2019 Rat Race 50K

My cool finisher mug!

A Cinderella Story Without The Cinderella Ending

Even though everyone had told me he wasn’t that far ahead and that I could catch him, I was not prepared for the kick at the finish. Honestly, what are the odds that in a four plus hour race it will come down to who has a faster kick for the last quarter mile. The chances are pretty slim, but it happened. It was the type of ultra finish I had dreamed of witnessing and to have been more than just a spectator to it and to have had the honor to share it with the caliber of athlete that I did left me downright giddy for weeks. This is my story of the inaugural Rat Race 50k!

The Rat Race trail runs have been an annual event for awhile; I only became aware of them last year. I ran it for the first time last year, opting for the longest distance offered, the 20k. This year the RD decided to offer a 50k option. I happily partook. In the past, both the 10k and 20k distances used the same 10k loop to reach their total distance. Until arriving at the race, I was expecting this to be the case with the newly offered 50k distance. To my surprise and satisfaction the RD had altered the course a bit for the 50k runners. Rather than five laps of the 10k loop, he added a longer 20k loop which was then followed up with three laps around the original 10k course. If you want a more in depth description of the 10k loop, go to my race report from last year on the 20k. As happy as I was to hear that I wouldn’t be running five laps of the 10k course, the added 20k loop to start was not 20k of completely fresh trail. In fact, about half of the large loop was the same trail as the 10k loop (see Strava map). And all of the added distance to the large loop was either fire road or powerline cuts, no new single track. I’m not trying to complain here, just making it clear that the 50k is for the most part achieved by running the 10k course five times.

With this being my first race of the year, my primary goals were to test out my fitness level, get adapted to those pre race jitters before my “A” races, and have some fun of course. If everything went well, I hoped to set a new 50k PR (4:54:29) for myself as well. Why did I have such high hopes for my first race of the year? I went about training over winter completely differently in this past offseason than I have since I started running ultramarathons. I got myself a gym membership and started building up my mileage and doing some speedwork on the treadmill in January after light mileage in November and December. I’ve found that I enjoy a couple months of lower mileage to allow the body to recover and to avoid burnout after heavy training and racing. This year I increased mileage and intensity more quickly with access to the treadmill. I wasn’t sure how well all of the treadmill miles would transfer to trail running, but I was excited to find out and hoped for the best results, a 50k PR. 

All set, ready to race!

The week before the race the timing company sent out an email with a link to the entrants list. I scanned it to see if anyone I knew would be running the 50k. I didn’t see any names I recognized except for Rich Riopel. If you’re not familiar with who Rich is, in short, he is one of the best ultrarunners to come out of NJ. He has qualified for and represented the USA multiple years on the 24 Hour National Team to compete at the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) 24 Hour World Championship. If you want more evidence that he is an accomplished ultrarunner, just look at his Ultrasignup results. Why am I giving you all of this information about Rich? Well, he is a main character in my race report.

As we all took off from the start the course started off following the same unpaved road that the 10k loop starts on. I was following Rich and one other runner when early on, probably a quarter to half mile from the start, Rich hops of to the side and begins retying a shoelace. I passed him at that point and expected to see him passing me within a couple minutes. To my surprise, I ran with the other lead runner for a couple miles at what felt like a pace that I could maintain for the entire 50k and there was no sign of Rich. We were doing around eight minute miles and it was feeling good so I tried to maintain it knowing that the 10k loop was more technical than what I was running on this bigger loop. Other than some sandy sections, and even those were runnable, it was all easily runnable. I figured to meet my goal I only had to average 8:30 miles so I was trying to bank some time for the loops around the 10k course which I figured would be a bit slower paced. The 10k loop was a bit more wet than it had been last year and the wet spots were a bit sloppier and more treacherous than I recalled. Regardless, I made it around the large 20k loop and back to the start/finish at about 1:34 with only another 30k to run. 

