The negatives;
- I injured my back 3 different times this winter. One doing trail maintenance, one with a horrible fall, slipping on ice and once in a random "tweak."
- The legs haven't felt good for awhile. They've felt heavy since Promise Land.
- My HR has been pretty unsteady.
- I've been working on a very sore place on my left quad that was injured late in the winter when I slipped and caught myself on some ice. Bracing myself I put all my weight on my left quad and since then it has been sore when powering up hills. I've been rolling and using the stick on it. It has felt better but it has been nagging at me lately.
- The 6/14/14 Highlands Sky 40 miler didn't go as planned.
- I've been training and racing in preparation for this race since 1/1/14.
- I've been training by the Maffetone method of running slower to run faster. Almost all of my non race training has been at a HR at or below 142.
- I had a successful Promise Land 50k
- I ran 82 miles in 2 days in the Smoky Mtns in May. This distance was done easier than in 2013 and it was a good training trip that inspired confidence in running 40+ miles.
- My training stats have continued to improve.
Since my legs have felt like crap lately I decided to take the rest of the week off until race day.
7/19/14 - The TRT Endurance Runs are comprised of a 55k, 50 miler, and 2 lap 100 miler. 100 Milers went off at 5am and the rest of the field of 500 went off at 6am.
This race has around 9000ft of elevation with the altitude of the race spanning 6900 to 9000. Highlights are a screaming steep climb out of the Diamond Peak ski resort at mile 30 and a 7.5 mile decent to the finish from mile 43.
I was fortunate to find a garmin connect link to a runner in last year's event that ran a 9:44. Based off of my fitness, the expected terrain and elevation, I thought I could pull off a 9:45-10:15 finish which would put me in the top 10. This was my goal and I had a spreadsheet with my splits to base this off of.
Since the 50 mile race started with the 55k race, and an hour after the 100 miler, it was really tough to figure out who was who and what place I was in. So from the start I decided to just run my race and not base what I was doing off of other runners. It didn't take long before I started catching up with the slower 100 miler traffic. The course started out with a climb up to around the 10 mile mark where it started to descend to the first "big" aid station, Tunnel Creek, that we would hit 3 different times. This is where David Landes was crewing us, having everything set for when we arrived.
I was 3 minutes over my projected time here and felt good. I hit the trail at around mile 11 and skinned up my palms and right thigh but overall didn't do much damage. Nothing that would interfere with the rest of the day. I took off my Nathan Vest, ate two HS waffles and took a hand held bottle. The next section was side loop starting with a steep descent and then an equally steep climb back to the Tunnel Creek Aid Station (first hint of adductor cramps but nothing serious, just made a note to dial back the steep climbs). In the middle there was the Red House Aid Station where I got some ice and topped off my bottle with water.
Back to Tunnel Creek I was 7 minutes under my projected time. I took my pack back and hand held, ate a honey stinger bar and was off. This was the longest section of around 11 miles and where I seemed to loose the most time on my projections. I'm not sure why. It wasn't all that tough and actually was easier than I expected. I did go to the bathroom in this section and stopped to put my handheld in to my pack but nothing that should have eaten up much time.
At the Diamond Peak Aid Station David was there ready for a pit stop style transition. I stopped to get a new bladder, cleaned myself off, put on sunscreen, and ate a bar, leaving my handheld to start this extremely steep 2.8 miles to the top of the Peak. I was actually looking forward to this climb. I was noticing up until this point that I was doing my best when the trail started to climb to the point of hiking. Any place it was level I was loosing ground on the runners around me. I'll admit this climb was way more than I planned on. It was the steepest thing I've been on in a race and the terrain was 1-3" of soft sand/gravel. In addition, this was probably the hottest I've ever been in a race. The sun was scorching and I was sweating profusely. I wasn't sure how this was going to play out later in the race. Hitting the top was a relief and probably provided the best overlook of the day. Turning around at the top there was a great view of Lake Tahoe's Northern border.
This next section was an up and down 10 miles to the race's high point, Snow Valley Peak at 9000ft elevation. This is the next section where I lost ground on my projected times. I did a bit more hiking on this section than I would have liked. I was feeling a bit of hamstring twinge on sections where I had to climb for any significant incline. So I'd back it down to a hike and be fine.
This is where I was walking the fine line of running a race slower in the hopes of banking speed and power for later on during the last 7.5 mile downhill section. Just like Promise Land, it doesn't matter how fast you get to the top if you can't run downhill. In both of these races you can loose a lot of time if you aren't able to run the downhill at a good pace. In hindsight, I think I could have pushed better on this section.
At the Snow Valley Peak aid station there was an issue with getting my bladder filled, closed, spilled all over my back, refilled, closed and back onto my back for the decent. Maybe 4 minutes lost. But I wanted a full bladder for this section and all the way to the finish. Because of the pack I was able to run through 3 of the aid stations without needing any fluid. From here to the finish it was really uneventful. The course was almost all downhill to around 1 mile to go and then it flattened out and made you work for the last bit to the finish. During this section I was doing the math on a 50.5 mile race and seeing what pace I needed to be under 10 hours. I was over a 12:05 minute average pace per mile at the Snow Valley Peak aid station and knew I needed a 11:50 or better to get under 10 hours. As I ran the last down hill I was watching the pace gradually come down, on my watch, hoping the wheels wouldn't fall off. Thankfully I was able to run this entire section and I came in at 9:57:16. I didn't know my finish place. They guy at the finish tent mentioned there were 4 females in front of me (first female was 2nd overall) which didn't make me feel like my place would be that good. When the dust settled, I found out I was 9th overall and 3rd in my AG (1st if you take out the top 3 overall males from the AG placings).
All in all this was a perfect day. I finished just before the skies opened up in rain, thunder, wind and hail. The last 10 miles were under overcast skies which were a blessing after the initial spike in heat earlier in the race. The course was fantastic. Great footing all day, great views in all directions, great aid stations and volunteers. It had everything a great memorable race should have. I would recommend it to anyone.
Total for the week; 57 miles of running
No comments:
Post a Comment