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).
Monday, June 15, 2015
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Greenland Trail Race 25K
I must be racing on residual fitness, or just air. Training-wise I haven't felt good for months now, since mid-late February. And every time I've raced since then it seems like the recovery takes weeks if at all. However, can't complain about the results.
I've felt pretty awful since Platte River Half Marathon last month, but did manage weeks of 40, 50, and 55 miles, which isn't too bad. Nevertheless, I haven't done a full workout in more than a month. Just run and once a week or so do some surges or pick ups. The closest thing was a 5 min hill climb in Boulder with BTC the other week, followed by some pick ups.
My first Greenland Trail race experience was decent to good. I scouted out the course last week and ran 14 miles out there, and got the gist of the rolling terrain and moderate (6900-7400 ft) altitude. Felt better as the week progressed, with a bit of fartlek training on Wednesday and Thursday and a real easy 5 miler on Friday.
Race day was about as good as it gets, low 50s at the start with a slight breeze and maybe 60 or 65 by the finish. The field didn't seem all that big, with fewer than 300 starters, and I tucked into 11th or 12th for the first couple miles. No one came up from behind and I just focused on keeping my breathing level moderate. By the third and fourth miles I started moving up, one by one, and I was in a surprise 6th place as we made our way up the hill between 3.5 and 4.5. I just kept steady and wove around the back of the pack 50K runners who had started 30 minutes before us. At the top of the hill 5th place Mike, another masters runner whom I've met the past couple races, was a good minute up, and a string of 4-5 were just a few seconds back. I focused on keeping a steady tempo on the long downhills back to the start-finish-lap area, and felt really good through there.
Was a bit discouraged to be more than a minute back from Mike at the turn-around (~7.5 miles), and still only 10 or 15 seconds ahead of the three or four. Felt like a sitting duck out there on the short-grass ecotone. I bided time by picking off more and more 50K runners, now mid-pack level, but it felt like my pace was flagging. Mike was pulling away it seemed and I was waiting for a train of runners to stream by. My legs and breathing didn't feel good. But as we ascended to about 7300 on the 2nd loop I heard no footsteps. Then the trails merged and people slalom from the 8 mile became quite annoying. Those on the left hand track invariably wore head phones, so I say 'on your left' before attempting to pass but they'd never hear me. So a lot of weaving and bobbing between tracks.
That was my major criticism of the race, having to pass hundreds of runners on the trail. A wave start isn't a bad idea but maybe make it based on expected pace based on 10K to half marathon results over the past year. Takes a little more work for the organizers, but at $70 a pop for an entry they can handle it.
By the time I reached the hill (4.5 miles to go) I was encouraged to moving up on Mike and to be past the most dense wave of of 8 mile runners, so passing was pretty easy. At the 2nd summit I was just a few seconds back from Mike, but he put the burners on so I just relaxed and let gravity do it's work while filling my lungs and legs with enough oxygen to hang on.
It flattened and I kept pushing. I thought I'd be about 1:50:20 and didn't throw in a huge kick, ended up 1:50:01 chip time in 5th. Technically 2nd masters but got credit as masters winner because 2nd overall was 40 and he was the open race runner up. Very encouraging, and a bonus was that I checked the archive and that's the fastest 50+ time ever on this course for the 25K. Won a pair of La Sportiva shoes for the effort and look forward to trying them on!
Overall this is a decently well-run event. I'll give it a 4 of 5. They could add another aid station and do something about the wave start to keep the trail more clear. But it's a good site and they have a good system. Not so keen on the finisher medals for everyone in a race shorter than a marathon, but I'm old school. Collecting a number of those things and not sure what to do with them.
Next race is Garden of the Gods 10 miler in mid-June.
I've felt pretty awful since Platte River Half Marathon last month, but did manage weeks of 40, 50, and 55 miles, which isn't too bad. Nevertheless, I haven't done a full workout in more than a month. Just run and once a week or so do some surges or pick ups. The closest thing was a 5 min hill climb in Boulder with BTC the other week, followed by some pick ups.
My first Greenland Trail race experience was decent to good. I scouted out the course last week and ran 14 miles out there, and got the gist of the rolling terrain and moderate (6900-7400 ft) altitude. Felt better as the week progressed, with a bit of fartlek training on Wednesday and Thursday and a real easy 5 miler on Friday.
