A Crash and Burn at the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile

I should probably be filling in more often with training and such between races, but never get around to it. So here's a brief summary of training and races for the past two months

April 6 - 12, 44 miles with half marathon (1:22, 1st age 22nd overall)
April 13 - 19, 40 miles recovery
April 20 - 27, 50 miles mostly recovery
April 28 - May 3, 57 miles with 25K trail race (1:50, 1st age class, 5th overall)
May 4 - 10,  45 miles, recovery (very tired by end of week)
May 11 - 17, 58 miles with threshold reps; 5K time trial (blow up) and tempo
May 18 - 24, 50 miles with hill reps; hill climb time trial (felt off on TT)
May 25 - 31, 42 miles mostly recovery
June 1 to 7, 50 miles with weekend at 9000 ft altitude
June 8 to 14, 59 miles with 10 mile race (Blow up)

This shows that I've been on recovery or not feeling great for about two months now. It might be as simple as a couple rounds of massage therapy. Maybe something else. It has been a stressful period with lots of change going on in my life, including a move, house sale, kid graduting, now empty nesters in a new (old city), and dealing with that.

Anyway, I came into Saturday's Garden of the Gods 10 mile race thinking that 1:05-1:06 would be a reasonable effort, and that I could take on anyone in my age group. So I worked through the race a bit (60 miles for the week), and took no rest days, but a couple easy ones on Friday and Saturday (55 and 45 minutes respectively).

Slept well overnight, but I felt off from the gun. Maybe another hit of caffeine would have gotten me charged. Splits were:

6:25 (mostly downhill)
6:58 (up)
6:55 (up mostly)
6:53 (up and some down)
7:16 (a lot of up, and really tough up)
6:42 (mostly down but not recovered)
6:50? (I just tanked by here, and fell back 20 seconds from the pack)
7:04?
7:16 (I think that was mostly down!)
6:48

On the ups I was gassed, even though I was dialed back, and then I wouldn't recover over the top. At 4.5 I figured I could cruise for 30 sec, pick it up and drop the field within 2-3 minutes. But I checked my watch at 2 minutes past cresting the hill and was breathing hard. Meanwhile, they dropped me.

So. A recovery week. Plan on massage therapy this week. Maybe get a blood test. Considering recent events hopefully it's not thyroid or testosterone deficiency!

Despite having a meh race, I still got third to a couple of tough competitors--guys that you have to have a good day to beat--and an enjoyable weekend in Colorado Springs with my wife. We visited Manitou Springs and droveGarden of the Gods, and of course the run, the zoo, and hiked couple miles of Barr Trail following the race.

Pikes Peak is going to be a killer! (But if I'm going to go, then a run up that hill wouldn't be a bad way to do it).