The good news is that I that I got a PB by 30 seconds and that Mayde finished in 3:50, a bit faster than I had predicted. We started the run together.

Now, the bad news:

I cramped up badly and attempted to puke, repeatedly. I underestimated this race, specifically in the area of nutrition and paid dearly. Only one training session had gone awry for me in the time that we have been getting ready for our ultra on Feb 28th. But I didn't see today's mess coming. Even the weather was favorable and unseasonably cool and cloudy.

According to yesterday's blog entry, I had a pacing plan.

16:00 min to CF, and I got there in 15:15. The flat section was planned for 29:00, and we covered it in 29:34. From PGP to Loma Serrano was scheduled to be covered in 30 minutes, and we did that section in 29:38.

I wasn't feeling too great on the climbs and walked some stretches I had done running in training, but we were still on pace. We got to the first downhill and completed it in 11:36 (I had predicted 14 minutes).

The climb to Pajarito took us 29 minutes instead of the 20 minutes I had thought it would take us less, but it was a miscalculation on my part as we were still going at a good pace.

We passed the section for the 2.5 hr cutoff in 1:55.

The next cutoff is three hours at Piedra del Indio. To reach that point, one has got to face the biggest climb of the race. I had planned to cover it in 55:00 minutes, and it took me 55:40, clearing the 3hr cutoff by only 10 minutes. At the beginning of this climb, I had told Mayde to go on alone as I wasn't feeling as strong as usual. I was walking a lot of the runnable sections and struggling with my footing on the slippery stuff, and felt like I was holding her back. She made it five minutes before me, but I figured I would catch up on the downhill.

I had planned for the remainder of the race to take me 1:12, and Mayde definitely blew that time by completing it in 1:05. However, this is when my race fell apart: in the section that I had excelled at repeatedly during our training runs.

As I passed the aid station located at the end of the climb, I was offered water and turned around. I drank it, but could begin to feel my quads locking up when I stopped to do so. I began walking briskly on a runnable section and eased into a sort of run. Only a couple of minutes later, however, I was with my hands on my knees vomiting. Some guy passed me and told me I looked pale and offered to take me back to the control point/aid station. I thanked him but said I would try to keep going. I started to walk, feeling a bit dizzy. I knew that in a few more minutes my favorite part would begin, and I'd be kicking ass again.

However, this is where I began to cramp up. First my quads; I stopped to try to stretch them and my hamstrings seized up while doing so. As I contorted to attempt to shake the cramps off, my right calf cramped up as well. At least seven people passed me. I couldn't even shuffle. It was two steps and then stop. Some guy, whom I would later finish the race with, offered me some GU. I had not eaten but a single powergel and a bunch of powergel blasts (which I didn't like and believe these helped upset my stomach). So I downed the Gu and then another Powergel and began to shuffle, walk, cramp, shake it off and repeat the whole process for about another 20 minutes.

I got to the end of the buttsliding downhill, surprisingly passing 3 people, even in my state, in 36 minutes. This section usually takes me no more than 20 minutes.

I continued to battle with cramps, stopping so many times I can't even remember. I drank a can of Red Bull from my backpack, and they subsided for a whole 15 minutes. I picked up the pace, hoping this would last until the final downhill: the knee breaker.

As I approached the knee breaker, I began to choose the best lines and even managed to run at a good pace. I got confident and opted to go through the technical section instead of the easier-but-longer switchbacks and paid for it dearly again. The jumping required to clear that section made me cramp up again (quads, hammies, calf and now adductors as well).

I just needed to hold it together for a few more minutes. I finished the downhill, passing my Gu-sharing friend but cramping (and stopping) again about 100 meters from the finish.

From the time the cramping began till the end of the race, about an hour and a half elapsed. I'm realistically sure that I can cover that section in about an hour on any other day. It just so happened that I screwed up on race day.

Where to start:

- Not run nearly 10 hours on the previous weekend, including a marathon and some trail running (my wife and training partner did it too, but she had a good race.)

- Not run an hour and a half on the hills the day before the race (my wife and training partner did it too, but she had a good race.)

- Never ever underestimate hydration and especially nutrition. One would figure that with my track record with cramps, vomiting and dehydration, I'd have learnt this by now. I hope this finally lets this lesson sink in.

I just have to say I'm very proud of Mayde. She did all of the same training I've done so far, but seemed unfazed by it and cranked out an awesome race, beating her previous best on this course by 24 minutes. I believe that she was 4th in her very tough age group.


I felt somewhat tired and sluggish in yesterday's run, but had hoped that feeling would have gone away today. It didn't.

The long climb took its toll on me, during that section I began to slow down a bit and after that point I began puking and cramping.

I need to find whatever positives there are from this experience, and recover well for my mountain ultramarathon at the end of the month.

Mentally and physically I feel strong, but things fell apart today because of nutrition/hydration and residual tiredness from all the training we've done. Like I said, Mayde did recover and perform well.

I hate all this race drama after having put in such consistent training months for the ultra. This is not how I wanted to finish the training cycle. It's a good thing the taper weeks begin after this race.

Hopefully, "the stellar performance" will come on race day.


Venezuela's best mountain race. Excellent course at a magnificent location (El Ávila National Park), organized a very professional group.

Hard climbs and nasty downhills, but also plenty of runnable areas in only 23Km and change. I wish they'd make an ultra out of this. Also, I think that the second cutoff should be in 3:30 hours. If one just barely makes the first cutoff, there's no way that person will make it up that hill in time for the second cutoff.

Altitude: +2,130 meters/-2,114 meters.