Race day was about as good as it gets, low 50s at the start with a slight breeze and maybe 60 or 65 by the finish. The field didn't seem all that big, with fewer than 300 starters, and I tucked into 11th or 12th for the first couple miles. No one came up from behind and I just focused on keeping my breathing level moderate. By the third and fourth miles I started moving up, one by one, and I was in a surprise 6th place as we made our way up the hill between 3.5 and 4.5. I just kept steady and wove around the back of the pack 50K runners who had started 30 minutes before us. At the top of the hill 5th place Mike, another masters runner whom I've met the past couple races, was a good minute up, and a string of 4-5 were just a few seconds back. I focused on keeping a steady tempo on the long downhills back to the start-finish-lap area, and felt really good through there.
Was a bit discouraged to be more than a minute back from Mike at the turn-around (~7.5 miles), and still only 10 or 15 seconds ahead of the three or four. Felt like a sitting duck out there on the short-grass ecotone. I bided time by picking off more and more 50K runners, now mid-pack level, but it felt like my pace was flagging. Mike was pulling away it seemed and I was waiting for a train of runners to stream by. My legs and breathing didn't feel good. But as we ascended to about 7300 on the 2nd loop I heard no footsteps. Then the trails merged and people slalom from the 8 mile became quite annoying. Those on the left hand track invariably wore head phones, so I say 'on your left' before attempting to pass but they'd never hear me. So a lot of weaving and bobbing between tracks.
That was my major criticism of the race, having to pass hundreds of runners on the trail. A wave start isn't a bad idea but maybe make it based on expected pace based on 10K to half marathon results over the past year. Takes a little more work for the organizers, but at $70 a pop for an entry they can handle it.
By the time I reached the hill (4.5 miles to go) I was encouraged to moving up on Mike and to be past the most dense wave of of 8 mile runners, so passing was pretty easy. At the 2nd summit I was just a few seconds back from Mike, but he put the burners on so I just relaxed and let gravity do it's work while filling my lungs and legs with enough oxygen to hang on.
It flattened and I kept pushing. I thought I'd be about 1:50:20 and didn't throw in a huge kick, ended up 1:50:01 chip time in 5th. Technically 2nd masters but got credit as masters winner because 2nd overall was 40 and he was the open race runner up. Very encouraging, and a bonus was that I checked the archive and that's the fastest 50+ time ever on this course for the 25K. Won a pair of La Sportiva shoes for the effort and look forward to trying them on!
Overall this is a decently well-run event. I'll give it a 4 of 5. They could add another aid station and do something about the wave start to keep the trail more clear. But it's a good site and they have a good system. Not so keen on the finisher medals for everyone in a race shorter than a marathon, but I'm old school. Collecting a number of those things and not sure what to do with them.
Next race is Garden of the Gods 10 miler in mid-June.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Top Age Graded Results at Plate River Half Marathon
I'm a couple weeks late, been a very busy and hectic time, but here are top age grade scores from the Platte River Half Marathon the other week. Colleen De Reuck's 1:21:17 is a state record, 1:40 faster than what she did last fall at Rock 'n Roll Half in Denver. An outstanding time! The men's 55-59 age group is deep, with 4 of the 7 that were above 80% in that group.
91.74 Colleen De Reuck (50) 1:21:17
86.35 Andrea Espinosa (52) 1:28:33
86.19 Roger Sayre (57) 1:22:37
85.58 Dan Spale (58) 1:23:58
82.83 Kyle Hubbart (58) 1:25:43
82.00 Jerry Reif (50) 1:21:39
81.65 Jay Survil (56) 1:26:25
91.74 Colleen De Reuck (50) 1:21:17
86.35 Andrea Espinosa (52) 1:28:33
86.19 Roger Sayre (57) 1:22:37
85.58 Dan Spale (58) 1:23:58
82.83 Kyle Hubbart (58) 1:25:43
82.00 Jerry Reif (50) 1:21:39
81.65 Jay Survil (56) 1:26:25
Monday, April 13, 2015
Bouyed by the Platte River Half
After a hectic couple of months it's nice to return for a blog entry. Although I'm pretty sure this is pretty obscure, so far under the radar that mosquito would make a bigger blip on the screen. Makes Northern Lights seem like the big time.
The Platte River Half has been a race that I've wanted to do for more than a decade. I was injured when it first started and then moved to Alaska for 10 great years and more or less (excluding the injured year of 2010) a solid comeback.
