Mountain Masochist 50 Mile+ Trail Run, 11/1/08
What a nice way to end my '08 ultra season! And wow, Masochist is a TOUGH race! Not as technical as other 50s, but the climbs seems to go on forever (all 9,000 feet of them!). And in someways the fact that the majority of the race is on various types of dirt roads with good to decent footing means your legs take more pounding with the constant same motion, rather than the more varied movements of technical single track. Fortunately, there are a couple of neat single track sections to break it up. Lots of downed leaves made for pillowy footing in those sections. With all that repetitive motion (2,000 more feet of climbing than descending), it was the hamstrings and upper calves in particular that bore the brunt. Felt at times like I was on a treadmill set at a max of 15 grade, with the continuous steep and long climbs! Despite a day that wasn't too warm (never got beyond maybe the low 60s or so), I cramped quite a bit. Never enough I had to stop, but it really slowed me in s