Superior Spring 25k: Race Report

After my last race I opted to do a short, sweet race report, focusing on impressions rather than the overall race. This time, I want to go back to a bit of a more traditional format. 

Going into the race, I was pretty uncertain of how I would feel. I had fallen ill that week after helping my parents start their move (out of a house they’ve lived in for 37 years!). That had involved carrying boxes down, I would estimate, 400-500 total flights of stairs over two days. Talk about an eccentric muscle strength workout! 

After the camping experience, or fiasco depending on your perspective, of last year, we opted to stay in an actual hotel before and after this year’s race. We got in at 10:30 the night before and, after a couple false starts (it gets light really early up North) I woke up, hacked up a nice, neon ball of phlegm, and was out the door by 7:40 and at the start by 7:50. Again, much nicer than last year. 9AM starts are glorious.

The centerpiece of the race, Lake Superior, decided not to make much of an appearance this year. The lake was shrouded in a veil of fog all morning, to the extent that, if you didn’t know better, you might not know there was a lake at all. The weather on the course, on the other hand, was sunny and 50 degrees: perfect running weather. 

The various check-in requirements and pre-race rituals completed, I gathered at the front of the pack for the start, and the ritual reading of “the names of people who didn’t check in this morning.” There didn’t seem to be many people eager to start out at the front, leaving a pack of 6 or so to lead the race up the road. 

After last year, I had my strategy down: ease into the uphills, coast the “flats,” and slay the downhills Colorado-style. I chatted briefly with the eventual 1-2 men before letting them take off up the trail, vaulted onto the rock before ducking under the always-amusing “Bridge Out” sign, and turned uphill. 

Per my strategy, I kept it easy on the climb up Mystery this year, letting people pass me knowing that I would most likely catch them later. Sure enough, I dogged their heels on the relative flats on Mystery, and flew by them down the hill to the saddle, where the worst of the mud flats were the prior year. 

Moose Mountain, with Mystery to the right, from the top of the Alpine Slide

With less snowfall this year, I was hoping these would be in better, faster shape this year. No such luck. If anything, they seemed worse than last year. I knew immediately that there was no staying dry this year, and simply plunged into the muck (later drawing comments on just how muddy I was). 

On the climb up Moose, I stayed with other runners a bit more, still letting them pass me, but then staying on their tail as they continued up one of the two steepest climbs on the course. Sticking behind the second woman and one other Open Men runner, I let the lead woman and another guy get a little too far ahead. This is the one of two places I made a definite mistake. I should have passed the first two on the slight downhills. 

Even so, I again caught up and passed the two in front of me on the screaming descent off Moose, my best descent of the day by far, and caught up to the second pair by the Onion River Crossing. I eventually passed them prior to the aid station, which I tore through at sub-6 minute pace (according to my watch, which I would only look at later). Out time was 1:03:54, well within my targets of 1:05 and 1:10. 

My goal was to negative split. Still feeling good, I thought it would be possible. Coming down towards the Onion again, I put my foot down in a mud puddle only to have it hit a rock and twist outwards, tweaking my ankle. 

It hurt, but not too terribly, and I knew I would have no trouble finishing the race. It did, however, take away my downhilling possibilities for the rest of the race, and the time I took to cinch down my shoelaces let two people (the lead woman and a guy from Gustavus Nordic who I would trade places with at least 5 times over the course of the race). 

I ran gingerly for the remainder of the descent to the Onion River, letting my ankle complain and stiffen up again, knowing from the cheers of oncoming runners that I was still well within striking distance of the two who had passed me. Sadly, on the march up Moose Mountain, with my ankle still tender (as it would remain) another runner overtook me. 

The remainder of the race was a sufferfest. Despite my ankle, I managed to catch Gustavus on the way down Moose, only to lose that place to him when I slipped on a board and ended up with my right arm shoulder-deep in mud. The boards, dry on the way out, were now so mud-covered that they were almost more treacherous than the mud itself. 

The slog up Mystery saw one more runner pass me, but I caught her again on the road to the finish. 

The road section went well. I wanted to hit sub-7 minute pace, and did so. The whole way, though, I kept glancing back to see a runner in red catching me. At the last, slight jog uphill, 200m before the finish, he was right on my shoulder, threatening to nip me at the line. 

I was a sprinter in high school, and still have that leg speed. It took running that last bit at sub-5, but I fended him off, collapsing over the line only to glance up and see that he wasn’t even in my race. 