So training the past two months has been solid, going about 50 a week with some okay workouts and just one race, an 18:18 5K (2nd masters and 1st in age) last month in my old hometown of Fort Collins. But the past two weeks of work, and life in many respects, have been wracked by deadlines and stress--hate it when work gets in the way of fun! But running has been my release, and I've enjoyed runs on up on North and South Table Mountain, Mesa Trail, Deer Creek Canyon, Waterton Canyon etc.
So I didn't know what to expect on Sunday. I did the proper cut back and looked at the calculators, which rather incredulously indicated that I was in 1:24 shape. But but, I ran 1:19 last year at sea level I whine to myself.
New year new altitude. I still thought a 1:21 or 1:22 was possible.
Hey they put on a great race for the Platte River Half Marathon. Something everyone, fast course, it's certified, a good field, great post-race block party. Can't say enough good things about this event.
The day dawned warm with a bit of a breeze from the south, it was noticeable on that half mile stretch in Littleton before we headed onto the bike path. I'd planned to run 6:20-6:30 for the first 2 miles and then drop into the 6:15 range once we got the downstream running path for nearly 10 miles. However, my mind kept pushing me to want to go 6:10, which I'd do but feel myself breathing hard so I backed off.
Had a good age group battle going from about 4 to 8 miles with Dan from Runners Roost. He reeled me in and we ran together for another mile or so, and then he surged but I held back with the group until just before 8. This time I surged and one other guy went with me, and we were off toward the finish.
I felt solid through 10 (1:02:26), but just let up a bit to get a drink and that guy had 30-40 meters. Mike, another masters runner from the Roost came up from behind so I just focused on those ahead. I picked off a couple more, but one or two went by. The stretch from 10 to 12 was tough. The wind had shifted into our face and it was flat/straight on a detour through the streets rather than on the bike path. I was hurting through there and had to concentrate to keep going. The stretch on the 8th Avenue viaduct was slow on the climb and I was feeling it bot didn't lose much ground. It was a relief to get to the crest of that long bridge. I started surging off and on to the finish. Hit 13 on my watch in 1:21:15, but that was almost a quarter mile from the finish.
Crossed in 1:22:37, 19th overall and an age graded 86.2, an altitude PR. That felt good, but then again 50 yr Colleen De Reuck up ahead by 80 seconds took the age grade award with a 92%. That was fast!
And did I say the party was great! I had fun for a couple hours--after tracking down my bag which had inadvertently been picked up by someone else--and then rode back on the Light Rail to Littleton with the Runners Roost crew.
Did it. Had some fun. Met my goal and beat the calculator. So what's not to like about all that? Hope to be back in the future.
The Platte River Half has been a race that I've wanted to do for more than a decade. I was injured when it first started and then moved to Alaska for 10 great years and more or less (excluding the injured year of 2010) a solid comeback.
So training the past two months has been solid, going about 50 a week with some okay workouts and just one race, an 18:18 5K (2nd masters and 1st in age) last month in my old hometown of Fort Collins. But the past two weeks of work, and life in many respects, have been wracked by deadlines and stress--hate it when work gets in the way of fun! But running has been my release, and I've enjoyed runs on up on North and South Table Mountain, Mesa Trail, Deer Creek Canyon, Waterton Canyon etc.
So I didn't know what to expect on Sunday. I did the proper cut back and looked at the calculators, which rather incredulously indicated that I was in 1:24 shape. But but, I ran 1:19 last year at sea level I whine to myself.
New year new altitude. I still thought a 1:21 or 1:22 was possible.
Hey they put on a great race for the Platte River Half Marathon. Something everyone, fast course, it's certified, a good field, great post-race block party. Can't say enough good things about this event.
The day dawned warm with a bit of a breeze from the south, it was noticeable on that half mile stretch in Littleton before we headed onto the bike path. I'd planned to run 6:20-6:30 for the first 2 miles and then drop into the 6:15 range once we got the downstream running path for nearly 10 miles. However, my mind kept pushing me to want to go 6:10, which I'd do but feel myself breathing hard so I backed off.
Had a good age group battle going from about 4 to 8 miles with Dan from Runners Roost. He reeled me in and we ran together for another mile or so, and then he surged but I held back with the group until just before 8. This time I surged and one other guy went with me, and we were off toward the finish.
