we had a gradual climb. It was here that I caught back up with Nick. As I passed him we shared some words of encouragement, but I continued on slowly separating from Nick. 

     It was at the mile 26 aid station that I caught back up to Mario. It was the first time since mile 5 that we were side by side. He appeared to be struggling a bit so I pushed on ahead. He did not let me get too far for the next couple miles. I looked back at one of the switchbacks and saw him no more than 30 seconds behind me.

Gravel fireroad along course

     I kept a consistent effort making my pace vary a bit depending on whether I was going up or down. My average pace ranged between 6:27 per mile and 6:33 per mile. It seemed like whenever I would get a section of downhill I could always get the pace back down under 6:30 per mile, and whenever there was a climb it would creep slightly above. I was feeling pretty optimistic with the pace. My quads were noticeably sore from the hard ground and descents, but they I felt really positive about being able to push through the pain.

     By mile 39 I checked my watch and was excited that my average pace was a 6:29 per mile. I remembered from Gary’s course tour that around miles 45/46 the course became, for the most part, a gradual descent all the way to the finish line. I began to think ahead and told myself if I could just maintain a steady effort to this point I would have a good look at Wardian’s course record.

Aid station on second half of course

     The next 6 miles turned out to be more of a challenge then I had anticipated. Miles 40-45 included some of the steeper climbs on the course. My climbing legs began to falter and I began to hemorrhage time on the climbs. Miles 40-42 felt like it took as long as the entire first 40 miles of the race. I kept telling myself just get to mile 46 and I could glide downhill to the finish. When I got to mile 46 I looked at my watch and realized I would have to average about 6:20 per mile in order to finish under Wardian’s course record. I thought this would be possible, until I met the last uphill section of the course. I had forgotten about this section of maybe 600 meters where my pace slowed enough to put me in a position where I would have to cover miles 48-50 at about 6:00 per mile. Even with a gradual descent I didn’t have enough in my legs to quite pull off that pace. I gave it what I had left, which was good for 5 hrs. 35 min. 51 sec., and 1^st place.

     As we all know hind sight is 20/20, so despite being thrilled with the win I wondered about whether a more conservative pace at the start would have saved me more time at the end? Or if a strategic hit of caffeine would have given me just enough to shave two more minutes off my time? Who knows!? This is the beauty of the sport. With so many miles there is an endless amount of opportunity to learn from what we did before, and plan for what we can do different next time. All in all, I am excited about my experience at Tussey, and very satisfied with the results. In short, it was one of those races that make you look forward to the next one.

 

                       

 

Finish Line!!  fongstudio2.com

 

Products I used for Tussey Mountain Back 50 Mile

·         Fuel Belt Insulated Sahara Handheld

·         Fuel Belt Slice Handheld

·         Inov8 F-Lite 230 from Revolution Natural Running

·         Drymax Hyper Thin Running v4

·         Vespa Ultra Concentrate (5 total)

·         Extreme Endurance

·         5 Gels

·         100 oz Sports Drink

·         Garmin Forerunner 350

 

Splits: 5 hrs. 35 min. 51 sec.