A Strava Flyby screenshot of just before the final lead change of the race!

Starting my first of three loops around the 10k course, I began to wonder what the heck happened to Rich. Did he drop? Was he just here for a fun run and jiking this 50k? These questions were answered about two miles later when he passed me just a bit before hopping on to the start of the single track portion of the course. I tried to keep up with for him a bit and soon realized he was in no way jiking this thing. With the curvy, heavily vegetated trails it didn’t take too long before he was out of sight. I was shocked to see him again just a couple miles later making his way back onto the trail. I assume he must have made a pit stop and he hopped back on to the trail just behind me. Having him right behind me and knowing that we were in the first and second at about the halfway point of the race lit a bit of a fire under me and I pushed a bit harder than I probably otherwise would have. We ran within a couple paces of each other for about a mile until the course pops off from the single track to a short unpaved road section again. At that point Rich cranked it up a bit and pulled ahead. I tried to give chase and kept him from pulling out of sight on the unpaved road section, but shortly after being back on the single track he was gone again. 

Battle wounds.

Going out for my second to last lap and knowing he wasn’t that far ahead I tried to push harder and earlier than I had intended. I could see him in the distance on the long straight fire road sections that start the loop, but as soon as we reached the single track again there was no sign of him. I tried to maintain my pace hoping that he may slow down and I’d have a chance to run with him again, but my other motivation to keep a good pace during this lap was completely unrelated to my race goals. My wife was running the 10k and with the staggered timing of the start times of the multiple distances if I had any chance to see my wife on the course it was during this lap. I was pushing hard during this lap in hopes I would get to see her and give a few words of encouragement. It was the first race she had run in a long time, her first trail race ever, and the first race we had run together in an even looonger time. It was great motivation for me to push, even more than chasing after first place at the moment, but to no avail. I wouldn’t see her until passing through the start/finish area for the final time. 

As I passed through the last time I was surprised at how encouraging the few people hanging out were. They were excitedly telling me that first place wasn’t far ahead and that I could catch him. One person even said he was only ahead by maybe a couple minutes. With that information and knowing it was my final lap, I ate my last Honey Stinger gel (I believe my sixth of the day) and pushed as hard as I could for the last easily runnable section of the course before the single track. I thought to myself that maybe I’d catch a glimpse of him on the long straight road, but nope. I held on to a bit of hope running the single track, but by the halfway point with only about three miles to go I had pretty much lost hope and started comforting myself by focusing on the positives. I was going to be able to pretty much cruise into a second place finish. I was going to set a new 50k PR with a finish time of easily under 4:30. From then on, my main motivation to not totally just coast in was to improve my PR by as much as possible and hang on to second place. I had lost all hope of catching up to first. 

All I need for a 50k.

That is until about a half mile from the finish when I heard some grunting and heavy breathing from behind me. It was just before the little wetland section of the course around the lake where there’s a couple of single log pathways for water crossings. Basically a section that is unrunnable. I looked back initially thinking it was probably a 20k runner sprinting it in to the finish. I was shocked to see Rich behind me with a full head of steam sprinting to catch up to me. Shock quickly turned to a mixture of fear, confusion, and panic. I would have to run this unrunnable section and then sprint the last quarter mile or so if I wanted to have a shot at first which just a few seconds ago I had already thought a completely lost cause. I tried my best to get across the logs quickly without falling and then going into any kind of a sprint that I had left. It wasn’t long after that the wet section that the trail widens then a quick left up a little hill and about a 100 yard dash across a grass field to the finish line. It was just before the left turn that Rich passed me. At that point I knew that I would have to give it everything to have any chance of keeping up with him. I was mentally committed, but my body wasn’t. My tired legs showed themselves as I tried to sprint up the little hill only to catch a toe, go down and skid on one knee for a bit before pushing myself back up onto my feet with both hands. It felt like only a second, but by the time I was back on my feet I knew I didn’t have a chance of catching him. He only had a few paces on me but I was moving like I had just run a 50k and he was moving like he was finishing a 5k.