I felt solid through 10 (1:02:26), but just let up a bit to get a drink and that guy had 30-40 meters. Mike, another masters runner from the Roost came up from behind so I just focused on those ahead. I picked off a couple more, but one or two went by. The stretch from 10 to 12 was tough. The wind had shifted into our face and it was flat/straight on a detour through the streets rather than on the bike path. I was hurting through there and had to concentrate to keep going. The stretch on the 8th Avenue viaduct was slow on the climb and I was feeling it bot didn't lose much ground. It was a relief to get to the crest of that long bridge. I started surging off and on to the finish. Hit 13 on my watch in 1:21:15, but that was almost a quarter mile from the finish.
Crossed in 1:22:37, 19th overall and an age graded 86.2, an altitude PR. That felt good, but then again 50 yr Colleen De Reuck up ahead by 80 seconds took the age grade award with a 92%. That was fast!
And did I say the party was great! I had fun for a couple hours--after tracking down my bag which had inadvertently been picked up by someone else--and then rode back on the Light Rail to Littleton with the Runners Roost crew.
Did it. Had some fun. Met my goal and beat the calculator. So what's not to like about all that? Hope to be back in the future.
Monday, February 23, 2015
February Surprise
Perhaps my birthday gift arrived a day early, but not without a little bit of work and maybe some luck.
I lined up for the Snowman Stampede 10 mile race, the RRCA 10 mile state championship, not seeing one of my age chief age group rivals, the guy that beat me at the 5 mile last month and at USATF XC two weeks ago. We also seemed to have had dodged the brunt of the weekend snowstorm. A couple inches overight but at start time it was relatively calm and overcast with temps in the low-mid 30s, but no snowfall. The path was mostly clear, save for a few choice puddles.
Plan was 6:40, 6:30, 6:20s and then try to hammer the last couple miles in low 6s. Hit the first mile in about 20th place and 6:18 so maybe a bit faster than planned but relatively close to goal pace. Just after that, sure enough, not unlike at the 5 miler my age competitor in red singlet of the Roost sidled up and we congealed into a pack of about five or six runners. My breathing felt good and the pace felt fairly reasonable, but I didn't want to push ahead too soon get caught in no man's land after just a few miles, so I mostly just tucked into the group and let the others do the pacing. We hung in the 6:25-6:30 range, which seemed too slow, but they threw in a couple short surges as if to test things out. We hit 5 at about 32:18, which was a ways slower than my goal pace and I just hoped I could hang when things did pick up. Sure enough at the turn around (at about 5.5 miles) their guy (I think it was four guys from Runners Roost, a guy in orange, and me) surged and we strung out. Suddenly we were down to four.
The comical highlight of the day was at about mile 6 with incoming runners on the same bike path. We came upon a very large puddle that spanned the 8 foot bike path and looked to be 3-5" deep on our side. We had about a second to respond as a lone female on the right side approached. Three choices: straight ahead into the deep clear-cold water for several strides, go right to the cinder path which was obviously 3" of mud and looking very slippery, or go left and only get our toes wet while trying not to collide with the woman.
One went right into the mud, squish!, after a moment's hesitation the of us three behind veered left almost running head on with the oncoming runner.
"Uhhh. Seriously guys!" was her reponse. You had to be there, but the tone of annoyance was kind of priceless. Well maybe she had to stutter step, but there was no contact that I saw and no one fell. No harm, I hope.
We hit the 6th mile in 6:08, and that was a net uphill and against traffic so things were heating up. I expected these guys leave me gasping at any moment so just hung on. The pace let up a bit in the 7th mile as we were going against the bulk of the pack, still heading to the turn around. At 7 the leader (who'd been leading most of the way from the turnaround) turned to me and said, "we're fallling off the pace," and to me "You can lead for a while"
"Sure, I can do that." and I settled into a comfortably fast pace, at about 6:10, fully expecting them to tuck right in.
But a funny thing happened. They fell back. First just few steps. But then it became 5 or 10 meters. I tried to keep it even for about a half mile, but could tell they were just hanging on, so I picked up with some subtle 15-20 second surges. The 8th mile was another 6:08, and then a 6:10 for the 9th and I was closing in on another guy from the Roost. Probably getting to within 10 seconds but he heard me and picked up his effort.
That 10th mile was a bit painful, running scared trying to focus on the guy head who was surging away himself, while holding off those behind. Back into the mucky dirt road in Hudson Gardens I accelerated the turns but kind of floundered on those two at this point grueling 10-15 sec uphills.
Kicked in with a 6:14 final mile and finished at 63:22. So a nice 31:04 or so for the final 5, with a net uphill of 120 feet. And better yet 1st in age group. I didn't expect that, but glad it worked out.