He nabbed second in the 50k . . . 

All in all, though, I think I executed well in this race. Being sick, with my legs still sore from Monday’s moving, I could have thrown in the towel and just run for fun. Instead, I dug deep, and despite a major spill and a twisted ankle held on for 8th place overall (2:13:51, for a 1:10 second half), hitting my B goal of under 2:15 in the process. Experience counts, and honestly I probably don’t have as much racing experience as many, but I improve with every race. 

The remainder of the weekend was spent exploring the North Shore, eating a glorious dinner at the Angry Trout in Grand Marais (along with seemingly half the other runners from that morning), and touring my parents’ new house on Sunday. 

Post-race lunch with a view.

Cascade River mouth.

Split Rock. There's a lighthouse there. (Sunday)

All in all, a most excellent weekend. 

Training Update

Since the Zumbro 17, which went remarkably well, my training has gone through its ups and downs.

The week directly after Zumbro, I tried to get a solid training week in. This included a 25k loop out at Afton a week after the race. While my legs felt ok, I could tell already that I needed to allow them a little more recovery time. Having put in 34 miles the week after Zumbro, I put in a much more reasonable (for me) 25 miles the week after.

I have also gotten better at my strength training. Partially, this is due to reading "Natural Born Heroes," Chris McDougall's latest book.  His second offering does not flow nearly as well as his first: I find it jumps around at odd places. "Born to Run" did a little bit of this as well, but that flowed more naturally to me. That the first book flowed more naturally than the second I find amusing, since the second is all about natural movement.

Segue aside, the book has re-invigorated my interest in Parkour and Freerunning, sports I have been involved in previously, but let slide since moving to Minnesota due to 1) the cold weather and 2) the fact that the only training gym in the area is inconveniently-located for us. What I forgot, of course, is that Parkour is all about using what you have around you in new ways. I discovered that the stone wall and columns outside my front door are excellent places to work on climb-ups and cat hangs. I do burpees and vaults on my back patio area, and am seriously considering building myself a vault box so I can further explore movement.

(If you don't understand any of that, look up the terms on youtube, there are ample videos out there).

In any case, after the rest week and some strength training, I started to feel a bit more like my running self again. The final week in April, I ran 44 miles, including a 17 mile long run on Sunday.

Regretfully, with the forecast for thunderstorms and rain during the run, I neglected to bring my phone or camera on my run with me on Sunday. I say "regretfully" because it was a stunningly gorgeous day. The spring wildflowers are out in full force in the Minnesota woods, and this particular day, blue flowers blanketed the forest floor, still open to the sunlight as the trees have not yet produced their leaves.

For a little while, I ran along a small creek, murmuring at me to take its picture when I stopped at a bench to tie my shoe.

I nearly slapped myself in the face when I came across a deer skull with a patch of flowers growing around and through it.

Let that be a lesson to me, I guess, that I should always pack a sandwich bag so that, regardless of the weather forecast, I can take pictures of beautiful scenery.

For your edification: some videos related to the above: the first is one of my favorite videos of the genre, the second is mentioned in the book "Natural Born Heroes."

Downhill Running

I have run several technical trail races in the Upper Midwest now, and at each of them, other runners have said the same thing:

“I don’t know how you take the downhills that fast.” 

After getting an explicit question on this on my last post about Zumbro, I got to thinking more about it. There are any number of lists at tips out there about downhill running. Indeed, any trail running book you pick up will probably have tips on how to run downhill. Hal Koerner’s “Field Guide to Ultrarunning” has a number of good tips. I want to take a different tactic here. 

Downhills are inherently important in any trail race with significant elevation change. In fact, recent research on ultramarathons suggests that the muscles in downhill running are the ones that are the most affected by an ultra. I myself have found that, while I’m an average uphiller in Minnesota, I am considered an excellent downhiller, often making up  more time on the downhill than I lose to other runners on the uphill.     

