What is the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra? It is a race along 32.6 miles of rugged technical trail in a remote area of the Adirondack Park Wilderness. There are no crossroads. There are no aid stations. There are no DNF’s unless you are carried. There are 3903 feet of vertical climbing, and 3478 feet of descent.
We stayed at the same inn as last year. It was very convenient, being only a mile or so from the start line. That would allow me to theoretically sleep a little longer. Many other runners camp at the finish, and take a hour and a half bus ride to the start. But I don’t sleep well before most races, and this year’s Wakely Dam Ultra was no exception. I had the alarm set for 5am, but after a fitful sleep, I finally got up at about 4:45 and shut the alarm off.
I went out to the car, and brought in some Pepsi, and a Subway sub. I drank a cold 16oz bottle of Pepsi, and ate almost half the sub. I shoved the other half into my lumbar pack. I had also brought in a 2 liter bottle of defizzed Pepsi, and filled the two 16 oz bottles I would be carrying for the race.
I showered, and shaved. I had set out most of my gear the night before. I got into my running clothes. I wore a cycling jersey named Wage Peace made by Primal Wear. It has a red, white and blue hand making a peace sign on the front. The theme of this year’s race, was the Wakely Peace Rally. I got all my stuff, and we headed downstairs. I had agreed to give another runner, who was also staying at the inn, a ride to the start. We had planned to meet at 5:45, but I was up, and he was already downstairs. We loaded into the car, and headed for the start.
I was again asked to pose giving the “Wakely Salute”. I got in trouble for doing it two years ago, and now I am requested to do it. Go figure. I signed in, and got my number. I pinned it to my shorts. Remembering the black flies from last year, I sprayed myself with bug repellent.
We beat the bus that was bringing many of the other runners to the start. But the bus arrived shortly. I finally got to meet my friend Steve who is a member of the Las Vegas Marathon running club I belong to. My buddy Rick was also on the bus.
There were photos taken, and RDJim made his speech. Then we were off to the start line which is about 100 yards into the woods. At around 6:30am, the race started.
I started off towards the back of the pack this year. My plan was to take it easy. I was going to run an easy pace, hopefully between 9-10 minute miles. And I would run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes.
I skipped my first couple walk breaks as I was running in the middle of a group of people, and the trail was narrow with little place for people the run around me if I slowed to a walk. I managed to pass a few people that were running at a slower pace. Eventually the pack thinned out, and I started my run 3, walk 2 routine.
I ran/walked. I took regular drinks of my defizzed Pepsi. I took a Vanilla-Orange Carboom gel every hour. I listened to my mp3 player which I had loaded with Ben Folds and Talking Heads.
Early on, I passed RD Jim. But then after a while he passed me back. This surprised me. 2 years ago he passed me in the final miles after I had been walking for nearly two hours straight. Last year he passed me in the middle of the course after I bonked, and had been reduced to walking. But this year he passed me early on. I asked him he was running faster this year. He said that he hadn’t hung out at the back of the pack talking with people. He disappeared ahead of me. But I eventually passed him again. He was walking up a hill and since it was one of my 3 minute run periods, I ran up it. One of my goals was to finish ahead of RD Jim.
Due to heavy rains in the days before the race, the course was very muddy. This is a thick heavy black mud. Generally I would try to run around the edges, or step on rocks and branches. But often, my feet would go into the mud anyway. At one point, I stepped in some mud, and my foot sunk halfway to my knee. And it would just stick to your shoes adding a couple pounds. I would rinse them off in a stream when I got a chance. My feet were wet for most of the race, and I felt a blister forming on one of my toes. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I might have other blisters forming as well.
In the early parts of the course there were other runners around me. Since I was doing a run walk routine, I would yo-yo with them. I would pass them when I ran, they would pass me when I walked. Or some people would be behind me. When I walked they would catch up to me, but then I would take off running.
Besides the massive amounts mud, there were the usual obstacles of rocks, roots, and fallen trees. There seemed to be a lot more blow down this year compared to the last two years. Trees are a challenge. Trying to decide whether to go over, under or around the fallen tree.