Video Credit:  Greg Lassik

I was proud enough to at least continue to run it in as hard as I could even when I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch him. And amazingly, from the point just after my fall to the finish line was all caught on video by a spectator. In the end I finished in 4:15:24 just 10 seconds behind Rich. After congratulating one another on a ridiculously exciting ultra finish, I had to find out how it came to be. As it turned out, Rich had missed a turn about a mile from the finish and did an extra half mile or so. Sometime during that extra out and back he did, I unknowingly passed him. In retrospect, I can’t be disappointed with how the day turned out. I improved my 50k PR by almost 40 minutes! I raced a world class ultrarunner for much of a 50k to finish only 10 seconds behind him after a sprint to the finish. I mean, I could be super disappointed that I didn’t manage to sneak in with first place, but that wouldn’t be as much fun so I’ll stick with what has worked best for me in the broader scope of ultrarunning and be happy about all the positives.

Photo at the finish.

Scott Snell
April 8, 2019

Were CEP Compression Socks Responsible For My 50K PR?

"Disclaimer: I received a pair of CEP 3.0 Tall Compression Socks to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

When my CEP 3.0 tall compression socks arrived in the mail I was excited to try them out to see if they lived up to the hype I’ve heard. When I say hype, I don’t specifically mean just CEP compression socks, but the running benefits of compression socks in general. I see them being worn by many ultrarunners and shorter distance runners and have heard many runners rave about them. My experience with them is limited. I’ve only worn a single pair for a couple days immediately following my first 100 mile race. Maybe they helped with recovery a bit, but it is hard to say as it was still somewhat painful and a bit rough on my body as a whole. Although, if the recovery from my first 100 miler didn’t hurt to a certain degree, in my opinion I would say I probably did something wrong for it.

My first reaction to my new CEP 3.0 tall compression socks was eagerness to get outside and run a hard paced 10 miler. The fact that this was my first non-treadmill run in awhile and the weather had finally warmed enough to be comfortable to run in shorts in early March may have contributed to my zest to get out and run on this particular occasion. My second impression of these new socks was “Dang! These things are really tough to put on!” Well that ten miler went really well, even earning some Strava Best Effort medals (https://strava.app.link/dGqJLCdEjV)! Everything felt great for the entire ten, including my feet and calves. And after a few more trial runs, managing to put the socks on became much easier with a little practice and learned technique.

After a few more weeks and test runs, it was time for the real test: wearing my CEP compression socks for my first race of the season, Rat Race 50k. I figured if 31 miles of trails with a few stretches of semi technical terrain went well wearing CEP socks, I would be a convert as well. I'm happy to report that the race went wonderfully (improving my 50k PR from 4:54:29 to 4:15:24) and the socks performed beautifully (race report). My greatest concerns when trying new socks for long runs is comfort and blister prevention. I was relieved to find CEP compression socks kept my feet feeling good for the whole distance and I went home without a single blister. I’m not naive enough to credit any pair of socks for a nearly 40 minute improvement in my 50K PR nor am I too bashful to claim that it was my hard work that was the primary factor that made that degree of improvement possible. However, I am willing to admit that a quality pair of socks never hurts the cause and if a placebo effect improves my performance, I’ll take it. 

So that is just my anecdotal experience with CEP compression socks, but as a skeptic I always ask what the research shows when I hear anecdotal evidence. Many claims are made by companies selling the socks: improved blood flow, reduced swelling, muscle stabilization, and decreased recovery time among others. All sound like great benefits, but does the research support these claims? Armstrong et al. (2015) found in a randomized, replicated study that the wearing of compression socks for 48 hours immediately after running a marathon reduced recovery time. This conclusion was reached based on the data showing a significant difference in the amount of time it took for participants to reach exhaustion during a controlled, incline treadmill run two weeks before and after running a marathon. The time until exhaustion for the treadmill run after the marathon for the group of runners wearing placebo socks decreased by 3.4% while the time increased for the compression sock group by 2.6%. A similar study performed by Kemmler et al. (2009) came to similar conclusions, finding that running performance was significantly improved by calf muscle compression.