So here are my tips: 

1. Practice: this should be self-explanatory. If you want to get good at running downhills, run downhill. While I lived in Colorado, this was unavoidable. A general run consisted of running up a mountain, then back down it. Longer runs included more mountains. Here in Minnesota, I have to be a bit more deliberate about it. I have found a few courses in the Twin Cities area that feature longish hills. Rather than simply do hill repeats up a hill, I’ll do them up and down. This either results in a tempo run, or running for a rest break at the top or bottom before doing another up/down or down/up repeat. If nothing else, do this. 
2. Look ahead: focus on a spot a few meters ahead of you. Don’t worry so much about the ground right in front of your feet. Look farther ahead, and route yourself accordingly. After some practice, you will get to the point where your legs and feet naturally adapt to the terrain they hit. Trust them, and let them.
3. Relax: many people tense up on the downhills. This just makes it harder to react to the terrain, and takes more effort than staying relaxed. Staying relaxed also makes it much less likely that you will injure yourself if you do take the fall. 
4. Flow: when I get into a good groove on the downhill, I like to compare it to a dance. It’s a great feeling, with your feet just barely touching the ground, dancing across rocks that shift under your feet and flying over gaps. I’m not alone in this: Kilian Jornet says the same thing. 
5. Enjoy : learn to love the downhills. As I said above, there’s nothing as much fun (to me) as flying smoothly down rough terrain, and the accompanying gasps from the people you past. 

If you get the chance, look up some of the great downhillers. Kilian and Anton Krupicka are both excellent. For a time, there was a clip of Kilian going down Grand Swamp Pass during his Hardrock performance last year that was an astounding example of all the above. Here are a couple examples: 

This is a bit shaky, since Kilian is holding the camera. But from 4:20 on you get a bit of an idea.

Here's one at the Pikes Peak Marathon. I was actually in this race, though Kilian was far ahead of me. I ended up in 59th place, rather disappointed since my training partners had come in 9th and 19th, but I did the best I could on that day. 

Zumbro 17: Impressions.

I raced the Zumbro 17 miler in southern Minnesota this past weekend. I opted for the “sprint” race rather than the 50 or 100 milers that were going on at the same time. Huge congrats to those who did the longer distances! That is a tough loop to do once, let alone 3 or 6 times. 

Rather than do a full race report this time, I decided that I will stick to impressions of what I did well with this race, and what I can improve on next time. To be honest, that’s what is more important to me in any case.

I am, on the whole, pretty proud of this race. I ended up in 6th place over all out of 281 finishers. I felt like I pushed hard, but managed to stay in control and leave a little (though not quite enough) in the tank at the end. I got to enjoy an absolutely glorious spring day in a beautiful area of southern Minnesota, and share it with other, like-minded people who, by and large, made a great event even better.  

Things done well: 

Physical and Mental preparation: I had trained well for this race. Looking back on my training up to this point last year, i got in fewer miles, but more workouts. Last year, I was logging more miles, but fewer of them were focused, quality miles with a definite goal. I was doing weekly 800 meter workouts, but no real trail workouts. I have definitely gotten more elevation in this year, and I think that payed off big time. 

My 10-mile tempo from a few weeks ago was a huge mental and physical boost. It proved to me that I could run fast even when i wasn’t feeling 100%. It also showed me that I could run quickly on trails. 

The week prior to this, I fell ill to a combination of allergies and sickness. Only a week before the race, I found I couldn’t run at all (let alone my planned 15 miles) because my body had shut down so much. Even a few days before, I was not back to where I had been. That being the case, I tried to set reasonable goals. I looked back at a similar race in Colorado, the Continental Divide Trail Run, and from that figured I could run between 2:15 and 2:30 at Zumbro, depending on the day. 

I ran a 2:22:50. 

I also planned better for the race course. I studied the elevation profile, locations of the aid stations, and had my plan in place before I set foot in the park. I knew that if I could manage my efforts on the climbs, I could still have enough left in the tank to push on a section of gravel road between 12 and 14 miles. I didn’t go quite as quickly as I’d hoped, managing around 7 minute pace, but that’s much more quickly than I’ve ever run that far into a race before. 

Race Day: On the day itself, I did fairly well. I brought my Simple Hydration bottle, allowing me to carry 13 ounces tucked into my waistband. I brought 1 VFuel gel in my shorts pocket, which was useful, but this will also go under “Thinks to Improve.” Despite a somewhat chilly start, I went with shorts, a tank top, and gloves, knowing that it would heat up. Anything more and I would have definitely overheated later. 

During the race itself, I played to my strengths well. I let some people go a bit on the uphills, and dropped the hammer a bit on the flats and downhills, trusting my speed work and descending ability. And sure enough, after the first pair of downhills, another racer ran by saying “I don’t know how you take the downhills the way you do.”  On the gravel road, as I said, I didn’t quite have the 6:30s I was hoping for in me, else I would probably have taken 5th. I must have had my pacing nearly perfect, because after the 5th mile or so, I didn’t get passed (nor, sadly, did I pass the 5th place runner). 