At one point I was running near a group of other runners. We came to a stream crossing. There were some boards across the stream that were slightly under water. There was also a beaver dam going across the stream. The runners ahead of me walked across the top of the beaver dam. I followed them. Then I heard a loud splash. I turned to see the runner behind me in the water. Actually, all could see were his head and shoulders. Apparently he had attempted to cross the boards, only to find that they were floating in the pool created by the beaver dam.
When I finished my bottles of Pepsi, I filled them with water out of streams. This year instead of using iodine tablets, I used a Steripen. The Steripen is a battery powered UV light that sterilizes the germs. It only takes 45 seconds for 16oz of water. Other than trying it out on some tap water at home to see how it worked, I hadn’t used it in the field. I hoped it really worked. After the water was sterilized, I would dump in some Fruit Punch flavored Gatorade powder that I had stored in 35mm film canisters. BTW, I never got sick, so I am assuming the Steripen did its job.
I had carried my digital camera, but ended up only taking a few pictures along the course. I stopped at the halfway point to take a picture of the sign. I saw a runner go straight passed me. I yelled to him, are you doing Wakely? He said yeah. I told him that he was supposed to turn here instead of going straight. Lucky I stopped here, or he would have run at least a little while before figuring out he was no longer on the blue trail.
I ran ahead of him, and after a bit found the trail disappeared. I backtracked a hundred feet or so, and found the trail had actually gone to the right, and had been blocked by a fallen tree. I made my way around the tree. But by the time I figured out the correct path, he had caught up to me and never encountered the false trail.
Around this point, I encountered a girl runner. I would pass her, and she would pass me. Overall, I was running a little faster than her. I ran for a while, then pulled out my 6 inch Subway sub. It was good. She passed me. When I was done with the sub, I started running again, and eventually passed her again. I told her she was on a very good pace. The fastest woman runner last year finished around 8:45. She was on pace to break 8 hours. But she said there were some other women up ahead somewhere. I continued running, and after a while I lost her. Then I was running alone again. I like running out there by myself. I can run at my own pace without having to worry about other runners around me. It’s peaceful. And I can sing along with my mp3 player! And I do.
When I stopped to refill my water bottle the next time, the girl passed me along with another guy. Might have been the guy I directed at the sign. I never saw either of them again until the finish. Then I was running on my own again. The bug repellent had worn off some, and the bugs were starting to bug me a little.
At about the 26 or 27 mile mark, the course flattens out a little bit. It looks like it was an access road many years ago. It’s overgrown, but it is not the up and down rugged hilly stuff from the middle of the course. I kept up my run/walk. My Sansa Clip mp3 player’s battery died 2 or 3 miles from the finish. Now I know the battery will last close to 7 and a half hours, and probably longer if I turned the volume down. I was pretty tired and just wanted to finish. I had brought another mp3 player as a backup, but I didn’t want to stop and pull it out. Last year, my iPod Shuffle died not far passed the halfway point.
I kept looking behind me expecting people to be catching up to me, but there was no-one there. Then all of a sudden someone would be right behind me. A small number of people passed me in the final miles. I think had slowed down, but I was still able to run/walk. I switched over to a run 4/walk 1. I kept expecting Steve to come running up behind me, or RD Jim. But they never did.
I was very happy to hit the final mile which is on a smooth groomed dirt road. I had one runner pass me in the final mile. I wanted to make sure no one else passed me though. I was on a one minute walk break when I came to a photographer. I asked him to wait for me to start running. He did. Then I started running, and he snapped my picture. I was so tired at this point. I really wanted to finish. I knew I was going to break 8 hours. My previous best time was 8:29. The blister on my toe was pretty painful by now. I was pretty sure it had torn. My feet felt like hamburger.
The last mile is smooth but rolling. I kept thinking, the dam will be over this next hill. Then I crested the final hill and saw the dam. Last year I did a “wazzu” (jumping and clicking my heels together) at the finish line. But this year I was too tired to do a wazzu. When I crossed the dam, I held up peace signs. Then when I crossed the finish line, I did an “RK”. This is down my laying flat on your back as if you have fallen trying to do a wazzu. The photographers got pictures of this. I finished in 7:51:48. I beat my previous best time by over 30 minutes.
