2012 Cheyenne Mountain 50K Race Report

Here is the short version if you don’t have time

- Finished my first 50K (31 miles) in 5:55:30
- Crossed the finish line with my kids and a smile on my face

Now the long version. I am going to break this up by the 4 major climbs (see pic below) and then the finish. Hopefully it goes well.

0 - 5 miles - Average pace during this section 10:52
The race start was slower than any race I have ever run.  I could have owned that race for a few miles but that wouldn’t have helped me accomplish the goal of finishing my first Ultra.  The super slow start went through the parking lot and we ran through a tunnel of 25K racers (they didn’t star for another 30 minutes) and spectators cheering us on.  Then we took a turn and went straight up the mountain for the next few miles.  I think I ran faster than I should have in this area but it was weird at the start.  No one wanted to be the first to walk.

5 - 11 miles - Average pace during this section 11:01On the way down the first decline I made sure to keep myself in check. I wanted to fly but I held myself to running 9:40 pace for the next 3 miles. The downhill seemed short lived and soon we were headed back up the mountain. Near the top of this climb I logged one of my slowest miles of the day 14:01, ouch. Overall I felt pretty fresh still and ready to hit the next the downhill.

11 - 20 miles - Average pace during this section 11:13
Coming down that major climb I again went under 10:00 pace for about 4 miles.  That would be the last time I ever saw anything close to 10:00 pace.  At a little over 15 miles we were at the bottom of the hill back at the starting line, one more lap to go.  It was getting warm out now but the breeze felt great.  Going up this climb I lost it, heat & exhaustion hit me hard my HR was in the 170’s.  I decide to take a long walk and eat my apple.   Miles 17-20 were dark times, I never felt more tired during the race. Mile 19 I completed in 15:12 the slowest of the day.  But quitting never crossed my mind, my kids were waiting at the finish and I wasn’t going to let them down.

20 - 26 miles - Average pace during this section 12:31
That apple did wonders and I felt a lot better running down the mountain.  Except one difference this time, it was hard to not walk even on the downhill sections now.  The downhill seemed so much shorter and soon I was on my way back up the hills.  Last lap this particular climb kicked my butt and this time I was much more tired and my quads were starting to cramp. I doubled my sodium intake and kept chugging up the hill with my quads in shambles.  Miles 23-26 were extremely painful and I averaged 13:00+ min miles topping out at 14:15 for mile 26.  During this time quitting again never crossed my mind this was just another obstacle.  

26 - 31.2 miles - Average pace during this section 11:20
Surprisingly my quads got better.  I remember looking at my watch and seeing 26.2 – 4:59:40.  Not a person in sight not a marker nothing, it was important to me because I was officially an ultra-marathoner, all that was left was 5 miles of mostly downhill.  There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t finish.  These last few miles were like my victory lap.  Near the finish I watched my garmin like a hawk for another mile stone 29.8  29.9 30, I don’t know why but it was really cool seeing  that big 30 on my watch.  It hurt a lot but I ran nearly all the final miles, slowly. I couldn’t wait to see my kids.

Finish
I saw my kids about a 100 ft from the finish line and I went straight to them to get hugs (time be dammed).  I grabbed their hands and said “finish with me” and we all ran to the finish line together.  My 5 year old couldn’t run because she had flip flop sandals so I put her on my shoulders.  I felt no more pain and I was so unbelievable happy. 

Final thoughts
- Scenery was beautiful if l lived here I would be on this trail all the time.
- My mind was much tougher during the race than usual, I was 100% focused.  Quitting never crossed my mind.

Mistake #1 - I forgot sunscreen but I didn’t get burned (37F at the start about 70F at the finish)

Mistake #2 - I forgot body glide but I didn’t chafe once (I was afraid I was going to finish and have shirt that matches Trevor’s)

Mistake #3 – Didn’t bring extra shoes.  The race was about a 90 min drive from home, I was wearing the same shoes from 5am – 4pm. It would have been nice to have some fresh shoes for the drive home.

Huge Mistake #1 – a few days before the race I went to the website to get directions to the starting line. I noticed something odd, the race was until next weekend.  This was on April 18th and I had already been tapering for two weeks. Didn’t freak out too much and went with the super long 3 week taper.

My family and friends are already asking when I am going to run Leadville.  Which is about the same as asking a first time 5K finisher when the plan on running the Boston marathon.

Pictures

Elevation Profile

First major climb

Around mile 16

I will post a finish line Photo as soon as I can. I hope they got a good shot of me crossing with my family.

Down but not out

On Saturday I had on the hardest run of my life. 20 mile trail run with 3900’ of total climbing. On the final climb the wheels fell off and I spent the last few miles questioning my sanity. I worried that I would not make it back to my car. I found out that when your legs turn to mush they don’t like running downhill. This 20 mile run took me 3:56:37 which is about 2 minutes on my feet more than my last marathon all while averaging a HR in the 150’s. I was ready to give up on my next race (switch to the 25K).

Mental Recovery in 3 steps:
1. I took Sunday off and didn’t think about running
2. This morning I had a redemption run 10 miles at 8:15 pace, my legs felt fine
3. Made the graph below to see the elevation of this training run vs. the upcoming race (red was the tail run this Saturday and blue is the race in a few weeks). The trail that I have been running is way tougher than the race will be.



I got kicked off the horse but I am back on board, confidence slightly bruised. Already looking back I can see a few mistakes I made that I can improve on for the race

A birthday present to myself

For my birthday I went up to mt falcon and got a nice view of the city. This trail  climbs 1700’ in the first 4 miles which took me just over 50 minutes (12:30 pace). After that I did a nice loop on top that isn’t to hard and then ran back down to the car.