If I haven’t sold you on them yet (not that I’m trying to), here are three quick points that may close the deal:

1. They look and feel good (at a very minimum cover bad calf tattoos)
2. Six Month Guarantee: 150-200 wears before compression lessens
3. Thirty Day Return Policy: No questions asked money back guarantee

If you would like to try out a pair of CEP compression socks for yourself, they are available on Amazon. The 3.0 socks I tested are currently available for $59.95. If you want to give just the calf sleeves without the socks a try, they are available for $39.95.

It's not everyday you get to run trails with Rich Riopel, some NJ ultrarunning pride showing here.

Works Cited:

Armstrong, S.A., E.S. Till, S.R. Maloney, and G.A Harris. 2015. Compression Socks and Functional Recovery Following Marathon Running: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 29(2):528-533. 

Kemmler, W., S. Stengel, C. Kockritz, J. Mayhew, A. Wassermann, and J. Zapf. 2009. Effect of Compression Stockings on Running Performance in Men Runners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 23(1):101-105.

24 Treadmill Miles To The Bowl

Twenty four miles on one bowl of oatmeal.

Just this morning I finished what will probably be my last long run (24 miles on the treadmill) prior to my first race of the year, the Rat Race 50k. It felt good for having not run much in the last week due to work obligations and some family celebrations. I know a whole lot of people will disagree with my opinion, but it wasn’t that bad doing a long run on the treadmill. Especially since I have a pretty solid spotify playlist prepared just for such occasions. The other benefit of long runs on the treadmill is the ability to set the pace and stick to it mindlessly, which is what I had planned for this run. I ran the first 18 miles at my target race pace for the NJ Novo Nordisk Marathon, (8:30/mile) which would be under my marathon PR by less than a minute. After that I increased my pace slightly until the last 2 miles when I ran sub 8 minute miles. Being able to run 22 miles at my target pace without feeling like I was struggling at all and then being able to pick up my pace a bit at the end is a huge confidence booster for my PR goal at the NJ marathon. However, I still have my doubts about whether I’ll actually pull it off. Not because I don’t think the fitness or ability will be there, but because the Hyner 50k is the weekend before. And not just because the Hyner is a tough 50k with some big climbs, but because now that I’m committed to running the PA Triple Crown Series all three of those races (which begin with Hyner 50k) are my “A” races for the year. This means that I intend to not hold anything back at Hyner and if it goes well and there’s nothing left in the tank at the finish, I likely won’t be fully recovered after one week when I go for the marathon PR. Whether I blame poor planning or just myself for making stupid decisions doesn’t really matter because I’m not changing my plans regardless of how dumb they may be. The way I see it is if I do run a good time at Hyner and still hit my marathon PR goal it will just be that much more impressive. Additionally, it will likely motivate me to go for another marathon PR soon after in hopes that I could surely run a better time on fresh legs.

Before I wrap this up, just a side note, or more so a bit of a humorous story. One of the earlier mentioned family celebrations was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos of PA. While this trip took some time away from what would have been dedicated training time, I still got on a treadmill to run at the Great Wolf Lodge resort. While it wasn’t a great work out or run, it was a pretty entertaining one. The fitness room is small even by hotel fitness room standards. And one of the three walls is made of glass windows along a busy hallway. This hallway is a pretty high traffic area between the water park, arcade, and a wing of the hotel rooms. Never before have I had more ice cream eating children stopping to stare at me running on a treadmill than during this treadmill run at Great Wolf Lodge. I’m not complaining about this. I actually found it pretty humorous at the time and still do. It was somewhat surreal as I kind of felt like I was an attraction at the resort with all of the attention I was getting. If you’re ever at a Great Wolf Lodge don’t totally blow off your work out if the weather is crappy, you’re slightly drunk, or just feeling exhausted. Find the fitness room and run some miles on the treadmill. It will entertain the kids roaming the halls and if you’re like me you’ll get a few chuckles from their fascination.