Then I got up, kissed my wife, and went down to the lake to wash my feet and legs. They were covered in mud and dirt. RD Jim came in a few minutes after me.
I got changed, and cleaned up. When I took off my shoes, sure enough, there was blister on one of my toes, and it was torn. My wife brought me down a folding chair from the car. It was good to sit. I also got some food, and drank some Pepsi. I hung out waiting for other runners to come in, cheering them on. Another runner I was happy to beat, was the guy who passed me in the last mile last year. I was especially waiting for Steve. I think a few people were a little worried about Steve. You don’t see too many 6’5” guys that are close to 300 pounds running ultramarathons. But he finished a little under 11 hours. We hung out with him for a bit, then we needed to go. It was a long drive home. There was still one runner out on the course. I was hoping she was okay. But I was in no condition to be hiking in. A walk to the car was painful. I found out later that she finished a little over 12 hours.
I let my wife drive, and I slept much of the way home. We did stop at a McDonalds and got some more food.
Here is what the course looks like:
Now I was back in transition. It had stopped raining, and now was starting to get warm. I changed out of the bike shorts, into running shorts. I put on some fresh dry socks, and my running shoes. I drank a little more Pepsi, kissed my wife, and headed out on my way for the 13.1 mile run. This transition took about 11 some minutes. Again, I wasn’t rushing.
The run started out pretty good. I was not planning on ripping out a PR on the half marathon (mine being about 1:42). But I figured I could take it easy and do sub 10:00 pace and maybe come in around 2 hours. The run course was a meandering hilly thing. Actually, the biggest hills were in the first half. After that, it mellowed out. At about about mile 1.5 I saw Eric coming in the opposite direction. He yelled out “RJ, you’re a rock star!” I have no clue what he meant. But I laughed. I thought he was close to the end of the half marathon, but when I passed that spot on the way back, I realized he was just approaching mile 5, and still had a ways to go.
I started talking to a girl named Kelly about mile 5 or 6 who was running a little slower than me. I decided to run with her, and just take it easy. I wasn’t too concerned about time. So we ran and talked. It was a nice distraction. My legs were tired, and my feet were getting sore. Especially my right heel. It felt kind of bruised and hurt on each landing.
As I said, the course was meandering passing itself in many spots. So we would see runners coming back the other way. One small section was on a dirt road that turned into a single track trail. And another part we crossed in both directions was a short soft sand trail that connected two roads, and crossed some railroad tracks.
The mile markers drove me nuts. I started my Garmin 305 when I crossed the mats. When I reach mile marker 1, my Garmin said 1.30 miles. When I reached mile marker 2, it said something like 2.35 miles. When I finally reached mile marker 12, my Garmin said 13 miles. I know that the Garmin can be a little off. Such as during a 26.2 mile marathon, it will often read 26.6 at the finish. But being a mile off during half marathon? But when we crossed the finish line, my Garmin was now reading about 13.4. So the first mile was marked long, and the last mile marked short. I am guessing the whole course was actually about 13.1 miles the way it was supposed to be.
I finished the run in about 2:25. Much slower than I planned. But I finished the race in about 6:56 which is faster than the 7 hours that I originally thought I might do. I had successfully finished my first half-ironman triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.
I kissed my wife, and headed back to the bike rack to get some more Pepsi. I needed sugar! Eric’s bike was still there. I found Eric in the pavilion getting food. I got some food too. Then we went and loaded up our gear and took it to our respective cars and said our goodbyes.
Helen and I went back to our motel. I saw some other triathletes hosing off their wetsuits. I borrowed the hose and hosed off my bike. We put everything in the room. I took a quick bath to clean off the road grime, then I took a nap.
Helen and I went out for a celebratory dinner at the restaurant next to our motel. I had a rib eye steak, and Helen had the prime rib. It had been a long day, and we headed back to the motel.
The drive home was mostly uneventful. We took the freeway instead of the back roads which made for a faster drive.
As for the pain in my right heel. The next day as I was cleaning up my race gear, I found a small hard pine cone wedged into the bottom of the right shoe, right underneath the heel. I am not sure when I picked it up, but I was probably landing on it thousands of times. Oh well!
