After a week of anticipation and rest, Saturday morning finally got here and it was time to get down to business. I felt really good about the week leading up to the race and pretty confident that I could go out and get a sub 5.
We got to Manitou a few minutes before the gun went off for wave 1 and started making preparations. I couldn't decide what to carry with me. I figured it would be nice to have a poly long sleeve in case it got cold at the top but with the possibility of rain in the forecast I decided on a light waterproof windbreaker. I stuffed a fleece beanie in the pocket and tied the jacket around my waist.
I made my way to the back of the pack at the start line and jogged up and down the block behind the line a couple times to warm up. Shortly thereafter the gun went off and the crowd snaked through the streets of Manitou. About a block into the race, I noticed my shorts were falling off. I had 4 GUs stuffed into one of the pockets and the extra weight was pulling them down. I quickly tied the drawstring and didn't have to worry about mooning the crowd behind me for the rest of the day. No sooner than I had my shorts tied up, the HR alert went off on my watch. Dammit, what the hell was I doing in the half hour standing around before the race? I shuffled through the menus and finally made the beeping stop. Before I even got to Ruxton, the jacket I had tied around my waist started unrolling and flapping around. I removed it, tied a knot in the middle of it, and then knotted it tightly around my waist again. Finally, about 6 minutes into the race, the junkshow was over and it was time to focus on getting to the top of a mountain.
I yelled at GZ on the curb as I was heading up Ruxton. The rest of the race up to Barr Camp was fairly uneventful. I felt really good with the pace I was able to maintain versus the effort I was putting in. Clearly, the aerobic training is paying off. I was definitely above an aerobic heart rate but it seemed much easier than the trip up to Barr Camp a month prior in the BTMR. I hit all my splits for a sub 5 up to Barr Camp right on target and came into camp at 2:30.
My lack of altitude training really started to shine past Barr Camp, however. I was about 10 minutes behind pace getting to A-Frame and it didn't get much better above that. I focused on keeping a decent pace and not doing anything to spike the HR into the red zone. I think I stopped once during the first mile above treeline for about a minute and then kept crawling towards the summit. The final mile would prove slow with a lot of traffic in front of me. Once we got past the Fred Barr memorial plaque, I found an opening and passed about seven runners in the final couple of switchbacks and darted across the line at 5:28:37. Certainly well short of my "A" goal of sub 5 but I was under 5:30 and set a new PR by 14 minutes and change. Considering the training I was doing in the month since BTMR, I'm pretty pleased with my race.
Of course, I am grateful that my wife and my mom came up to hang out in the wind on the summit to cheer me on even if they could only see me for 4 minutes of the 5+ hours that I was on the course. It truly is an amazing feeling when I hear them yelling at me from the top.
Going forward, I will probably just keep running at slow pace and continue to build an aerobic base. This is the first time since I started running a few years ago that I have some semblance of reason for why I'm doing what I'm doing when I go out running and its nice to see some progress as well. I read Hadd before when I first started running and thought I put those principles into practice in my running. Thanks to GZ and Lucho for ranting on their blogs about how slow and how easy "slow and easy" is really supposed to be. Reading these guys really drove it home and I just took what I read and ran with it (pun intended).
Showing posts with label braindump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label braindump. Show all posts
about the PPA
Not sure how to approach this one right now. I don't think I have anywhere near enough time on the mountain to go sub 5hr and I'm really getting comfortable with the current base building phase. I have no idea how much "damage" one hard day well into anaerobic zones would do to the current progress.
On one hand, I could treat it as a "training run" and just focus on keeping my HR low for the entire course and probably squeak in comfortably under the cutoffs.
OR
Treat it like a race and work my ass off to go sub 5.
I probably won't have my mind made up until race day but I'm going to keep plugging along with more distance/time and keep the HR low.
On one hand, I could treat it as a "training run" and just focus on keeping my HR low for the entire course and probably squeak in comfortably under the cutoffs.
OR
Treat it like a race and work my ass off to go sub 5.
