2011 Colorado Relay

Over the weekend I ran with 9 others from my work in a relay race. The race started in Breckenridge and finished near Aspen. Our team finished the 195 miles in 32:10:34. I had a lot of laughs and a lot of great stories to tell, I won’t bore you with all of those non running stories. Here is a description of each on my runs. (kind of long but you should at least read about the last run)


Leg 10 – Frisco to Copper mountain Friday 5:35pm, 6.5 mi @ 8:22 Pace, Avg HR 177, Elevation Gain 690’
I left my house at 5:30 am and basically sat in the car for 12 hrs straight. I ran a 1 mile warm-up to try and loosen up my muscles but my quads felt terrible. I start off at a sub 8:00/mi pace which was fine for the first mile. Miles 2, 3, 4 @ 5 were all up hill, about 2%-3% grade. It was also hot and during these miles my heart rate averaged in the 180’s! The last 1.5 mi flattened out and I was able to resume a pace near 8:00/mi to the end.

Leg 18 – Eagle to Gypsum Saturday 2:40 am, 6.5 mi @ 7:36 Pace , Avg HR 160, Downhill Course
I was unable to sleep between this run and the last one. My quads felt bad before the last run and then I ran a hard uphill, my quads were now really hurting before this run. This leg was mostly downhill and I planned on taking it easy and saving some energy for the last run which was going to be my hardest. Right off the bat I started with a pace in the 7:30’s. I ran very even splits within 10 seconds faster or slower than the average. This run had my lowest average heart rate so I guess I did take it easy.

Leg 30 – Snowmass Golf Course to Snowmass Ski Area (trail run) Saturday 2:40 pm, 8.4 mi @ 10:58 Pace, Avg HR 163, Elevation Gain 1,540’
Since my last run I was able to nap about 30 min and my quads were really sore. I started on the golf course but in less than 5 minutes I was on the side of the mountain. I ran most of the first mile but then I had to walk some and run some the next 2 miles to the peak of the climb. The view at the top was amazing and the tail descended along some cliffs. There were times when I was only a few feet away from a really steep cliff it was really neat. But the fun was short live as I soon start ascending the second peak of the run. I really had a tough time on this climb, one mile was over 14:00. I came over the peak and again ran along some cool cliffs. Then I started my final decent to the finish line. At the very top I could see way at the bottom the finish (1.5 miles to run and 600’ decent). Also at the bottom I could see and hear my team cheering me on and making a ton of noise with some cow bells. I can’t describe what happened but it felt like I grew wings. I sprinted down the side of that mountain like a madman. It seemed like every switch back I could hear them get louder. I was going so fast that I almost didn’t make on a few turns. I ran that last mile in 7:29 on some pretty sketchy terrain. I met up with my team and we all ran the last 0.1 into the finish line together.


This will go down as one of my best running experiences ever especially that epic trail run. In the future I am going to imagine my teammates cheering me in whenever I need a boost.

April Snow

Guess who got to run in the snow this morning…

Wall papering my workspace

Unless it’s already on the bib I will write the race name, date, time & distance. Then I hang it on my wall at work, eventually when I run out of room I will take the older ones down and store them somewhere.

Evergreen Town Race (10K)

My goal for today’s race was to run 41:59 so 6:46 pace. The race is at 7,500’ elevation but almost all downhill it was a really fast course. The biggest downhill was in the first mile and most everyone went out too fast. I ran the first mile a little faster than I wanted and I spent most of the second mile recovering. In the early miles I had already tossed my goal and traded it in for a faster pace. I came through the first 5K at 20:40 which felt great and way under my goal. But things were just getting started and I was going to pick up the pace. I had been running alone for a while with the same pack of runners about 100 meters down the road. I decided it was time to chase them down which took about a mile to cover the distance. I caught them near the 5 mile mark and went straight though the pack. It felt really good zipping past this pack of 10-15 runners. I really turned on the gas in the last mile, it hurt a lot but at this time I was running on a runner’s high. At the 6 mile marker I could see the finish line and I nearly went into a full sprint from there. My Garmin says I ran the last .2 @ 5:22 pace. I passed another few people in the sprint into the finish line. I ran my second 5K in 20:04 almost as fast as my best 5K this year.