I headed to my bike rack. Eric and Bob were still there. They seemed amused that I backstroked nearly the whole way. They were gone in a minute or two.
I took the transition slowly. I didn’t want to forget anything. I got out of my wetsuit. Dried off. Wrapped a beach towel around my waist and changed into bike shorts. I filled my water bottle with Pepsi, and drank a little. I shoved half a sub into my jersey pocket. It was starting to rain again. I hadn’t brought my cycling jacket, so I wore my Boston Marathon jacket. Socks, bike shoes, helmet. A quick trip to the porta potty. I spent about 12 minutes in T1. I walked my bike to the road, and mounted.
The bike course was an out and back course made up of rolling hills. I cruised along passing more people than passed me. But then I was towards the back. I saw lots of people with flat tires. I would inquire in passing if they were okay. They usually seemed to be. But around 17 miles, I passed a woman who was stopped. I asked in passing, and I caught the word broken. I stopped and went back. It turned out she had gotten her second flat, and was out of tubes and CO2 cartridges. I had 2 spare tubes and 2 CO2’s so I gave her one of each, and headed on my way. I can use all the karma points I can get.
It rained off and on for the first 25 miles or so. My bike picked up all kinds of dirt and grit, and was making many scary sounds. I kept thinking maybe I broke a spoke. But everything seemed okay. At one point I was riding through a drizzle that was collecting on my sunglasses and making it hard to see.
Along the way I ate about 3 bananas (grabbed from volunteers) and a Carb Boom gel. At maybe mile 24, I saw Eric riding the other direction. He gave me a shout out. I passed a general store around mile 25. I decided to go around the turn around at mile 28, and stop at the general store at mile 31. This is what I did. I stopped at the general store and bought a 20oz Pepsi. I carried a $10 bill in my jersey pocket for just this purpose. I asked if they got many Tinmen coming in. She said no, never. I told her she got one. I filled my water bottle with the Pepsi, and pulled out my sub. I started eating it, then decided to eat it on the bike. I was steering with one hand and eating with the other. As I passed through Cranberry Lake there were a few people out cheering on the riders. I waved with the sub in my hand. The ride back into Tupper Lake was fun. There were nice long downhill sections in the last 5-10 miles. I actually seem to feel stronger later in long rides. On one of the final downhills I managed to reach close to 40mph coasting down on the aerobars. I polished off the rest of the Pepsi before T2. I finished the 56 mile bike ride in 3:21 which was faster than I had thought I would do. I had guessed about 3:30 or even 3:45.
It stopped raining, and as race time approached, we donned our wetsuits, and bright green swim caps, and headed down to the corrals. I had bought a tinted swim mask as recommended for this race. But I hadn’t had a chance to swim with it yet. And since it was cloudy, I opted for the clear swim mask instead, that I have been using regularly at the pool.
Our wave was set to go at 8:30. We watched as the waves before ours went. Then it was our turn. We went into the water and waited. It wasn’t cold. I put my earplugs in, got my mask on. I lined up to the back and outside expecting to be one of the slowest people. Then the horn sounded. I started the timer on my watch, and started my first open water swim. I started off doing freestyle. I was running into people in front of me. I was not super comfortable having my face down in the brownish water. I couldn’t see where I was going, and the water tasted weird. I flipped over and did backstroke. This was much more comfortable. I just backstroked my way around the lake. I watched the other swimmers around me to make sure I was going in the right direction. Occasionally I would flip over and freestyle which was faster, but after a bit, I would flip back over and return to backstroke. I watched the buoys and the volunteers on the kayaks. I would see swimmers going 90 degrees to the course till they looked around confused and got back on course. Around 2/3rds into the swim, there was a heavy rain which came and went.
As I approached the beach, I did freestyle, and saw the bottom get closer. When my hand touched bottom, and stood up and climbed out. 47 minutes. I figured about 50 minutes, so I swam faster than I thought I would. Must have been the wetsuit. Not bad considering I really only learned how to swim about a year ago. 1.2 miles down!