Scott Snell
March 2, 2019

Training for Ultras On a Treadmill

I totally take back this meme I made a year ago.

If you’ve been a follower of my blog, you’ll know that I’ve struggled with deciding what the heck I’m running this year. Well, I registered for the entire PA Triple Crown Series for the third straight year. With the decision made and me being committed to running the PA Triple Crown Series this year, I knew it was time to get serious about training. Whether I opted to run the series or not, it was time to quit giving in to excuses and start building up some mileage for whatever I decided I was going to run this year. In the past two years I felt like it wasn’t my overall fitness level that took away from my finishing time at Hyner, but rather the big climbs and my lack of being prepared for them. So, I intend to change that this year. I got myself a membership at the local Planet Fitness so I could start training earlier, lose less fitness over winter, and train on some incline rather than just running pancake flat South Jersey. I’m also putting in some time on that stair stepper machine thingie in an effort to help build the quads.

My training for both years leading up to Hyner was pretty similar in mileage and terrain (see Table 1 below). Not surprisingly, my results were pretty similar as well. In 2017 and 2018 I finished in 5:36:36 and 5:42:02 respectively (race reports here 2017 and here 2018). This year has already been a bit of a change with the treadmill workouts allowing me to more readily and comfortably increase volume, mix in continuous 15% incline reps, and increase intensity. I feel these three aspects of training on a treadmill may work to my benefit as I concurrently train for Hyner 50k and the Novo Nordisk New Jersey Marathon.

Table 1 shows my monthly mileage totals leading up to the Hyner 50k in 2017 and 2018.

Month	2017	2018
January	164	136
February	80	128
March	128	164
Total	372	428

The first benefit of the treadmill training I’ve felt is just the ease of increasing volume. With January almost over I have about 180 miles for the month, a pretty big increase over last year. Surprisingly, it felt pretty painless to go from two months of lower than average mileage to a higher than average month on the treadmill. Maybe the primary reason is because I’m not a fan of cold weather running. And the main reason I’m not a fan of running in the cold is because the cold, dry air tends to trigger my asthma while running. I’m a fan of running for 24 hours in the heat and humidity, but once it gets too chilly I just can’t breathe which makes running miserable. And no, for the most part I don’t think of running for 24 hours as being miserable. The treadmill takes away the “sucky weather excuse” altogether for not getting a workout in which has helped me increase my volume of running this past month. I readily admit that I have fallen victim to using that excuse. After getting home for work, cooking dinner for the kids, doing homework, and getting the kids ready for bed it can be tough to be motivated to get out for a run in the dark even if it’s just cold. And if it’s rainy, cold, and windy, the “sucky weather excuse” sounds even better. Thanks to the gym and the treadmill, it’s no longer an excuse.

The second benefit of the treadmill is the option to run some incline. Granted, the maximum 15% grade of the treadmill is nothing compared to the final climb (SOB) at Hyner, but it is still better than the average route I run in South Jersey. I do have a few areas I can run where there is the option of doing some short hill repeats, but I am not aware of any area in South Jersey where I could train on a long, continuous climb.

A video showing the hills I use for hill repeats at the Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve.

The third potential benefit I hope to eek out of this treadmill training is more quality workouts with higher intensity. We’ve all heard the old phrase that “quality is more important than quantity” in many situations, including running. Heck, there’s even a podcast that plays on this concept (Ten Junk Miles). Although I would argue that there is no such thing as a “junk mile” as long as I enjoyed running it, I am also well aware that not all runs provide equal training benefits. For reasons I mentioned earlier (that whole asthma and not being able to breath thing) my cold weather runs tend to be at a much lower intensity than I can maintain during the summer months. Not only am I able to do some higher intensity runs on the treadmill, I’m able to do it in an extremely organized fashion. Whether it’s half mile high intensity followed by a half mile recovery or three quarter mile easy pace with quarter mile sprints, I just set the treadmill and run it.

