Two Oceans Experience for my Chicago Running Club Newsletter!

Run as One - Two Oceans 56km (35 miles) Ultra Marathon, Cape Town, South Africa

When I first joined Oak Park Runners Club in 2001, having been a lone runner and trained for my first marathon on my own, I was overwhelmed by the knowledge and experience of veterans that had run numerous races and marathons. It was then that I learned valuable lessons and tips such as NOT wearing cotton t-shirts to run, to actually have some sort of training plan (what? You just don't run... and run... and run?), and the meaning of words like "splits" and "pacing." Fast forward more than a decade later and I find myself in Dubai among a long distance running club called Dubai Creek Striders (DCS). Once again felt overwhelmed with incessant talk and details of everything from shoe wear about "newer" shoes such as Newton's and Hoka's, Garmin jargon (can it really measure heart rate? How much REM sleep you're getting? Get emails on it? What happened to the simplicity of start and stop? Or just splits?), and then all this Ultra marathon talk. That was one I had always turned a deaf ear too. Okay, there were the 'ol 30 Ultra mile races that many in the group had done, but here in Dubai, it is a surprisingly competitive environment and I personally know people that do 24-hour 1km runs (really, they run 1km loops and it is counted how many 1km you can do in 24 hours), 100 mile runs, 7 Emirate runs (running through all the 7 Emirates of United Arab Emirates, which is 357 miles!), and on and on. You don't know who actually tops the next person with extreme events. So when I made the grand decision to challenge myself to run my first ultra marathon after seemingly "everyone is doing it," needless to say, it didn't draw that much attention. 

The Two Oceans marathon in Cape Town, South Africa, is a staple in the international running community. It is not only known as one of the most beautiful courses, but also one of the toughest as it is very top heavy, the biggest hills are pretty much after the marathon point. So how the heck do I train for this thing in Dubai, one of the flattest cities around? Well, like training for Boston last year, we get creative and I used my same tactics: Stair climbing (good thing Dubai is known for its' tall buildings!), "hill" repeats on bridges, strength training, and a couple of long drives out to Hatta, an area that neighbors Oman, and ran some hills out there. What I learned with Ultra training is it is fairly similar to marathon training, but more, more, and more. My minimum weekly run up'd to about 7 miles and longer mid-week run to 11 miles. Kept up with interval training and took the advice of "run long runs slow and run intervals hard" to the best of my capabilities. Weekend long runs obviously got longer, with my longest run being 29 miles! My peak training weeks were 60-65 miles (2 of them). The key as veterans say is running on tired legs, so I did a back to back run, such as Thursday night and then Friday morning (our weekends here are Friday and Saturday), so 12-hour gap between long runs. Then I did a couple of 12-14 mile runs two days in a row. Some others did a morning and evening run (not for me!). And of course strength training, swimming, yoga, and foam rolling! 

When race day came, I felt fairly relaxed as had done all the training and felt ready. My race strategy was to break up the runs in segments. The course is marked off in kilometers, which I have taken to here as it goes by faster, so for the 56km run, broke it up in my head with little "rewards" at 15km, 21km, 30km, 42km, 50km - this was anything from taking a jelly bean, GU, or treat on the course. This race has all participants have their bib numbers on the front and back of their shirts, and on it was the number of Two Ocean Ultra runs you've done AND your age decade. So under 40 years old was blank, then it had "40" for anyone between 40-49, "50" for anyone between 50-59, and so on. I immediately noticed that I was in the minority for being under 40 years old. I was pleasantly surprised at not only how many runners were over 40, but how many had done so many ultras! The most I saw was 34, this gentleman was going strong being over 60 y/o. Needless to say, this was quite inspirational! Being distracted by this and the beautiful scenery was enough to keep me smiling and enjoying the run, especially that South Africans are so friendly and a few welcomed me and encouraged me, seeing it was my first and that I came from Dubai. As the first 30km is mostly flat, that went by in a flash. The first big o hill was just after that point, Chapman's Peak, which surprisingly was fairly smooth as legs were still "fresh." The 7 km downhill after that seemed never ending and it was tough to stay relaxed and "light" on my feet to not kill the quads. Then, as many of these veteran's mentioned, "the race starts just after the marathon marker," and boy was that true! Constantia's Nek is a long steep slope that, upon seeing pretty much everyone around me walking, I walked. It was a nice break, to be honest, and then was more "rested" for the rolling hills after that. But just when you think things are tough with majority of the hills being that last 10km, at 48-50km, is a road that has these very steep camber's, so the footing was super hard and that's when the twinges started in my legs. Fortunately was able to shake them out a bit, and I knew after that section, although still some more hills, the road was smooth. The finish comes into rugby stadium, full of huge crowds, cheering, and of course the finish line! My final time was 5 hours and 27 minutes!!!

So for anyone that is thinking about doing an Ultra marathon, age is just a number and it really isn't that different than a marathon and it is that much more rewarding to run longer at a slower pace. Having the hills to break up the muscle groups had a much quicker recovery than expected and am grateful to have such a relaxed, enjoyable, and healthy run! And there it is, I'm an Ultra Woman!

And... finally pics for the newsletter (everyone likes pics!):