Part 3: Tupper Lake Tinman – The Bike
Helen and I got an early start. I pretty much already had the car packed. I just needed to put the last stuff in, and mount the bike rack and bike on the back. We dropped the dog off at boarding kennel, and headed on our way.
We took back roads. I kept my speed down using my cruise control. Avoids tickets, and saves gas. I averaged over 40mpg on the trip. We stopped at McDonalds and got some breakfast to go. Along the way, we stopped at another McDonalds in Oswego (the one at 230 W Bridge St, Oswego, NY?). I have eaten here many times on our way to and from the Adirondacks. I needed to use the restroom. There was an employee at the door saying the dining room was closed. This was at 11am. I asked if I could just come in to use the restroom. She went to ask someone, then came back and said no. It was all actually kind of rude. I ended up going next door to a gas station/convenience store. I used their restroom, and bought some candy for the trip. I will never eat at that Oswego McDonalds again.
We continued on our way. We stopped at a Subway shop along the way. I bought a footlong ham sub. This would be for breakfast the next day. I always have to remember to have food for race morning. The rest of the drive was uneventful.
We got into Tupper Lake about 2:30. We checked in to the motel (Shaheens Motel), unloaded the car. Was pleased to find they had wifi in the rooms. The website didn’t mention that. Eric was planning to be at registration about 4pm. I took a short nap. About 3:45 I called Eric and found he was in the area. But there was a storm blowing through, and he was going to wait for it to blow over. Helen and I headed down to the park. The wind was blowing, and rain was coming down. The row of porta-pottys was blown over. Wish we had gotten a picture. I ran to the registration tent. There was no one there. I found they had been told to evacuate the tent during the storm. They were all under the pavilion.
After a bit, they reopened, I checked in, got my packet and got body marked. There was food there for the racers, but I passed, as we were planning to go to dinner with Eric. I called Eric, and found he was now in the registration tent. It was great to finally meet my friend Eric who I had never met. You gotta love the internet! I have many friends who I have never met. We went and explored our spots on the bike rack, and found our pre-assigned spots were next to each other. Very cool!
We decided to go to dinner in Lake Placid at a place called Pasta La Vista. Eric’s friend Bob was coming too. Helen and I got on the road and headed towards Lake Placid. We found Pasta La Vista but it was out of business. I called Eric, and they said go to another place called Nicola’s. Helen and I just walked there, and got a table. Eric and Bob arrived shortly. We ordered. The Caesar salad was very good. The waiter recommended the Bolognese Pasta, so I had that. It was just okay. Helen had the Vongole which had clams and linguine. She said the clams were good, but the pasta was missing something. I tried it and agreed. Other than the Caesar salad, the food was unimpressive. I also had to ask multiple times for a refill on my diet coke before I finally got one. The bill showed they charged me for the second coke. Pretty much, I did not like this restaurant and cannot recommend it at all.
We said good night, and we headed our separate ways. When we got back to our motel, I went through the race bag. Not much swag. I got a t-shirt, and a couple samples, and ads for a few races. I got a bib and another number thing that was supposed to go on the bike. There was another little card with my number on it too. I couldn’t figure out was it was for. The instructions didn’t say much about the numbers at all. My bib # was 415. Cool! It had a 5 in it. And the other numbers 4 and 1 added up to 5. Surely a good sign! I got my stuff together, and organized as best I could, and went to bed.
I set the alarm for ugly early. I slept poorly. I was not nervous about the swimming, biking, or running. I was mostly concerned about forgetting something, or screwing something up. So, my brain was going through the transitions over and over.
I got up in the morning. I drank a Pepsi (non diet), and ate part of half a sub. I can never seem to eat a lot before a race. Nervous stomach I think. But I need to eat something. Real food. I loaded stuff in the car. Loaded the bike. We headed down to the race.
I took my bike in. There was supposed to be a bike safety check, but he just sort of glanced at my bike, and let me through. No glaring issues I guess. I racked my bike, then went to the car and got the rest of my stuff. Eric was there now, and I set about setting up my space. Most of my stuff, I left shoved inside a big plastic bag as it was raining. I found the little card with my number on it was a sticker for my bike helmet.
Part 2: Tupper Lake Tinman – The Swim