Things to improve:

Preparation: Ideally, I would have gotten another long (15+) mile run in, with a significant flat section where I could drop the hammer. Afton is perfect for that, and would let me work on uphills at the same time. Other than that, I felt pretty good with my preparation, given my illness the week before. 

Race day: I knew the aid stations carried Hammer gels, which I don’t tolerate at all. Knowing this, I should have carried an additional VFuel gel for the race. Two gels is just about perfect for this length race (for me). 

Secondly, I need to work on my mental game. The last 4 miles or so, I knew where the 5th place runner was. I could see him on the road and wherever the trail straightened out. I did consciously push the pace, running a mental string between us and trying to shorten it slowly and surely. It worked, to an extent, but I ran out of time. I was pushing to the borderline, and if I ran much faster my quad started cramping and twitching. But had I been able to move just 5 seconds per mile faster, I could have made it a sprint for the line. 

Other thoughts: 

It was a tough course. My watch said about 2000 feet of climbing, though it was probably closer to 2500 based on other peoples’ readings. There were four big climbs, but those weren’t the worst sections for me. The worst section was coming in to AS3, along a flat section. The only problem was it wasn’t really flat, it had tiny, rolling bumps, like those you see on mountainbike trails. Each little bump sucks just a little life out of your legs. 

I’ve always hated those things. 

Seriously, though, it was a beautiful course, and well marked. There was no point where I was worried about getting off course. I would highly recommend the race to anybody who has an interest in mid-length trail race. 

Week Ending 4/5

Setbacks.

In any running year, they happen. I had one this past week. Around Tuesday, I started feeling congested, and just a bit ill. Even so, I did a solid hill workout on Tuesday, and a 6 x 3 minutes on, 2 minutes "float" fartlek on Thursday.

Friday I had planned 7 miles. I managed almost 4, with tears streaming from my eyes due to allergies. In the afternoon, after trying to work for several hours, I passed out in my bed for a couple hours.

I never take naps. In the past 10 years, I can count on one hand the number of times I've taken a nap. I know they can be useful and healthy for many people, but I have never been able to fall asleep during the day. That should give an indication of how far gone I was.

Saturday I had planned a run out at Afton: a 15.5 mile loop I've done several times before. After Friday, though, I realized that, while I could probably have done the run, it would have done more harm than good.

For any runner, the decision not to do a workout (rather than, say, shortening or easing up on a planned workout) is a difficult one. Training requires, for me, a carefully acquired OCD tendency that is hard to set aside when things don't go your way.

I ended up taking the entire weekend off. After a couple rest days, I headed out for 3.5 miles today (Monday) and while I feel mostly better, I am not 100% by any means.


I can only hope I feel better as the week goes on because, on Saturday, I have my first race of the year! The Zumbro 17 (https://www.zumbro100.com/) is a 16.7 mile trail race with, depending on who you ask, 2300-3100 feet of elevation gain. Looking at past performances, if I feel ok I should be able to finish it in under 2:20. I ran a much harder race, the Continental Divide Trail Run in Steamboat (15.5 miles and 4300 feet at 8000+ feet elevation) in 2:22 off of two weeks' training.

I hope I feel better, and can really lay the hammer down.  With any luck, my enforced taper should help.

Week Ending March 29

This was a recovery week, as intended, so there wasn't much in the way of running or workouts for the week. After some consideration, I also decided, once again, to abandon my plan of a running streak. I don't know why I keep going back to the idea of running everyday when I've had much luck doing so. Perhaps is just the elegance of running every day. Nonetheless, with even one rest day a week, I feel a thousand times better than I do if I run even a mile on that off day.

Given my goals for the year, taking a rest day ever week just makes sense.

Weekly Summary:  ~23 miles, ~3 hours.

I did manage to get one good workout in this week, however. On Friday, I was feeling all out of sorts, mentally and physically. My legs were not feeling great, despite several days of short and easy runs. Mentally, I was feeling down, and worn out after a hard week of work (without enough running to offset it).

So Friday morning, I opted to head out mid-morning for a run from the River Gorge down to, and possibly around, Pike Island in Snelling State Park.