I lined up for the Snowman Stampede 10 mile race, the RRCA 10 mile state championship, not seeing one of my age chief age group rivals, the guy that beat me at the 5 mile last month and at USATF XC two weeks ago. We also seemed to have had dodged the brunt of the weekend snowstorm. A couple inches overight but at start time it was relatively calm and overcast with temps in the low-mid 30s, but no snowfall. The path was mostly clear, save for a few choice puddles.
Plan was 6:40, 6:30, 6:20s and then try to hammer the last couple miles in low 6s. Hit the first mile in about 20th place and 6:18 so maybe a bit faster than planned but relatively close to goal pace. Just after that, sure enough, not unlike at the 5 miler my age competitor in red singlet of the Roost sidled up and we congealed into a pack of about five or six runners. My breathing felt good and the pace felt fairly reasonable, but I didn't want to push ahead too soon get caught in no man's land after just a few miles, so I mostly just tucked into the group and let the others do the pacing. We hung in the 6:25-6:30 range, which seemed too slow, but they threw in a couple short surges as if to test things out. We hit 5 at about 32:18, which was a ways slower than my goal pace and I just hoped I could hang when things did pick up. Sure enough at the turn around (at about 5.5 miles) their guy (I think it was four guys from Runners Roost, a guy in orange, and me) surged and we strung out. Suddenly we were down to four.
The comical highlight of the day was at about mile 6 with incoming runners on the same bike path. We came upon a very large puddle that spanned the 8 foot bike path and looked to be 3-5" deep on our side. We had about a second to respond as a lone female on the right side approached. Three choices: straight ahead into the deep clear-cold water for several strides, go right to the cinder path which was obviously 3" of mud and looking very slippery, or go left and only get our toes wet while trying not to collide with the woman.
One went right into the mud, squish!, after a moment's hesitation the of us three behind veered left almost running head on with the oncoming runner.
"Uhhh. Seriously guys!" was her reponse. You had to be there, but the tone of annoyance was kind of priceless. Well maybe she had to stutter step, but there was no contact that I saw and no one fell. No harm, I hope.
We hit the 6th mile in 6:08, and that was a net uphill and against traffic so things were heating up. I expected these guys leave me gasping at any moment so just hung on. The pace let up a bit in the 7th mile as we were going against the bulk of the pack, still heading to the turn around. At 7 the leader (who'd been leading most of the way from the turnaround) turned to me and said, "we're fallling off the pace," and to me "You can lead for a while"
"Sure, I can do that." and I settled into a comfortably fast pace, at about 6:10, fully expecting them to tuck right in.
But a funny thing happened. They fell back. First just few steps. But then it became 5 or 10 meters. I tried to keep it even for about a half mile, but could tell they were just hanging on, so I picked up with some subtle 15-20 second surges. The 8th mile was another 6:08, and then a 6:10 for the 9th and I was closing in on another guy from the Roost. Probably getting to within 10 seconds but he heard me and picked up his effort.
That 10th mile was a bit painful, running scared trying to focus on the guy head who was surging away himself, while holding off those behind. Back into the mucky dirt road in Hudson Gardens I accelerated the turns but kind of floundered on those two at this point grueling 10-15 sec uphills.
Kicked in with a 6:14 final mile and finished at 63:22. So a nice 31:04 or so for the final 5, with a net uphill of 120 feet. And better yet 1st in age group. I didn't expect that, but glad it worked out.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Men's 2015 USATF XC: All Net For Chris Derrick
Here are some pictures from the men's race at the 2015 USATF XC championships in Boulder.
 |
| Moments before the fray. |
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| Lead pack just after 4K. |
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| Chase pack, top 20 in the early laps. |
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| Derrick in the clear for his third consecutive national championship. |
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| Nothing but net. Derrick made a hand gesture to show that as he crossed, but this photo says it all. |
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| Bobby Curtis takes a surprise (to many) 2nd place. |
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| Ritz takes 3rd, but will not run World XC championships in China, opting for Boston Marathon instead. |
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Women's 2015 USATF XC Boulder
From start to finish this race was all Laura Thweatt. She controlled the pace from early on, covered all moves, and ultimately sped away from the field. Here are a few photos.
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| Women's lead pack at start of lap 2. |
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| Thweatt leading the pack, with Brianne Nelson and Sara Hall in tow. |
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| Break away pack: Thweatt, Sara Hall, and Neeley Spence. |
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| In the clear, Thweatt wins by 30 seconds. |
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