2001 Olander Park 24-hour Race Report 9/15/01 (LONG)


It's been a while since the day I ran my first 24-hour race, the 2001 
USATF National Championships held at Olander Park in Sylvania, Ohio.  
At first it seemed silly to even attempt to write a report about a 
"loop" course.  Upon further reflection I thought it would be 
meaningful to share the experience, and hopefully provide some 
inspiration for others considering this type of event.


COURSE LAYOUT

Olander Park is the ideal venue for this type of championship event. 
The race begins in a neat little wooded area. You run on a nice path 
for a few seconds, then out of the wooded area and onto a wide road. 
Within 30-45 seconds you pass the aid station. Running in a clockwise 
fashion you pass right by parked cars, canopies and tents, where 
friends and family have set up shop (on both sides of the road) to 
assist their favorite competitors.

 I had my truck parked on the right side of the road about ¼ mile past 
the aid station. This worked perfectly. I could pick up what I wanted 
at the aid station and if there was a wrapper, cup or something else to 
discard I just left it at the truck. The added advantage to parking 
there was I could decide between the aid station and the truck whether 
I had everything deemed necessary (fluids, energy gel, whatever) to 
finish the next loop comfortably. Hey don't laugh: after about 15 hours 
of this type of activity the little things mean oh so much!   

As you wind your way around the 1.091-mile loop you pass a little lake, 
and on the left there's nice, permanent restrooms. There is no wasted 
time there because the restrooms are right beside the course. After 
passing the restroom (about the ½ mile point) you enter the wooded, 
shaded part of the course. There are porta-johns set up in two separate 
locations (also right beside the course) in this section. When you 
finish the wooded section you pass right through a scoring tent. Here 
you deposit a numbered, bar-coded tag into a small plastic bin. The 
scorers immediately grab your tag and scan it onto the computer. 

This scoring system is absolutely awesome. Each time you pass through 
the scoring tent you deposit a bar-coded tag into a shallow plastic 
bin.  At any point in the event you can know your standing, verify 
loops completed, etc just by asking the scorers. Incidentally, the tags 
are clipped to your shorts with a safety pin. Surprisingly they caused 
no interference at all. I admit to having some illogical pre-race 
anxiety about the possibility of running one or more unrecorded loops. 
Don't bother worrying. It won't happen.

After depositing your tag it's a short jog to the fantastic aid 
station. There also is a lodge house right there. At night they served 
hot food like pizza inside the lodge. They also have been known to have 
a nice fire going, and massage tables are set up and operating. I only 
know this from hearing about it because there was no way I was going 
into that lodge! Looking back on it, a piece of pizza might have been 
nice. Oh well.





TRAINING FOR THE EVENT

Without ever competing in a lengthy event like this before I was 
naturally concerned about how far I'd be able to go. Since I couldn't 
get the thought of going 100 miles out of my head it naturally became 
the goal. So the thought then turned to how to make the goal. Having 
run an average of 40 miles per week for the first eight months of 2001 
I didn't feel particularly under-trained.  I'd done minimum 20-mile 
runs (max 30) each Saturday morning for eight weeks prior to the event. 
That was a good thing to do. I also regularly did .95-mile loop repeats 
on a local park path to "get in the spirit."  That was probably also a 
good thing to do.

It goes without saying that it all starts with the training, so in my 
training runs I tried really hard to run at a pace that would make six 
mph at Olander seem easy. That was rookie overconfidence at its finest. 
In training I did run the long ones at 6.2 to 7.0 mph pace, and the 
shorter runs at 6.2 to 7.5 mph pace depending on mood. I just didn't 
realize that going six miles per hour for more than a few hours 
straight wasn't going to happen at Olander. Not for me anyway.  

I believe with all my heart that it is important, if not critically 
important to have a reasonably strong upper body (and stomach) as well. 
I lifted weights religiously two-three times a week for the entire 
year. I didn't do a ton of sets. No, no 200-pound dumbbell incline 
presses either. Just 8 or 10 sets of various exercises like bench, 
dumbbell curls, lateral pulls, seated rows, and crunches for the 
stomach. I used lighter weights, sets of 8 to 12 reps, and never spent 
more than 40 minutes in the weight room at a time. Painless. 


PRE-RACE FOOT TAPING

Here's where it really pays to be a student of the game. The 2001 "Howl 
at the Moon" 8-hr. run sure taught me a lesson about blisters, and the 
importance of proper foot care, especially preventative care.  I've 
been reading an awful lot about blister problems at loop events on 
asphalt surfaces. I did the preventative, full-foot tape job before 
Olander and VOILA! No blisters. Two major points to consider if you 
decide to try pre-taping: Make sure you try it in at least one training 
run, and make sure your shoes are big enough to handle the completed 
tape-job. I screwed up there, and ended up a little bit cramped in the 
toe-box.  That could have become a real problem. Somehow it worked out 
o.k. 


STRATEGY

My plan was to start out at a "comfortable" six-mile per hour pace and 
walk whenever I felt like it. It seemed highly logical that I would 
slow down dramatically as the hours went by and that's exactly what 
happened. Therefore the strategy was to put "miles in the bank."  I 
mentioned this notion to a pretty darn well known ultra-runner early on 
in the event and he warned me that I'd pay for it later. He was 
right…and he was wrong. After four hours I'd completed about 23 miles, 
at eight hours: 42, and at 12 hours I was just shy of 60. Not exactly 
at 6 mph pace (yeah a LOT more like 5 mph!) but that meant only 40 
miles to go and 12 hours to do it. Man that meant less than 3.5 miles 
per hour would get the job done!

For much of the last 12 hours I was slowed to a walk. The famous guy 
was right. I paid. But because of this early burst of enthusiasm I was 
able to more or less "walk-it-in" and make the goal with ease. So…would 
I employ this "go out fast and put time in the bank" strategy again? 
Yes, in a New York minute!

Some will disagree with this strategy. I must tell you the story of a 
good friend however who was at the same event, elected to start slower 
and then fell short of the same 100-mile goal. He said afterwards that 
he should have started out a little faster because after 10 hours or so 
"you're going to be tired no matter what." I'd much rather know I can 
crawl in and make the goal, rather than have the psychological and 
physical pressure of having to speed up late in the event when I'm 
tired.

So, to recap, here's my humble opinion on how to succeed at 24-hour 
events: Run as much as you can when you feel good because you're going 
to have some bad spells later for sure. Walk whenever you feel like it. 
Eat like a horse. Drink like a fish. Create a mileage buffer early if 
at all possible. Most important of all: Keep a positive attitude and 
enjoy the day. Hey, we paid to do this!



NEW FRIENDSHIPS

There is simply no better way to get to know fellow ultrarunners than 
by competing at a 24-hour (or longer!) loop event.  I had the chance to 
meet and chat with so many runners of all ability levels. It was 
awesome. Some folks offered welcome advice. All offered encouragement; 
it was such a positive, motivating experience. As for the race 
directors and the folks at the one nicely stocked aid station…well they 
were simply terrific too! What a nice touch it was when Tom Falvey, the 
race director said congratulations in advance when I was one lap away 
from 100 miles. He knew it was happening and he helped make it special. 

What I'll bring away from Olander most of all was the unparalleled 
generosity of the competitors' friends and families. When I realized 
that I'd stupidly forgot to bring enough electrolyte tablets, the 
Setnes' family was quick to throw a dozen my way. At about hour 22 
another family graciously offered aspirin or whatever else I might have 
needed. This was unsolicited, and very much appreciated generosity.

Jeff Anderson
100.392 miles 
23:11:08