An Interview with Nickademus de la Rosa

On stepping back to shorter distances and winning Quicksilver 50K

This past weekend, Nick and I drove up to the San Jose region, stayed overnight in a nearby studio with Cashew, and prepared for Quicksilver 50K the following morning. The race wasn’t for me, but for Nick. This time I’d be the one crewing.

Nick has been reassessing his relationship with running for several years, and part of that work has been challenging his own preconceived notions about the type of runner he can be. Historically he’s excelled at very long, very extreme races: Barkley Marathons, Tor des Geants, Arrowhead 135, Badwater…and while his results at these have been incredibly strong, he’s explained that some of the races were chosen because he didn’t think he stood a chance at running shorter, faster races.

So he’s working to change that.

Nick and I a few minutes after he finished the Barkley Marathons in 2013.

At the finish of Tor des Geants, Nick’s second time at the 205-mile race. After placing 7th in 2013, he came back to finish 2nd in 2014, seen here.

After spending an unseasonably hot morning at Almaden Quicksilver County Park and seeing Nick fly from aid station to station, I watched him win the race. And while a win is a win, what I also saw was a different runner: someone who was excited to win, sure, but more importantly someone who was learning to reshape their own limiting beliefs about the type of runner they can be.

With that in mind, I decided to interview my own husband about his experience at Quicksilver!

Getting ready for the 7am start.

Why Quicksilver 50K?

Nearing the end of my sports psychology program and being in the current process of collecting hours towards my license, I’ve been discussing with Jade and my coach, David Roche, over the past few months that I wanted to return to the shorter distance ultras and challenge the rather fixed mindset belief that I’ve held for quite some time—the belief I’m just not one of those fast runners and I need to do 100 milers if I am going to do well. Quicksilver 50km was a competitive, semi-local event that would challenge that notion. 

Can you give me a rundown of the race from start to finish? How did it play out?

My coach and I had discussed the idea of keeping wet the whole race. This literally meant soaking my shirt in water moments before the start went off and starting off in the cool 50-degree weather much colder than I was accustomed to. The race starts with a big fat climb. Nothing too out of the ordinary from what we have here on the Central Coast and steep but not impossible. I went out with the front pack and we formed, from what I could tell, a group of about 4-5 of us. I could feel myself breathing heavier than the guy ahead of me on the steeper climbs, so I held back and then caught back up on the flats and downs. Things went back and forth like this through mile 6 where John Matson (as I later learned his name) pulled a bit ahead on one of the climbs coming off of Mt. Umunhum. John was breathing and speaking really easy. I logged that in the back of my head to recall later. I got a bit ahead of John on a steep descent down to the aid station when I heard footsteps behind me raging down the descent, when a different person, Gaspar Mora, flew by me. I decided I’d keep him in sight and sped up a bit on the descent. From mile 6 to mile 12, Gaspar remained about 100 feet ahead of me and we traded places, me on the climbs, him on the descents. He pulled into mile 12 ahead of me where I took some time to wet my shirt, fill my bottles with ice and remain cool for the hot day ahead. Miles 12-22.4 were undulating, but not overly technical or anything. I caught glimpses of Gaspar up ahead here and there but he had pulled a good 2-3 minutes ahead of me by this point. At mile 22.4 Jade told me he was only a minute or two up and was looking rough. I took time to cool down, wet my shirt, get my bottles and then hustled on out. I was still running everything and climbing fairly well. By mile 26 or so I’d caught up to about 50 feet off of Gaspar and was ready to make the pass uphill. He turned, looked over at me and then sprinted off up the hill. I didn’t chase but stayed calm, playing the long game still thinking that if we did go back and forth, I’d prefer it to be on the final mile or so. I ran strong and pushed the final descent pretty hard as I started to cramp just a bit. So close! Gaspar was unfortunately keeled over on the side of the trail about a mile from the finish. I stopped to try and help him but he waved me on to go and finish. Cramping, heat exhaustion or some combination of both had gotten the best of him. I’d been there myself many times before. I finished off running strong into the finish, pushing off the cramps and stoked to have landed in first place at a distance that I’ve historically always had such a hard time pacing! 

The race course was beautiful. I had the chance to explore a few trails while waiting for Nick at aid stations.

What were your goals heading into the race? How did they differ from the goals you may have set going into past races?

My goals going into the race were really kind of “anti-goals” that in the world of sports psychology I don’t really recommend doing for my athletes. That is to say, my goal was to not bonk or blow up. I had no expectations going into it of position or time. The Bay area is full of extremely talented athletes and I had no doubt that at this year’s 40th anniversary of the event that it would draw out a few. 

