Orcas Island 50 miler recap

View from Mount Constitution

On May 10th I began my journey to Orcas Island in Washington State.  It had been a week since my second place finish at the Evergreen Trail Trek Marathon in Grande Prairie, and I was riding pretty high.  My legs had mostly recovered from the previous week, and my resting heart rate had almost returned to normal.  The only thing still bugging me was my hamstrings, and it wasn't bad, I was just 'aware' they existed and weren't happy with me.  In the 10 days between races, I ran about 60miles, mostly slow, with minimal elevation gain (maybe 2000ft for the week).

We checked into the beautiful Rosario Hotel on the Thursday afternoon, just in time for the wind and the rain (Pacific Northwest for the win?).  This weather pattern more or less continued for the next 48 hours, which I'm told was part of a larger 8 monthes of continuous rain this area enjoys.  For anyone who knows me, I'm pretty vocal about being a skinny dude that chills easy.  Rain and cold are my mortal enemies, give me BadWater 135 weather!

Friday night rolled around, and just as I was settling in to mentally prep for the next day, my next door neighbour called to warn me my basement was suffering a sewer back up.  Queue the next 4 hours of dealing with getting my basement pumped, adjusters in, etc, all from several thousand miles away, and it's safe to say my pre race day was not in any way relaxing!  I just kind of accepted that I would have a poor sleep, life was going to be crazy for a few weeks, and the race was going to be hard.

Saturday morning...50 miles and 13000ft of elevation to go.

Heart rate readout

 The start beings at 5am.  It's cold, with that lovely moist fog in the air (the one that makes you feel wet before you even start).  In the first mile, I realize I am in trouble.  I am aware of my hamstrings, and I am cold and wet (funny the Canadian can't handle the cold eh?).  We begin climbing the first mountain (Pickett), and I warm up.  My heart rate drops dangerously low when I climb so that calms me down.  It's a nice 1400ft climb, on beautiful single track.  I've met up with a guy named Aaron, and we are having a pretty good time talking and motoring over these hills (boy can this guy climb fast!).  we end our first 13.1miles just under 2:30 which is pretty much on plan.  Now the beast...

Elevation Profile from Strava

Mount Constitution is a beast.  Gain on this 13.1 section is about 4000ft.  It's a lot of climbing.  We climb quickly up to the first false summit, and we are making decent time, somewhere around 15th place.  Then at the false summit, you drop  back down almost to the bottom of the hill, and start the climb again, because hey, why not?  Hitting the aid station at the top was a joy.  I've been consuming between 300-500 calories an hour up to this point, mostly in Kind Bar and Gu Gel form.  All systems are a go and I feel pretty fresh still.  We are about 4:15 into it at this point.  Bombing down Constitution is a blast, and we make excellent time down this beast.  We complete the first half of the race in 5:30.  Now to do it all again.

Back on track to Mount Pickette, and my legs are finally feeling good.  Like really good.  Nutrition has been on point, and my spirits are high.  The sun even came out briefly!  I realized at this point, that I needed to move my arse a little faster, as I was still pretty fresh (hour 6:30).  I was now alone as I ran the backside of Pickette.  This is a 10 mile section with no aid stations.  I had a full 1000mL of water, 4 gels, and a Kind Bar from the aid station (strawberry banana Gu gels are disgusting BTW).  This is where I began to catch and pass people.  I was feeling really good vibes for those 2 hours.

Fitbit for the day

Hour 8, and I'm back at the base of Mount Constitution feeling good forest juju.  I'm not a fast climber, but it doesn't tire me out once I've adapted to it.  It's a nice break from running.  If you happened to hear a man yodeling during your trip up, or down the mountain on the race, that was me! I was more or less alone for this segment of the journey, although I did play leapfrog with the eventual winner of the Women's race (she was a beast at those climbs!).

I hit the summit just after 9 hours, and I was moving really well.  I decided to drop the hammer as I knew the next closest guy was 10 minutes ahead of me.  Feeling as close to 100% as a person can after running 9+ hours, I blew down the hill.  I knew I was getting close to the guy in front of me (turns out it was Diego Epinosa, who I am now Strava buddies with), so I pushed hard for the last 2 miles by the lake.  I had my best mile times in those last 7 miles.  I crossed the finish line just under 10:40, and 90 seconds behind Diego (this made me 10th place).  My second lap was 20 minutes quicker than my first (5:30, 5:10).  

Face after 50 miles

Synopsis:  The course was amazing, the climbs were hard. The view from Pickette was awful, the view from Constitution was excellent.  I probably should have pushed harder earlier, as I'm sure I could have cut 30-60 minutes out of my race.  Overall though, very happy.  Now, I have a 100K race in 13 days to recover and train for.  I love this time of year, as those to things intersect so often, training and recovery.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and as always thank to my clothing sponsor Unchained Muscle (Use code josh10 for 10% off lol).

Crush your goals,

Canadian Ghost Runner