2 week Update, May 5 - 19

Sunday, May 5: 13.1 miles, 200 feet, 1:27:35:  The Louisville Trail Half. I ended up in 5th over all and first place in my age group. This was a PR by five and a half minutes, and a solid run for me.

Monday, May 6: 6 miles, 800 feet: Went partway up Flagstaff after the race the day before, felt remarkably solid, though definitely tired. After, went to Apex Movement for an hour and a half of Parkour class (this still hurts every time). I do, though, think it's going to help my running overall. I can already feel myself getting stronger in my core and upper body, and learning how to land/fall correctly is never going to hurt my trail running.

Tuesday, May 7: Off. Feeling the last two days.

Wednesday, May 8: 5.5 miles, 700 feet: Still feeling the race a bit, but ran up a bit of Flagstaff any way.

Thursday, May 9: 7 miles, 400 feet: Up Boulder Creek Path to 4 mile and back. Still slow, but feeling better.

Friday, May 10: 6.5 miles, 1500 feet: Sanitas. Felt good to get back into it a bit.

Saturday, May 11: Off. 

Sunday, May 12: 12 miles, 3500 feet. Flagstaff and Green from Chautauqua. Found the trails crawling with people enjoying one of the first truly hot days we've had so far. I ran into Matt and Chris on the first stretch up Flagstaff. And stopped to talk a little bit about our mutual feelings of not being prepared for the Golden Gate on June 1.

I had planned to make this a Flag/Green/Bear combo, but on reaching the Green-Bear/Bear Peak West Ridge junction, I realized that I didn't have it that day, and felt that pushing through the fatigue on this particular day would be unwise. Given the way the next five days felt even dropping Bear, I can only assume it was a good idea.

Monday, May 13: 4.5 miles, 200 feet:  BCP partway up the Canyon. Legs were still tired.

Tuesday, May 14: 8 miles, 1500 feet. Flagstaff via Eben G Fine and Viewpoint. This is one of my go-to runs that I hadn't done in a while. My legs, unfortunately, still felt pretty flat, but it felt good to get some climbing in. I still managed to run an average round-trip time for the out and back. I seem to be fairly fit and fast even when tired.

Wednesday, May 15: 5 miles, 500 feet: Sunshine from work with some work friends. Our company has generously offered to put up the $1300 registration fee to put a team together for the Wild West Relay in August. As training for that, we are putting together a weekly run on Wednesdays. Only a few showed up this time, but hopefully, with time, we can up the numbers.

Thursday, May 16: 6 miles, 1500 feet: Sanitas. Felt slow, but the 85 degree weather may have had something to do with that.

Friday, May 17: 7 miles, 500 feet: BCP up to Four Mile. Legs still felt off. But I slipped into a very efficient shuffle and still managed sub-8 minute pace for the round trip.

Saturday and Sunday: No running at all. I had intended to do a longer run Sunday, as per usual, but found my legs were (and still are) tired despite a day's rest.

At this point, I am concerned that I have not gotten sufficient long runs in prior to my 50k in two weeks. It doesn't particularly matter at this point, since there is nothing I can do about it. I am, however, very worried about crashing and burning in the later stages of the race.

On the other hand, I know I am in fairly decent shape. Even when my legs don't feel like they want to move at all, I can toss out a decent ascent of Sanitas or Flagstaff. And my half marathon two weeks ago speaks to my general fitness level. I am concerned that I have not gotten a run over 3 hours, or over 20 miles, in yet this year.

Because of this, I plan to try something new on race day: I will institute a run/walk schedule for the race. This is not your typical 50k, where you will be able to run the whole way. A typical 50k I would likely be able to run in around 4 hours, maybe a bit less. This one runs well above 8000 feet and has nearly 8000' of climbing and descending in it. I equate it roughly to Pikes, which has the same elevation gain, but 5 fewer miles and peaks at a much higher elevation.

So I will be running 1 minute out of every 10, or maybe more depending on how I feel. A few caveats are in order, though. I will, naturally, always walk if the terrain dictates it. Also, I likely will not walk much downhill. I hope to finish in under 6 hours, so if it starts getting close to that at the end, I will pick up the pace if I can.

The next two weeks, then, I will be focused on sharpening my speed just a bit, and resting and recovering.

Race Report: The Louisville Trail Half

Race Report: Louisville Trail Half.

First, let me impress upon you that this is a trail half only in the most loose sense of the word. While there is some single track, about a mile or so between mile markers 6 and 8, the vast majority of the race occurs on crushed gravel bike paths. In total, they claim 200’ of elevation change, though that seems a little bit low to me. In other words: this is a fast course for me.