A long run above Waterton

The last few weeks my back has but hurting. I did figure out that the problem was how I was sitting to work on my laptop. Since I changed how I sit in the last couple days it’s seemed to hurt less but all over instead of a lot in a single spot. I think it’s getting better.

Today’s Run: 20.4 mile trail run earlier today. My total time was 3:40:19 or about 10:48 per mile. My avg HR was 154 which is a pretty high heat rate to have for almost 4 hrs. On some of the climbs my HR was in the 170’s and I was a little worried I wouldn't have any matches left for my long decent. The first 6 miles was a pretty easy climb. After that the next 6 miles had 3 very mean climbs and then I had long 8.4 miles decent. On this run I saw it all pavement, dirt, sand, mud and snow.

Food on the run review: Every weekend I have been experimenting with a new food. Last week was apple slices which worked so well I took them out on this run (mile 6 & 13). The new food I tried on this run was beef jerky. I ate some at mile 9 and mile 16 and the results were different at those two spots. At mile 9 it was a perfect salty treat that I enjoyed but at mile 16 it didn’t taste as great and I had to force it down and drink a lot get the taste out of my mouth. Functionally it was great both times I felt better and I got some protein in my system. It didn’t cause any stomach problems either.

Post run funny story: This trail is about a 30 min drive from home so I filled up on gas and bought a bottle of chocolate milk for the dive home. I was dehydrated and hungry and it tasted so wonderful that I drank the whole thing in no time. When I got home I went to log my food and discovered that I drank 880 cals of chocolate milk on the drive home.



Here is the profile map of my run and the avg pace for different sections. Worked out to about 2,400 ft of climbing. The last downhill destroyed my quads, 8.4 miles and 1,300 ft of downhill.



Here is the Dam at about mile 6 after this it gets really ugly.


This is a picture of the top of the mountain at about 8 miles, I ended up running both of these trails


On the back side I hit some snowy sections


and a few water crossings

2012 March RMRR 3mi Race Report

3 miles – 19:45, Avg HR 175 

Pre-Race: zero race preparation My friends talked me into doing this race Saturday night, it was only $10 so what the heck. Except earlier on Saturday I had done a hilly 4 mile tempo run at 6:49 pace and my quads felt a little beat up. Also I ate pizza for dinner which I wouldn’t have if I knew I was going to be racing the next day.

Race Day: Windy! The sun was out and it was around 40 degrees which would have been perfect race weather except the wind was blowing like crazy. The wind made it feel much colder so I actually wore my jacket in the race. Since I ran a speed workout yesterday and the wind was wild I decided to lower my goals and have a pressure free race fun race with a goal of running 7:00 minute pace.

Mile 1 - 6:50 Avg HR 165
We ran with the wind at our backs for about ¼ and then the rest of the first mile was into the wind. Even running into the wind I felt really good and was able to run a little faster than my goal pace. I was really surprised that I was running so well on somewhat tired legs in the wind.

Mile 2 - 6:35 Avg HR 178
This race was set up with a handicap system, I started 11:00 after the gun went off. In the second mile I started catching up to big groups of people. Passing people felt good for my confidence and propelled me even faster. This mile had lot of turns so the wind was on and then off the cycling of the wind kind of felt like running hills.

Mile 3 - 6:20 Avg HR 185The last mile just I felt awesome and took off, running negative splits feel great. The last ¼ mile was a long stretch straight into the wind. I felt like I was sprinting but it probably wasn’t faster than 6:00 min pace. This race it was put on by the local running club and I joined the club and signed up for the whole year, 12 races for $35! (not $35 each $35 for all 12 races)



I don’t know what happened today I ran great with really poor race preparation. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I think that I would have put in a really awesome time if it wasn’t for that wind. But still I am happy with the time and effort I put in today.

It glows

Here is a better shot of my Las Vegas Marathon metal


… And it glows in the dark

Valentines 5K Race Report

2-12-2012, 10:00 AM, 12 F
5K – 19:47 New 30+ PR!
9th overall, 4th in my Age Group


Mile 1 – 6:16 Avg HR 175
I got off to a screaming start. An elite group of 8 quickly distanced them self and me on one other dude were in no man’s land for the entire race. We were the only 2 finishers in the 19’s. Of that group of 8 the slowest was 18:50 I think. The weather was freaking cold (12 F) I spent most of this mile freezing.

Mile 2 – 6:28 Avg HR 185
Running out of gas already, quads back and butt muscles were tired. I held my pace and ran with the same dude this whole mile. It was good that he was here to help push me or I would have dropped off more than I did. I finally got warmed up in this mile. I was wearing a long sleeve tee, shorts and a ski hat.

Mile 3 – 6:25 Avg HR 188
I felt a little stronger this mile but my back and butt were still really hurting. My coach in HS always said this was good thing one of my favorite quotes of his -“you butt is sore because you ran your ass off”. Towards the end of this mile my race buddy got a little distance on me and I could bring him back.

Last 0.1 – 0:38 Avg HR 190
The last 0.1 a switch flipped in my head and started my kick. I was making ground on my race buddy but I ran out of road before I could catch him. He end up in my age group and took home a nice 3rd place metal. If I could have run 10 seconds faster I could have had that metal. As you can tell my age group was pretty tough, I think I was the top 10 finisher to not bring any hardware home.

Post Race
I ran a new non teenager PR by 0:09 and I was happy about that but I was too happy about the race. My performance didn’t match my effort. I was planning on running in the low 19 area. I think my head just want in it today and I wasn’t able to push that little bit more that I could have. Next race in 3-11-2012 (St Patty’s 7K) and I will be using this as race a fuel. I ran home after the race to have some time to myself, 6 miles.