Green Mountain on a rainy day

Here is what I love about trail running, you never know what you will find. Today on my trail run I came across an interesting sign...

 
 At the top of the mountain we could see everyone getting poured on at the cheery creek sneak. Mitch and I were nice and dry although it was painfully windy.

2014 Platte River Half Marathon

13.1 miles - 1:37:04

A friend of mine wasn’t going to run this race and I didn’t want to let his bib go to waste. Last weekend I ran 34 miles over the weekend so I wasn’t ready for a race but I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for a tempo run or a little bit harder than tempo run. I decided to run 1:38 only because it was any easy to figure out 7:30 pace on the course. A few of my friends also wanted to run sub 1:40 so the 4 of us set out together.

Miles 1-3 (Avg pace 7:31)
Our group stayed together as the race winded through town. I felt great and the pace just felt like a nice weekly long run. I was a little worried about getting boxed in because the first few miles were on a nice wide street and then the rest of the race was on bike paths. We couldn’t have asked for a better spring morning. 30’s at the start and around 50 at the finish line with clear skies.

Miles 4 - 6 (Avg pace 7:15)
My friend Matt is a new runner and very fast, faster than he knows. Matt started pulling away and I decided to go with him. That was the last time we saw Gary and Abby, they both ran great races. Matt pushed the pace we ran mile 4 in 7:11 and then mile 5 in 7:12. At this point I decided that I couldn’t continue at that pace and have a nice tempo run. I let Matt go and ran mile 6 in 7:23.

Miles 7 – 12 (Avg pace 7:26)
Those fast miles got me a little out of breath. I decided the the rest of the race I would settle in the 7:20’s. I ended up catching Matt somewhere between mile 8 and 9. I convince him to run with me and we did for a little while before he fell behind at a water station. I figured I would let him run his own race.

Mile 13 and the last 0.1 (Avg pace 7:23)
A lot of this race was on a slight decline and in the last few miles we had a few rollers. But mile 13 has a big hill over the highway on a viaduct (8th avenue). I kept an eye on my watch to make sure I didn’t slow down too much. My pace went above 7:30 but I got a little of it back on the downhill. We took a turn and could see the finish about 3 blocks away. My watch recoded my last 0.1 at 5:40 pace. I was pretty happy with my time. I did exactly what I wanted run strong and not kill myself. Next week is my peak training week for this marathon and its going to be tough. This is my second fastest half marathon now out of 5 total now. I love the half marathon, I don’t know why I don’t run more of them.

After the race I jogged back to the top of the hill and cheered on all my friends. I love this new group of friends I have made, it’s like a big family. We all met after the race and ate and talked, it was a lot of fun doing this race with so many friends.

This was around mile 5. I am in the Green having way to much fun, Matt is a few steps in front of me in race mode.


Post race picture with the Mile High Track Club. We had about 10 more that didn’t make it to the photo opp. It was a great day for our team with so many PR’s.

2014 Run Through Time Marathon

Salida, Colorado
4:48:29 (8 minute course PR)

In Colorado this is the earliest marathon of the season, the next opportunity is late April. I have decided to make this my early season fitness test. I love this race, the views are amazing the people are laid back. This was my 16th marathon and my second on this course. I have become a much more laid back runner I don’t worry about my training, taper, dinner breakfast or anything. I just love to go out and run.

First climb 0 – 7 miles
The race started on the road and I stayed calm and tucked into the middle of the pack. It’s a long climb and I am not very fast on the uphill. It was about 30F and I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and shorts. I knew it would warm up once the sun came out. Running a trail race is weird in the beginning it’s like everyone is trying to hold out and not walk for as long as possible. Not me I know how I like to run trails and my strategy include lots of walking mixed with running.

Big Climb 8 – 13
At mile 8 we left the single track and started up the dirt road. Even with my short walk breaks I had passed a lot of people. I remember how bad I felt on this road last year, this year was different I felt relaxed and fine. I cruised up the 5 miles of dirt road (2,400ft vertical) with out to much trouble. At the top I was so happy that I was not only 5 minutes ahead of last year’s time but it felt so much easier this time.

At the Top 14-20
It was a nice relief to finally not be running uphill. Once at the top the course rolled up and down but the down side was now it was mostly over snow and ice. I almost fell a few times and I pasted a few people with some battle wounds. After passing the aid station at mile 13 the crowds thinned out and for a few miles I didn’t see another soul. It was amazing to be out away from people and civilization at the same time a little scary. I thought I lost the course but then rejoined a small group. Mile 19 and 20 were step down and in some places to steep to run. My legs got very tired and I actually looked forward to some climbing.