Garmin Stats
Mile 1 – 6:34 (Avg HR 165)
Mile 2 – 6:43 (Avg HR 171)
Mile 3 – 6:34 (Avg HR 174)
Mile 4 – 6:39 (Avg HR 178 )
Mile 5 – 6:28 (Avg HR 182)
Mile 6 – 6:19 (Avg HR 185)
Last .27 – 1:27 (5:22 pace) (Avg HR 191)


This was an extremely competitive race.  I finish 68th overall and 16th in my age group. Lot of fast people showed up to this race today.

Scavenger Dash

This adventure through the streets of Denver was part scavenger hunt part running race. Each team had 2 runners plus an optional pit crew to help solve clues. There weren’t any teams without a pit crew in the top 3, I am glad we had are ours.

All together there was 12 items.
3 – Challenges. Cryptic clue would lead you to a location where you had to complete a task.
5 - Pictures of statues. Cryptic clue would lead you to a unique statue that you needed to take a picture of
3 - Find one of these and take a picture next to it. Find an Elevator, Cigar smoking Indian & a Mannequin with a head.
1 - Crayon rubbing. The clue sent us to get a crayon rubbing of the seal that’s on the 13th step of the capital

The race started at noon and it was 80+ degrees out and I was sweating buckets the whole time. While getting lost or not running the direct route we ran 9.25 miles in about 1:52, we finished 2nd place overall. The best route we could have taken to find everything would have only been 5.9 miles.


Here are a few of the better pictures and some comments (not the actual clues):

My teammate and I prior to the race, I passed on the pre race beer


Take a picture inside this sculpture


Take a picture with a mannequin that has a head (Terrible picture of me by the way)


Find the dancing ballerinas sculpture and imitate their pose for the picture


Find the fat lady and take a picture with her, she was at the opera house

2011 Estes Park Marathon Race Report

Start and the first big accent (miles 0-10)
It was a really beautiful course but I think scenic = tough at least in Colorado. Around mile 2 we started a steady climb all the way to mile 6. Once at the top my muscles felt dead already. Also at the top of this climb I ate my first gel and it made my stomach queasy. Then it was long decent back to Estes Park. The downhill felt almost as bad as the uphill, I am not sure why downhills tear my quads apart. I ate half an orange at mile 9 which made my stomach feel even worse.

Around the lake (miles 11-16)
We got back into town where it’s actually flat and I ate my 2nd gel at mile 11. I almost puked, I didn’t although I wish I had. My legs were in terrible shape, my stomach hurt and I was getting hot. I came really close to giving up here, my car wasn’t far and I could have easily hopped in and drove away. I have given up on a marathon once before and that was way worse than any pain I was feeling. During this time I kept drinking liquids but I had given up on solid food.

Second loop out of town (miles 17-22)
The second loop started with 2.5 miles of steady climbing. The nice thing was as soon as we climbed a bit there was a light breeze and I felt cool again. My altitude had changed to “I will finish” and I was cooling down so things were looking good. The climb peaked at mile 20, here I looked at my total time for first time in the race. I wasn’t happy with my current pace and I was thinking the 5hr goal was gone. Running down the other side of this loop I picked up the pace a bit but my stomach seemed to be the limiting factor. I still hadn’t eaten anything since mile 11.

Back into town and the finish (miles 23-26.2)
At mile 23 I decide to eat a banana at a water station. This time it went down fine and a mile later I starting to feel a lot better. I looked at my watch for the second time in the race and saw that I there was still hope for finishing under 5hrs. I ran nonstop the last 2.2 miles at a 9:23 pace and a bpm 170-185.

Results and the big picture
I finished in 4:52:23 just under my medium goal of 5hrs. Which is not a great time, I am pretty sure that I could run it a lot faster if I was fresh. I showed up to this race pretty beat up and mentally exhausted having run 2 marathons in the previous 9 weeks. The real goal behind this was to join the marathon maniacs club. The entry requirement is 3 marathons in 90 days. Now that I have met this goal it’s time to take a break from marathoning and see some shorter distances.






 

2011 Colfax Marathon

Pre Race:
At the starting line it was 37F and had just stopped raining. I wore my regular running shorts, tech-t, running hat, cotton hoddie and cotton socks. I received lots of great advice on clothing but in the end I couldn’t violate the most important rule in marathoning “don’t change anything on race day”. But I am going to buy some rain gear, so next time I will be prepared for anything.