I probably won't have my mind made up until race day but I'm going to keep plugging along with more distance/time and keep the HR low.
tapering, i guess
Haven't run since Friday. A bit of an involuntary taper before the BTMR on Sunday. Gonna try to get out and stretch them tomorrow afternoon if only for a few miles somewhere between golf, picking up my race packet, and going to Cripple Creek for some gambling.
I've definitely been a little anxious about this race since I haven't put enough time in on the mountain but I'm looking forward to it. At least I'll have a front row seat to watch the battle as the contenders come flying back down the mountain at me.
I've definitely been a little anxious about this race since I haven't put enough time in on the mountain but I'm looking forward to it. At least I'll have a front row seat to watch the battle as the contenders come flying back down the mountain at me.
new digs
Moved the blog over to blogspot because I got sick of trying to keep my copy of Wordpress up to date. I'll try to get this place polished up a little bit more in the coming days.
oh yeah
I almost forgot I had a blog here. I was trying to find a way to link my motionbased log here but, frankly, Garmin sucks. I'm almost contemplating writing some sort of wordpress plugin to display my runs uploaded from my Garmin 305 here. I'd like a little database backend to store the sessions, too. Also some summary data that isn't available with the free version of motionbased. Guess I have my summer project. Outside of running and working in the yard, of course.
Not much has changed in the way of race plans. I've been training for the GOG10M on June 14th, the BTMR on July 12th, and, of course, the Ascent. Might run the Sailin' Shoes 10K too.
Not much has changed in the way of race plans. I've been training for the GOG10M on June 14th, the BTMR on July 12th, and, of course, the Ascent. Might run the Sailin' Shoes 10K too.
meh
Still walking around in this stupid boot and doing very little in the way of working out. I'm going to put in a marathon session on the elliptical this afternoon. I've got an appointment with a specialist tomorrow to figure out when I can get back to running.
Spent all weekend in Phoenix, sat by the pool, drank a lot and spent time with Michelle, her brother, and her parents. In a bit of a fog for a Monday.
Spent all weekend in Phoenix, sat by the pool, drank a lot and spent time with Michelle, her brother, and her parents. In a bit of a fog for a Monday.
yes i ran today and a crazy dream
Josh and I talked yesterday about heading into Palmer Park to run the Templeton loop at some point today. The weather wasn't great this morning but there was no wind and it was hovering right around the freezing point. Michelle and I headed out for breakfast and I planned to look Josh up after that. It started drizzling at breakfast but I decided I'd still like to get a run in. (Michelle insists I plan to run on days like this to get people to question my sanity) I called Josh and he decided to bail. I went and scooped up the dog and decided that I would hop on the treadmill at my parents' house instead of getting out in this mess. The dog gets to play with his sister over there anyway. I warmed up with a brisk walk for 5 minutes and then cranked the incline to 10% and ran a mile at 3.7mph. Not blazing by any stretch but it's a manageable pace on steep terrain. I turned the incline down and finished up a very slow recovery run of just over 2 miles in a little over 30 minutes.
I woke up out of a wicked dream in bed this morning. I remember running in the Pikes Peak Ascent and having the lungs to actually jog above treeline (I told you it was a dream). I felt like I was making great time but there weren't any other runners anywhere near me. I finally made it to the finish line and there were only a few people milling around. Just like the St Pat's 5K race, the clock was missing. I don't remember anything after that but I somehow found out that I had run the Ascent in a shade over 7 hours. WTF?! That's a good half hour past the cutoff and over two hours longer than my goal! When I finally got my wits about me after waking up, I realized it was only March and I had plenty of time to avoid something like that happening.
Already dreaming about the Ascent.... guess I got it on the brain.
I woke up out of a wicked dream in bed this morning. I remember running in the Pikes Peak Ascent and having the lungs to actually jog above treeline (I told you it was a dream). I felt like I was making great time but there weren't any other runners anywhere near me. I finally made it to the finish line and there were only a few people milling around. Just like the St Pat's 5K race, the clock was missing. I don't remember anything after that but I somehow found out that I had run the Ascent in a shade over 7 hours. WTF?! That's a good half hour past the cutoff and over two hours longer than my goal! When I finally got my wits about me after waking up, I realized it was only March and I had plenty of time to avoid something like that happening.
Already dreaming about the Ascent.... guess I got it on the brain.
