How I Trained for and Competed In 42 Miles and 7 Races In 3 Days: Tuck Fest Race Report

Picture this: a gigantic national park mixed with Disney World mixed with a beer garden. Now you've got a sense of what the Whitewater Center looks like. It's a 1,300-acre outdoor complex with miles of hiking and biking trails, climbing walls, ziplining, an onsite outdoor outfitters store, restaurant, music performing stage, multiple beer stands, and in the middle, the key draw is a nearly-mile long manmade whitewater rafting river with class II to class IV rapids. Plus, it's located on the banks of the Catawba with easy access to kayaking and stand up paddleboarding. 

Put together, it's all quite impressive—and quite the draw in the warmer months. If you live in the Charlotte metro, you know how busy the Whitewater Center is each summer, as tens of thousands descend to hang outside, drink beer and watch brave souls navigate the white surge of the manmade river. So you can imagine how popping it was for Tuck Fest, the Whitewater Center's annual music and adventure sports festival which celebrates the outdoors every last weekend of April. 

Since moving to Charlotte four years ago, I had been to the Whitewater Center dozens of times, but this year was my first Tuck Fest. And my interest in it? The seven trail races over the course of the weekend. After completing my first marathon last year and putting my heart and soul into training, I needed a different type of running goal that wouldn't have me living and dying by my race result. When I found Tuck Fest, I decided that was it: to run all 7 races over the weekend, which totaled 42 miles. 

How I Trained for Tuck Fest

Coming out of the marathon in November 2022, my body needed time to rebuild and recover. I had a nagging pain in my left knee that made running uncomfortable and which bothered me a ton leading up to the race and, unfortunately, during the race itself (twice after my longer run workouts during the marathon build, I had to take three days off to get the pain to a level where I could run again). After the marathon, I pulled my mileage way down, prioritized easy-pace running and the pain gradually melted away. 

Phase 1: Low Heart Rate Training

I also started heart rate training, which was helpful in that it gave me a number to fixate on other than my pace. For easy days, which was pretty much every day in the few months after the marathon, I aimed to keep my heart rate firmly in zone 2, or 70% to 75% of my max, which kept me running at around 140 bpm. This meant a lot of 8:30 and 9:00 minute pace—and even some recovery runs at 10:00 minute pace—which initially felt uncomfortably glacial but gradually became tolerable and even appreciated: a nice easy morning saunter to start the day. 

When my body was fully recovered in January, I started mixing in some light workouts—stuff like 1 mile on, 1 mile off; hill surges; 3 mile tempo runs at half marathon pace. I extended my long runs from 10 to 16 miles, and I consistently did strides on my 6 mile runs (on the last mile, 6 20 second surges with 40 seconds of rest between). I increased my mileage 10% each week, working up to 50 miles per week. My Strava graph was beautifully linear.

Phase 2: Prioritizing High Mileage

Fifty miles felt comfortable for my body, so I wanted to push it to the next level. I added a medium-long run midweek of 10 miles, extended my shortest run from 4 to 6 miles and worked in double days, running an extra 4 miles at a 9:00 minute pace in the evenings on Monday and Tuesday. I hit two weeks of 80+ miles in a row, then needed a break to let my body recover. 

In the midst of my monster mileage build in January, I felt like I was back. Mentally, I was ready for a new challenge. I fired up the old "races near me" machine, aka RunningInTheUSA.com, to see if anything sparked my competitive fire. I knew I wasn't ready for a marathon, but the trails sounded appealing and new. When I came across Tuck Fest at the Whitewater Center I knew that was it. They had a 10 miler on Friday, 6 mile race on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday, with afternoon and night 5ks sprinkled throughout. They offered a marathon challenge of 26.2 miles, where you competed for reaching that distance over the course of the weekend. It was the perfect goal for me coming out of what was a rough marathon training block: Tuck Fest prioritized distance and consistency over speed, and would push me to try a style of racing I'd never attempted. 

Races Leading Up to Tuck Fest

Given that I'd never raced the trails before, I thought it would be prudent to have at least one trail race under my belt before attempting to go 40 miles out there. After doing some research, I  chose the Frigid 10K at the Whitewater Center in February. I didn't do anything special in the way of training leading up to this race, other than continuing to run my hill-heavy neighborhood loops. I came out a bit too hot with my heart rate around 180 on the first few miles but held on for a solid 4th place finish.

I also did the Craft Beer half on April 1 in Charlotte. I was relaxed leading up to it, but my race day strategy didn't match my fitness level—similar to the Frigid 10k. I came out too fast on the first three miles and ran some gnarly positive splits (from 6:20 in the first miles to 6:50 on the last miles—highly don't recommend it) to finish in 1:24:41.

Phase 3: Taper

I'm going to use the classic excuse: life got busy. After January, I let my training slip and held around 35 to 40 miles a week for the next few months. Coming into the Craft Beer half in Charlotte, which was three weeks before Tuck Fest, I didn't have a lot of mileage on the legs. The benefit of this "strategy" is that my body wasn't overly fatigued or taxed, which turned out to be a good thing over the course of the weekend.

Tuck Fest Race Report

With training in the books and two tuneup races completed, the last thing left to do was hit the trails and compete.

Day 1: 10 Miler and a Night 4 Miler

The first race of the weekend was a 10 miler. My nerves were in check, and I was ready to have fun. I did a two mile warm up on the gravel path and through the trails, ending with a few strides. Mindful of my last two races where I ripped out the gate, spiked my heart rate too early and had to slow down, I knew I wanted to take a different approach. I did a decent job pacing through the first two miles and let the lead pack tear off without trying to keep up. I found a runner to follow, who later turned out to be a Hoka rep, but he lost me at about mile 5. It was solo running from that point onward, and I held on to my position for the last few miles, coming in 5th place. I made friends with some of other guys, who I would end up seeing and competing against throughout the weekend.

