Tips for the Trail - Motivation for Oak Mountain

If you ask someone competing in their first trail race, "What would you like to know?" there are a few common responses. You're likely to be asked what surfaces they'll encounter, what the weather will be, if there are hills, and why you've convinced each other to do a trail race.

The long answers could go on for a while, so the simple answers are that the course will be packed dirt and rocky, the weather will most likely be in the low 80's, sunny, and possibly muddy from some scattered thundershowers in the preceding days. Since this is an XTERRA event, you can expect some hills, but in the Oak Mountain park none of the climbs are more than 100 feet at a time so the hills are not of great concern.

In last week's Tips for the Trail, Rachel Cieslewicz wrote a very nice piece on preparing for a run on a trail you've never seen. Rather than penning more of the same, I think it's appropriate to tackle the most difficult question facing someone entering a trail race: Why am I doing this?

Asking yourself before the race will certainly yield a feeling of exhilaration. More important is during the race - when you're tired and sweaty and consider quitting.  It is easy to get caught up in your emotions when you're in the late stages of a hot-weather race, facing another hill or series of hills.  You naturally question your motivations.

In his book "The Competitive Edge," Richard Elliot discusses motivation in its relation to training and racing, and how to use your mind to achieve your greatest athletic successes. Elliot shows that the most successful runners are those who recognize that a race will hurt, and welcome the realization. To deal with this eventuality, he suggests breaking the race down into segments which are more manageable.

Trail races are inherently more difficult than road running - the features which make them harder are the same features that make them so enjoyable. If you find yourself exhausted and your mind starts wandering into thoughts of quitting, break the remaining distance into manageable segments. Get yourself to the next big tree, then to the top of the next hill, then to the bottom of that hill.  You will find that accumulating small achievements will add up to one great achievement in the end.

This advice could be especially helpful for those runners who will be running the full marathon at Oak Mountain. I believe the 42K will be reasonable for someone attempting their first trail marathon. It will by no means be an "experts only" course, but it may be overwhelming for someone who has never completed a full marathon. The first few miles should be challenging but relatively easy, but as the temperature rises it will be significantly more difficult. 
 
The median time in a road marathon is generally between 4 hours and 4:20.  From this, I would expect the winning time at Oak Mountain to be between 3:20 to 3:45 with the median time being 5:15 to 5:30. Some finishers could be on the course as long as 7 hours, if no cutoffs are enforced. Hydration will be the most important thing for this race, so competitors must pay attention to the pre-race announcements on the location of aid stations.  However, the availability of food substances will be key as well; I assume the aid stations will have some gel packs available but if not, participants should be notified to bring some energy bars or gels with them.

Breaking through the barriers your body would place on you is the ultimate reward of trail running.  The Oak Mountain runs on May 21 offer you two great opportunities: to find the discomfort which is the reality of running hard, and to succeed in spite of the discomfort. Success brings satisfaction - the smile you get from competing in an XTERRA and improving yourself makes the post-race party some of the happiest times you will ever experience. Enjoy.

Brandon Mader has been running for 12 years through high school and college, and has been a premier competitor on the XTERRA series since 2008. He is the defending men's champion of the XTERRA Oak Mountain Trail Run. He is a member of PowerBar Team Elite and the XTERRA Trail Run Ambassador Program. His official website can be found at www.runnerspace.com/MaderFist and it features weekly product reviews and a training blog.