In the past my goals have historically been much more outcome oriented: X position or Y time. Talking endlessly with both Jade and David, we’ve really been working on reframing my personal approach to racing. Each event is an opportunity to try something out, get something right, and do something different rather than a moment where I need to prove my self-worth (like I used to).

What did your training look like leading up to the race?

I’ve had a big block. I competed in the La Cuesta 25km in January, MDO 36km in March and have otherwise really kept a steady/ consistent 70-80 miles per week with a few down weeks. I’ve had two speed workouts a week and otherwise RPE 4-6 range aerobic development training. Looking back, there is nothing that I would have really changed. I am getting faster but it’s on a spectrum.I realize that it takes time, weeks, months and years of this stuff. I’m just enjoying the journey. 

Nick was a late sign-up for the event, so he wrote his username onto his race bib as a joke.

What was your self-talk like throughout the event?

Terrific! This was a point that I feel I’ve really grown on. Before the start of the event, I looked around at my other competitors and said quietly to myself “I hope you have a great race and I hope we can bring out the best in each other.” This is really different from where I was maybe 10 years or so ago when competitors were really more of a threat or obstacles in the way of achieving self-worth through placement goals. 

During the race itself, I had no lap timers on my watch, no heart rate metrics…so I stayed really focused with the moment at hand. My thoughts and self-talk mostly consisted of: “How do I get down this hill the fastest while spending the least energy? When was my last salt? Could I eat more right now? Can I go a little faster?” 

Did you struggle with any pre-race anxiety and if so, what did you do to combat it?

I did for sure. It came in the form of panicking over bottles or packs or shorts etc…decisions that are important and necessary but really aren’t going to make or break the race. It comes on pretty suddenly for me, it’s a kind of “this is your one shot! Your one opportunity (to quote Eminem) to make something of yourself in this sport!” I know from years of therapy now that’s just a combination of my insecure inner child and self-critic going off, both of whom need validation for their feelings, but neither of whom I need to listen to. Relaxing with Jade the night before, an early dinner, a cold shower, waking up with plenty of time before the race, a small shake out before the race, breathing techniques and a weird tai-chi movement I like doing all helped calm and ground me leading up to the start. 

Highest and lowest moments of the race?

Highest moment of the race was probably the climbs at large. I really used to think of myself as a slug on climbs, like my body is too big, my legs are too big, I’m just a slow thing on climbs. Focusing for the past months more and more on climbing speed and then seeing it actually work at this race, I learned that I can climb! It was pretty awesome and not something I’ve experienced quite like that before. 

I honestly didn’t have any deep lows. I swore at mile 14 my salt pills had flown out of my pocket and I was heavily relying on those (and staying wet) to mitigate my typical late race cramping at this distance. To combat this though I doubled down on the salty potatoes at aid stations…only to uncover the salt pills just deep in my pocket when I crossed the finish line. Go figure. 

What are you taking away from this race in terms of what went well and what you might do differently in the future? 

I can race! I can be competitive at the 50K distance! I can do this! I can climb, and while I might not be up there with some of the faster guys currently in our sport, relative to myself I have improved so much! I want to do more of these events, more of this distance and really continue nailing this down. And wet shirt for the win! That worked so well.

Even in the high 80s, Nick managed to keep his shirt wet by stopping at every aid station and pouring water and ice onto himself.

How are you feeling a day or two later?

Honestly really really good. Like surprisingly. I made it my job to eat 90 grams of carbs per hour during the race and stuck to a pretty anti-inflammatory diet going into (and so far) coming out of the race. I think that is all helping a ton. Psychologically I tried to give myself some space between work and school on Monday and Tuesday before I let things pick up more mid-week. 

Does winning the race change your relationship to running and/or how you see yourself as an athlete?

In the past? Yes, 100% I would feel like I belong, I would feel validated, I would feel worthy. Currently? I’m stoked I had a good race, happy that I put everything together, but I honestly don’t think I would value myself any more or less had Gaspar not cramped in the final miles and pulled off the win instead. And that is so freeing and nice to say. 

The men’s podium, with second place, Andrew Pontbriand, third place, John Matson, and winner, Nickademus de la Rosa.

What’s next?

I’m sticking to the 50K distance or less for the time being! I’ve been talking with this more and more with David and really feel like there is a lot of room for improvement at this distance for me. A year or two down the road I want to take this speed and bring it back to the 100 or 200 mile distance, but we’ll see. 

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It’s exciting and inspiring to watch Nick step into distances he’s shied away from in the past, and I’m looking forward to watching him race this summer, too.

Training together on beautiful Prefumo Canyon Road in San Luis Obispo.

Follow Nick at @ultrademus to stay in the loop of what he’s planning next! For now, I’m ready for my training partner to recover quickly so we can get back to running together again.