Downhill to the Finish 21 -26.2
Actually this section starts off with a huge hill of about 300’ over a half mile. After that the rest of the race was huge down hills with the occasional short ups. Once we dropped in elevation the snow disappeared and we were back on dirt. Everything hurt and eventually it was hard to keep pace even on the downhill. I stopped to catch my breath and take a few pictures and then I was off again. The finish is very low key you run across the bridge into the finish with 10’s of people cheering you on and there are no metals. I love everything about this race.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/462445017

Last year I ran 4:56 which translated to a 3:31 road marathon 2 months later. So I am hoping that my 8 minutes faster will translated to 8 minutes faster in May and a new PR! At the same time this was a training weekend. Sunday I went out for a 12 mile trail run making the weekend 38 miles of trail running.


Not my worst race picture, I think this is mile 3
 

Mile 4ish 
 

Nice view of the snow capped 14,000ft peak (Mt Shavano) 
 

Here is the dirt road, doesn’t look like much but it never ends 
 

Mile 15 – highest spot and lots of snow and ice 
 

Mile 18 - This is looking away from town, the mountains seemed to stretch on forever without any signs of civilization 
 

Also near mile 18 going down hill 
 

This course had it all mud, dirt, pavement, snow, ice and even sand 
 

This is about 100ft later and now its steep downhill on sand 
 

Almost back to town (mile 23) 
 

Mile 24. It was hard to watch the trail with the awesome views 
 

We weren’t done yet and the town disappeared below the hill 
 

This might be my new favorite trail picture. Mile 25 the finish is just over the hill 
 

Cold weekend of running

Well I didn’t learn my lesson from yesterday (20 miles at 10F). I set of for a frosty 8 mile trail run on fresh snow in 7F temps. Surprisingly it felt much warmer than yesterday’s windy run. The trail run was tough with 1,600 ft of climbing, my legs were mush from yesterday’s 20 miler. Swimming in the pool tomorrow is going to feel so awesome.

Snowy Bergan Peak

Today I ran with my trail group up the side of an icy mountain, nearly every step was on snow and ice. It was slow going up and slow going up and also back down our 10 mile trip took 2:30 (15 min pace). We started at around 7600ft and climbed up to 9600ft. To add to the torment I ran 15 miles yesterday so my legs were absolute crud today.

Crazy trail group wont back down

I don’t think we are getting snow like out east but it’s still snow here. My crazy trail group runs no matter the weather. Today it was 3F snowing and the wind chill was -10F. We only managed 3.5 miles before seeking shelter in the cars.

Goodbye 2013

I love digging into my running data and at the end of the year I spend a lot of time compiling various stats, reflecting on the year and thinking about what I want to accomplish next year.   Here are some of my 2013 Stats:

Totals

Total Miles – 2,050 which is about 500 short of last year but on the upside this was the 3^rd year in a row over 2k.

Days run – 231, I am kinda disappointed with this one I should be running more often.  Worse is how many Saturday/Sundays I missed over the year. 

Runs beyond 20 miles:  18 the last few years I have been averaging 12 really long runs per year.

Races

03/09/2013 Run Through Time - 26.2 - 4:56:44 (AKA – Snowathlon) 
05/19/2013 Colfax – 26.2 - 3:31:30 
06/02/2013 Deadwood – 26.2 - 3:37:27 
08/18/2013 Pikes Peak – 26.2 - 7:03:03 
08/24/2013 Ram Run – 3.1 -  0:22:13 
09/29/2013 Bear Chase – 52 - 10:00:33 
10/21/2013 Denver – 26.2 - 3:41:19

Marathons:   5 marathons are now the most I have completed in a year. My best was 5 minutes slower than last year.  3 Marathons were Sub 4hrs before this year I only had 3 sub 4hr marathons.

Ultra Marathon: 52 miles in 10 hrs.  Longest run for me, last year my longest race was 31.5

5k: Slowest 5k in years but it was the weekend after a 7hr marathon

Current Streaks (both were in jeopardy this last month)

46 months of 100+ miles

36 months with a long run beyond 15 miles

Overall

It’s been a great year and I have really grown as a runner.  I finally feel like a real ultra-marathoner now, 50k just doesn’t seem harder than a marathon.   I surprised myself a few times this year when I had good performances shortly after long races.  I am looking forward to building on this momentum and doing some amazing things in 2014.