So, what does my treadmill incline workout look like? I set the treadmill to max incline at 15% for a mile which should be 792 feet of gain. I do three sets of max incline after three faster sets of 5 miles at 1% grade (264 feet of gain each). If my math is correct it puts me at a total gain of 3168 feet. Which I’m hoping will have me better prepared for the 7500 feet of gain at Hyner in April that has been a major shock to my quads for the last two years.

A video showing how I feel on the treadmill.

Scott Snell
January 31, 2019

Are Treadmills Torture? Not With Zwift!

Disclaimer: I received a Zwift runpod to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Most trail runners I know tend to have a pretty negative opinion of treadmill running, some I would dare to say even hate it. Maybe it’s because of what is missing from the running experience when on a lush trail in the sun compared to the typical gym environment in which you find treadmills to commonly occur:  no fresh air, no wind in your hair, no sounds of birds calling or water flowing. Maybe it’s because of what the gym environment adds:  “gymtimidation”, all of the current hottest music tracks (sorry, not a fan of most), scents of the locker room, muscle heads admiring themselves on the expansively mirrored walls. Maybe it has something to do with social anxiety and the feeling of freedom that is provided by running alone outdoors. Or just maybe it’s due to the fact that these dreadmill hating trail runners can’t overcome the fact that the origin of the treadmill can be traced back to devices used as a form of punishment and prison labor in the early Victorian period in Britain. British engineer Sir William Cubitt is credited for the introduction of treadmills as a form of prison labor in 1818. The penal treadmills were used to grind grain in 44 English prisons at their peak. Over time, the practice waned and was ultimately abolished in 1902 when Britain passed the Prisons Act (1898).

By Google scan of 1864 book by Henry Mayhew & John Binny - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TGAJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA306

Whatever the reason or reservations trail runners have for avoiding treadmill running, there is now a tool available that aims to improve the overall treadmill experience. The team at Zwift has created a product that virtually transports a treadmill run to almost anywhere in the world. Popular routes from the US include Richmond and New York. Popular oversea courses feature Innsbruck and London. The fantasy island of Watopia is even an option for zifters.

And the benefits don’t stop at running virtual courses. Zwift offers structured training workouts to help you prepare for your next 5K, half marathon, or triathlon. Additionally, the Zwift platform also offers a community to train with. If you want to run with friends who are on the other side of the world, Zwift makes that possible with virtual group runs.

Since I’m not a particularly huge fan of treadmill running I thought Zwift would be perfect for me to make any treadmill running I do more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the required app that syncs with the Zwift runpod was not compatible with my Android phone (LG Stylo 2 plus) so I was never able to personally experience the Zwift platform. As of now the app is only fully available on the Apple store. The Android app is currently still in beta form and from what I could gather is only compatible with newer Android devices. There is also the PC or Mac version of the software that can be used if your treadmill set up allows (I couldn’t manage to pull this off at my local Planet Fitness).

Although I wasn’t able to partake in the excitement of going for a Zwift run, plenty of my fellow BibRave Pros have and had lots of positive things to say about it. Heck, they even made me feel a little jealous of a treadmill run?! Here’s a sampling of some of their reviews after experiencing some Zwift virtual runs.

BibRave Pro Product Review: Zwift - YouTube

Review: Zwift Indoor Training App – The Marathon Lady

BibRave + The Running Event = A HECK OF A GOOD TIME | Scootadoot

Zwift Run! – Jenna Runs

Taking the “dread” out of dreadmill: a review of the Zwift run pod

Hate running on the treadmill? Try Zwift – She Runs by the Seashore