Feeling good on the first section of trail, I ended up hitting a decent pace even on the difficult trail section. Across the bridge, my route ran along bike paths and sidewalks, and I found myself hitting sub-7 pace without breathing hard on the slight downhill. I cruised though the off-leash dog park (sorry if I startled anybody), hitting 6:30s on the downhill trail, and finally (after a slight bushwhack) down into Snelling proper on the bike path.

By this point, I was over 5 miles into my run. A lap of Pike Island would have made the whole run over 13 miles, but I didn't feel that was a good idea. Rather, I decided to make the second half a good tempo run, pushing myself to the uncomfortable stage.

Retracing my route back up the slight slope to my car, I hit a fairly steady effort, with paces ranging from 8 minutes on the steeper hills to low 6-minutes on the flats and shallow grades. All in all, I hit 10.5 miles in about 1:15, for a decent outing.

And now, since I forgot these last week: pictures!

Morning shot of St Paul from Battle Creek.

Cobbler flavor gel . . .

. . .at Pi

I have an obsession with odd trees.

And finally, good running advice from Old Navy

Fortnight Ending 3/22/2015

These two weeks gave me a massive mental boost over where I had been. In the first two months of the year, despite having a better fitness base coming in and feeling like I was doing plenty, I realized that I was in fact doing less mileage than the corresponding time in 2014. I am quite sure that I was doing the corresponding mileage faster and with less fatigue over all, but it was discouraging nonetheless.

This fortnight left me feeling like I got a solid bit of training under my belt. I also started exploring a new place to run (Battle Creek Park, site of the Night Lights half last fall), which provides a bit more vertical than my standard River Gorge route.

Summaries: 

Week ending March 15: 37 miles, 5 hours, 1800' of elevation gained.

I managed two solid workouts during this period. The first happened by chance: I was running along the hillier of my two routes from home, and saw up and to my left a pair of bald eagles kettling. I ran with them for a few blocks, looking up as much as I could, and found they were moving at about 5:30 pace.

Feeling surprisingly good, I turned my planned easy loop into more of a tempo run, and ended up running about 10k in just over 41 minutes. Not a stellar time, but not bad for legs that had run 14 miles two days earlier, on a hilly course.

The second was a more standard fartlek down Summit. I tried a 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off program, but this was quickly interrupted by the stoplights (spaced every 1/2 or 1/4 mile down the entire route). Nevertheless, I got a good workout in.

Saturday's long run I headed out to Battle Creek, where I proceeded to explore for a while. After a week of warm weather, it was starting to cool off a bit, and I got some stunning visions of the meadows, frosted over, sparkling in the first rays of the sun.

As I remembered, Battle Creek consists of a lot of double track, groomed for skiing in the winter. However, it also has a large amount of single track (mostly for mountain bikes) that provides a good counterpoint. Best of all, at the end, I found another, steeper, gnarlier singletrack section on the far side of the creek from the main park. Since I was meeting friends for a Saint Patricks Day/Pi day combo lunch, I had to save exploring that further for the next week.

Week Ending March 22: 42 miles, 6:16, 4800' elevation.

I hope this week marks a turning point physically as well as mentally. After exploring Battle Creek on Saturday, I realized if I wanted to train properly for the races I have planned, I need to actively seek out steep, technical trails to train on properly.

So this week I did just that. Tuesday, I headed down to the River Gorge. Keeping to the east bank,  I ran south, and every time I saw a trail down to the river, I took it down to the bank, and tempoed back up. Eventually, I found three trails within about half a mile. Two were steep, nearly a 50% grade as far as I can tell from Strava. The third was one I'd done before, shallower but longer. I did a full 18 total hill reps, for about 1500 feet.

The second workout, I headed over to Battle Creek for a hill I found promising. This time I did 10 steep reps, and 5 shallower, longer hills with more vert.

Saturday I hit Battle Creek again. Exploring to the west side of the creek, I came upon what I think is a trail in progress. It was cleared, and blazed, but the trail itself was not yet cut into the ground at all. And, eventually, it just dead-ended. We'll see if the trail-making progresses.

I got lucky on this run. Coming down a hill, the same switchbacking slope I did repeats on earlier in the week, I startled a coyote. It proceeded to bounce (not bound, but bounce on all four legs) down the hill just quickly enough to evade my camera. Later on, I struggled up a different hill to see what I think was a pair of red tailed hawks courting ahead of me. Naturally, they also flew off before I could snap a picture.

All in all, though, it was a good run, coming in at 14 miles. And after a 4 mile run the next day, I started a much-needed recovery week.