The day before big weekend, my parents came to town to help out with the kiddos. We got two hotel rooms near the Whitewater Center to spare us the hour and thirty minute roundtrip from home. After the ten miler I went home to take some work meetings and pack up the car to make the trip the hotel.

We settled in to our rooms, and then Charli and I headed to the Whitewater Center to take on the night 4 miler race. We ran it together, which made for an awesome date night—and my first ever night race. (My headlamp died so I used my iPhone flashlight; I recommend listening to your wife when she tells you to replace the batteries beforehand.)

Day 2: "Quarter Marathon," a 5k and a Night 5k 

Race number three was what they called a Quarter Marathon, aka a 10k or six miler. They called it a quarter marathon because one of the key draws of the trail racing weekend was the Marathon Challenge, where participants who raced at least 26.2 miles would get awards. I was a bit tired but ready to rock. When I arrived at the Whitewater Center, it was downpouring, and the race ended up getting delayed 30 minutes.

Pre-race, I did an extremely light warmup, 5 minutes of jogging just to get the blood flowing. Similar to the ten miler, I let the lead pack get out in front and found someone to run with who I recognized from the day before. We were in 4th and 5th place, bantering throughout as we knew we weren't competing for podium spots. Unable to quelch my competitive spirit, I surged on the last half mile to lose him. Turns out, the guy who we thought was in third place had dropped out somewhere, so I snagged my first medal of the weekend.

Next up was a 5k, about an hour and a half after the Quarter Marathon ended. I had a Huma gel and a light snack between the races. I took the first half of the 5k at a manageable pace and then sent it home on the last mile or so. I hunted down and overtook a few runners and was coasting into 3rd place on the final 100m, which was uphill. I got outkicked on that last stretch by two pairs of fresh legs, finishing in fifth place.

After the 5k, we had some family time, chilling in the sun, checking out the outdoor vendor expo and enjoying the live music. Aside from a torrential rainstorm and four-year-old temper tantrum, it was smooth sailing to the evening, where we ate dinner at the Whitewater's house restaurant, River's Edge, before the night 5k, which Charli ran with me again.

In all, this turned out to be a 23 mile day with all the walking throughout the afternoon. When we got back to the hotel, I had a massive bowl of cold vegan pesto and sundried tomato pasta pasta—straight out the tupperware—that Charli had prepped and stashed in our mini fridge, which likely saved me going into the half marathon.

Day 3: Half Marathon and 5k

I had low expectations going into day 3. At this point, I had about 30 trail miles on my legs from the past two days, plus hours of sun exposure on Saturday and general fatigue from the excitement of the weekend. I set myself up for success on the final day of racing by making sure my nutrition was on point. I had smashed the giant serving of pasta the night before, and then I had a Maurten 160 drink mix and Dave's protein bagel with chocolate almond butter for breakfast. I wanted to be safe rather than sorry out there on the trails, so I took my Nathan handheld water bottle and filled it with Nuun for electrolytes. I had a Huma gel 15 minutes beforehand, and three with me to take at miles 3 (caffeine), 8 (regular) and 12 (caffeine).

Similar to the previous races, I let the lead pack get out in front and settled into a manageable pace. I was in the thick of the chase pack for the first few miles, and there was lots of jostling and mini-moves being made. I felt pretty terrible for this bit, my body worn from a combination of racing and hotel sleep, and I wasn't sure I would even hold on to my position with the chase group.

Then on mile 5, some random guy passed me on a hilly portion and lit my competitive fire. I surged on the next hill and threw the gauntlet down for anyone from the chase group to match my pace. No one followed, and I held the attack pace for two to three minutes to make sure they were behind me for good. 

I was alone for a mile or two, somewhere between the chase pack and the lead, andthen  all of a sudden the lead guys were 30 yards ahead of me. Why not catch them and ride along? I pushed the pace, slotted in behind the third guy and was welcomed to the party. Fourth position with 5 miles to go. We fell into a nice rhythm for the next 3 miles. My guy D, who had won every race of the weekend so far, would make a move at some point, so I waited. He was content being in second place and letting the leader set our pace and tire himself out.

At mile 11, D finally dropped the hammer. No one followed him, so the three of us remaining from the lead group continued with the rhythm for the next 10 minutes, me in fourth place. I heard panting from the guy in front of me and knew there was blood in the water. I made my move on the next hill, bounding up in front of him and claiming third place. The pace was smooth and flowy, and I felt I had a bit more in the tank. I had an inkling I could take the guy in second place, who was leading for the first 10 miles of the race. He was barely holding on every time we crested a hill—if I wanted to take second, I had to make a move and risk blowing up if the other guys could match the pace. On the next downhill, I surged into second and the others backed off. I had a comfortable distance on them for the next mile and a half and coasted home into second place, my best finish of the weekend coming on the longest race.

Before the last 5k, we said hi to some friends and walked around the Whitewater Center again. Charli ran with me for the last race, bringing me home for a total of 42 miles on the weekend. 

Final Thoughts

With only one trail race in my belt before doing Tuck Fest, I was happy with my performance and placement throughout the weekend, especially on the longer half marathon race, which reminded me that the half marathon distance, especially on the trails, is plenty long enough. I won't be doing an ultra on the trails in the near future, but I'll definitely be getting out there to compete again.

Racing on the road is my first love for its test of pure speed, but trail racing plays to different strengths that I also enjoy. With the varied terrain and hilly passes, it's a combination of physical fitness, mental toughness and the elusive athletic quality of patience.