Looking around at the start line, I didn’t see that much in the way of competition. There were a couple guys who looked fairly formidable, one of whom would eventually win the race with an impressive sub 1:12 time. But there was none of the sense I often have that I would get, at best, 20th or so. This was likely the result of the concentration of races this particular weekend: The Quad Rock, The Collegiate Peaks Trail Run, and the Greenland Trail Races to name a few.

There was no gun. The RD simply said “3-2-1-GO!”

The race course consists of 2 loops: an initial 5 mile out and back to the west, followed by an 8.1 mile out and back to the east. What little climbing there was all happened in the second half of the race. My strategy was to do my best to take it easy the first half of the race, try to work it up the hill in mile 7, work the singletrack to my best advantage, and push it on the way back.

As often happens, I went out a little too fast. Not horribly so, but a bit. I had chosen not to wear a watch so I have no real idea how quickly the first 5 miles went, but I am fairly sure I came in well under my 35 minute target. But that’s ok, because I was running by feel and I felt like I had hit a fairly sustainable pace.

I took off with the lead pack, quickly realized I was moving faster than I should be, and eased off, letting what I swear was 5 people ahead of me. The 5 mile first loop went easily and quickly, with very little in the way of elevation change to relieve the tedium. Coming into the start/finish area again, my gf and her parents were waiting at the bend to cheer me on. I also made my only wrong turn of the race here, for some reason thinking that we had to go through the start/finish area on our way by. Minor seconds lost, but seconds count.

The next four miles went very well. One woman came up behind me, seemingly easily, and we chatted for a bit as we worked along the crest of the main hill and back down to the creek we had been following the whole race before she pulled slowly ahead. I was beginning to feel the flat, fast nature of the course now: something I have not trained for in the least.

But I was still moving well, and after we cruised down the hill, the course took two dips down into single track along the creek.

Let’s say this: if there’s one thing that I learned yesterday, it’s that my legs like single track. As soon as we hit this section, I could feel my stride quicken, my legs felt lighter, and I sped up. I started regaining ground on the lady who had just passed me. Not enough to pass her back, but enough that I could see my progress against hers.

For the last several miles, we had followed the 10k course. This provided a boost every time we passed a 10k runner saying “good job” or “looking good.” We quickly reached, and then passed, the 10k turnaround and were on our own again.

I reached the turnaround in good order: my form was pretty smooth and still rapid, though I was really beginning to feel the race now at mile 9. Then I turned around.

I realized quickly that I had forgotten one thing: we had been following Coal Creek for the majority of the race, and ever since the 2.5 mile turnaround we had been following it in the downstream direction. It was a very slight downhill, gentle enough that you didn’t even think about it when you were running with the slope. Once you turned up the slope, however, it became very noticeable immediately.

Suddenly I felt every inch of the race acutely, and I knew the race was on. The turnaround gave me a chance to check out the runners nearest to me behind me, and I had at least a 2 minute cushion in my estimation. Again, I didn’t have a watch, so I wasn’t sure, but I knew they would have to run about 30 seconds a mile faster than me over the last 4 miles to catch up to me, and the way they looked at the turnaround I couldn’t see that happening.

Then it became a mental game: just keep my legs moving and form strong for the last 4 miles. At the next aid station, I did something I hadn’t done so far: I slowed down to a walk in order to take in more water. It was probably the best move I could have made, as I almost immediately felt the tension in my right leg ease and picked up the pace again.

The switchbacking hill back up to the high point of the course felt 10 times worse than the larger hill had on the way out, but I still attacked the hill and pushed across the top to the downhill. Then it was just a matter of riding the downhill as long as I could, and letting the sound of the announcer draw me in to the finish.

G and her parents were at the finish cheering me on and came around to meet me as I stumbled to a stop. I think she was a little unsure of what to do with me, as she’s only ever been able to come to one other of my races. But she came over and stood there while I recovered my breath and wits enough to talk, without pushing or making any comments.

I ended up running 1:27:35 (officially) though I saw 1:27:32 on the clock when I finished. That’s another PR for me in the half, in a race I decided to train through. I also came in 5th place over all and won my age group outright.

All in all, I’d say it was a good day, and while I didn’t get my 10 mile run in the next day, I did get a 6 mile run in with about 800 feet of vertical, as well as an hour and a half of parkour in.

I call it a successful day, and am only left wondering what I could do next time.