Dirty 30 50K

This was my second crack at the infamous Dirty30 50K trail race in the mountains outside Golden, Colorado. I use the word ‘infamous’ due to the insane amount of vertical you see on this race course. Over 32 miles, your legs will take you over 7,300 feet of vertical climbing and another 7,300 feet of descending. It’s a calf-rocker, quad-rocker, lung-busting, how much do you have in you, type of race.

Homemade Tattoo of the Course

 Heading into the race, I questioned whether or not this particular race was the best choice heading towards Leadville in 10 weeks. The Leadville course is a different kind of challenging. You’re racing at a similar altitude as D30, but the continuous up and down is not the case in Leadville. It was a moot point second-guessing my decision to race this ultra, as I had paid the fee and I was going to go through the start-line regardless. 

Chris and I at the Start

 I lined up at the start with the 300ish athletes and took a few deep breaths. My friend Chris was there as well so we were able to joke around a bit to lighten the mood. The weather was perfect. There was a slight breeze and it was 50 degrees for the start. Quite a contrast to the 40 degree start in 2015! It was going to be a warm one.

The gun went off and we headed up the fire road towards the trailhead. I seeded mid-pack and let the hammerheads go. Still working on those slower starts! Once we hit the trail head, it was a long procession of power hiking uphill. We were essentially walking the first mile or so. The first 3 miles are mostly uphill, so I found my place in the group and just went steady. 

The long procession up the first hill from the start

 The first aid station at mile 5 came and went. I powered through that aid station and started the slog up the fire road towards aid 2. There were three major climbs in the next section. I power-hiked all of them every time my effort felt too labored. 

Cool volunteer

 There is a beautiful meadow on this part of the race that you run through where the whole continental divide mountain range appears in the distance. It was inspiring to look around and see the beauty gracing us on all sides.

Meadow

 I hit aid station 2 about 12 miles in and I was still feeling pretty good. The altitude was getting to me a bit and I felt like my heart rate was high for the level of effort I was putting out. All things considered though, my hamstring was doing okay and outside some breathing issues, I was set to take on the next section.

The section between aid 2 and 3 is one of the more difficult sections of the course. There is some steep vertical and rock scrambling involved. It’s so rocky that you can’t really run the downhills either to make up time. You must resolve yourself to push as steadily as you can through this section. I met a few friends along this section of the course and chatted a few miles away. When I hit the third aid station at mile 17.5, I was ready to refill my hydration pack and eat some more food. I downed a Red Bull and was on my way. 

Rock scramble

 The climb out of aid 3 is a bear. The best way to tackle the 1300 foot 3.5 mile climb is to get into a power-hike zone and just get through it. Don’t look too far up the road. I just put my head down and powered up. The trail isn’t super steep, in fact you could run it, but it goes on forever and there is no sense in burning matches.

I felt great power-hiking this race. I had a rhythm that was sustainable and I was able to cruise at 16-20 minutes uphill without killing myself. The race however was starting to get tough. I had passed mile 20 and things were starting to hurt. The heat was also starting to take its toll and I couldn’t take in enough water. I opened up a nutrition bar to try and take in some food and I couldn’t eat it and wound up throwing it away.

I cruised along steady, however, and made my way into the next aid station at mile 24. I stopped here a minute to take in some fluids and regain my composure for the next section. I knew the climb up Windy Peak would be brutal. 1600 vertical feet over 2.2 miles awaited me.

I started to run again. I made my way down into a little stream bed and made a left turn to start the Windy Peak ascent. You can see the peak way above you as you start to climb. One step at a time I slogged up the mountain. I had a couple of conversations with other athletes as I started to max out on effort. My goal time was already shot, so I just made the climb as I could, trying not to stop. I fell deep into the pain cave and since I still couldn’t get food down, my body wanted to just stop moving. At one point I was convinced I would have to walk the entire remaining 5 miles into the finish. 

Streambed

I forced out a couple of smiles to inbound athletes as I suffered to the top of Windy Peak. I stopped at the top for 30 seconds or so. Hot, sweaty and dizzy, I decided it was time to head back down the mountain.

The last several miles went by pretty easily. There was one major climb which I hiked up, but the rest was downhill to the finish. I got a second wind and was able to push the downhill. Rounding the corner, I was met with cheering fans and the finish line ahead. I sprinted all I could and crossed the finish line in 6:50:00.

Finish!

Link to Strava File

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Race Nutrition: 2200 Calories

• 500 calories pre-race (2 cliff bars)
•  100 oz Infinit (1100 calories)
•  1 Bonk Breaker (250 Calories)
• 1 Gel (100 Calories)
•  1 Can Red Bull (120 Calories)

Lessons learned:

•  I need to work on getting calories in even when I don’t want them. Start experimenting with gels and other nutrition in case I can’t eat solids at Leadville.
•  Keep trying to start slow, and potentially slower
• Power hiking works well, but don’t push the uphill too hard.