Miles 0 - 6 “Relax we got a few miles ahead of us” (6mi @ 10:06 pace)
The first 6 miles were mostly dry with some light drizzle here and there. I started off slow and was boxed in by all the runners. I wasn’t about to go crazy like other people I saw weaving in and out of the traffic. Hey, we got 25 more miles I think you can make up for 1 mile of slow running. I was getting really warm debating on when I should toss the sweatshirt on the side of the road. Running in Denver is weird became its hilly but not big hills just short quick ones. Going up and down these little hills my quads didn’t feel right. Actually they didn’t feel right the last couple of days but I wrote it off as pre race jitters. My quads always get messed up as I cut back on the mileage. When I used to do the traditional taper (20 days) my quads would be useless at the start of the race. This year I have done a short taper (13 days) and that has helped a lot but not fixed the problem.

Miles 7 - 19 “Wet soggy and flirting with a DNF” (13 @ 9:53 pace)
By now the drizzle had become light rain but I was still feeling a little too warm. I ditched my sweat shirt at the Broncos stadium (9.5 miles). I didn’t realize at the moment but this was a huge mistake. At first running without the sweat shirt felt refreshing and my pace increased for the next few miles. I ran down a big hill around 14 and my quads felt terrible. Miles 15, 16 & 17 people keep saying just a little farther and then some downhill. I was like “please no more downhill”. Also during these miles my condition was deteriorating, I was getting really really cold. I remember at mile 18 I checked to see if my phone was still transmitting to run keeper and switching on the external battery, this was really hard because my fingers just didn’t want to move. At mile 19 I couldn’t open power gel with my hands, I had to use my teeth. I was seriously afraid that I going to have to duck out of the race just to warm up.


Miles 20 - 22 “Warming up, feels like I might be able to kick it in” (3 @ 10:11 pace)
I couldn’t remember if the course went back by the stadium. I figured that either way I was going to have to go find my sweatshirt. Luckily at mile 20 the course came pretty close and I only had to go off course (in the wrong direction) a few hundred feet to retrieve my sweatshirt. Around mile 20 it also stopped raining and was clear to the finish. I warmed up pretty quickly and my mood and pace improved. I finished mile 22 in 9:46, it had been 5 miles since my last one under 10:00. It felt like I had gotten my second wind and could finish the last few miles at a good pace. I was thinking that I could still get my medium goal of 4:22:00. But these feelings were short lived.

Miles 23 - Finish “The train has come of the tracks” (4.2 @ 11:31 pace)
After a 1 min walk break I was ready to start mile 23 with that same awesome feelings. But the first few steps into the run and my calf muscles nearly cramped up. I hate that feeling your muscles send out the second before they lock. Anyways I had some painful cramps last year and I wasn’t about to get one now. I changed my strategy to “forget about time, let’s just finish”. I think that when my quads are gone I must have changed my running form to one that is easier on them but really hard on my calf muscles. Nearly every step of the last 3 miles felt like it could have been the last before a huge cramp. The course went back through downtown Denver but this time I walked up every little hill. I ditched the sweatshirt again at mile 24(I was plenty warm for the last 2 miles). Even in this shape I was still passing a lot of people that must have been feeling worse. I was so happy to see the mile 25 marker, I wanted to sprint home but my legs would only allow 12 min pace. Crossing the finish line was a really good feeling and made it worth all the pain.

Post Race:
My official time was 4:28:03 my medium goal was 10 min pace (4:22:00). When I came through mile 22 at 3:39:39, I was 21 seconds under 10 min pace but after that I lost big chunks of time. This marathon was about 2 and half minutes slower than my last marathon. But I am really happy to have another marathon finished under 4:30:00.

I didn’t have any chaffing problems and only had got a 1 blister on one foot. The only thing sore today is my quads, everything else seems good. I am walking around normal today even on the stairs which is a day after first for me. I can remember the day after my first marathon every muscle seemed sore and my feet, ankles and knees were in bad shape too.

As every marathon I learned a lot and now I will adjust my training. 1 major problem I want to address is my quads, they didn’t feel right from the start. After 18 miles and a few small hills they were toast. In training I never have problems with my quads. I have successfully run many 18 & 20 mile runs without any quad problems and that’s usually just days after a tempo run. I am thinking that maybe over tapering is the issue not duration of the taper.



Here I am finishing, I am the one it the white shirt.



It’s amazing how quick your mood changes once you cross the finish line.


Finally some warmth, it only made it up to about 40F by the finish.