Western States 2012

Snow courses, fire years, 100 degree inferno years, and now - ladies and gentlemen - ‘the cold year.’ I’m not sure there’s a typical Western States with regards to course and conditions, but we got a wild and wonderful one this year.

Rolling up the ski hill towards the Escarpment, it was cool, a little wet and a lot foggy. Up high on the ridges it was raining, sleeting at times, and windy. It was legitimately cold, but with a beanie, gloves and a pair of arm panties I was comfortable enough. Moving at a good clip, there was plenty of warmth to go around, but it was hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that we were running through the opening miles of the Western States 100 while sitting in a rain cloud.

Maybe it was the unexpected cold or maybe it was some general fatigue, but whatever it was I found myself feeling lazy and tripping over rocks up there in the fog. My eye-foot coordination was off, my legs felt tired and I didn’t much feel like running. But there I was moving along with the Big Boys on the biggest 100 mile stage in the country. The standard sanity check questions were filtering through my mind way earlier than usual, but you just have to push them out and keep moving. It’s either that or quit, and that’s not really an option at mile 10.

A wrong turn, some effing and blinding, four to five minutes lost and four places given up. Dylan, Zeke and Mike got to work immediately and began closing the gap on those that had snuck through. I followed for a bit and then chilled out, reminding myself of the hours ahead. Timmy and Dave were wisely content to sit back and wait. I made my way through the ridges' rocks, tripped on a few, imagined the views and slowly moved past Joe, Neal, Lizzy, Jorge, Ian and then Ryan. By mile 17 Dave, Timmy and I were still in the fog and rain, but back together as a pack near the front of the race, with just Dylan, Mike and Zeke a minute or two up ahead.   

Coming into the Duncan Canyon aid station I was a bit discombobulated. I ran straight through, not seeing Connor, my crew man, as planned. Rather than head back in and fill up my half-empty EFS drink supply, I forged on without stopping. I couldn’t remember how far it was from Duncan to Robinson but I figured I’d be fine with the half bottle I had. It’s not like it was 80 degrees out.

Discombobulated at Duncan. Photo: Glenn Tachiyama

A little more climbing and then we dropped in; the first canyon of the morning. Contrary to the standard mountain run - where one ascends, enjoys the view and then drops back down – canyon crossings descend, cross a river than ascend back out (it all feels so wrong). The Duncan descent is relatively shallow and unlike two years ago we were able to cross at the bottom without getting our feet wet. I was encouraged to see the front of the race – Dylan, Mike and Zeke – just a few switchbacks up ahead. Tim found a better line through the river and jumped ahead of me, catching up to the boys in relatively short order. Zeke was off the pace on the climb and by the time I hit Robinson I was alone and wet in fourth with Dave and the rest of the field an unknown distance behind.

The scene at Robinson looked cold. My poor family was drenched and I unsportingly growled at my wife for mixing up Ultragen instead of EFS drink in the bottle she handed off. I took water and an EFS gel flask instead and left her with my wet and stinky hat, gloves and arm warmers. I immediately regretted everything about the Robinson stop. S-Caps were now unreachable as my exposed and frozen figures couldn’t manipulate the zipper on the back of my shorts, but worse was the lingering memory of my dick’ish snap at Dana. I would have to wait until Foresthill some five hours later to apologize.

And then began the long 14 mile descent to the Swinging Bridge at the bottom of Devils Thumb Canyon. The fog lifted somewhere between Millers Defeat and Dusty Corners, just as I caught up to the lead pack of Timmy, Mike and Dylan. We cruised the wide doubletrack down into Dusty as a group, enjoying a bit of banter and relishing the brief glimpses of blue sky ahead. At Dusty I found Connor, switched out bottles, ate some oranges and asked him to please call Dana to tell her 'sorry' and that I loved her.

The PI train, with Tim obscured, rolls into Dusty. Photo: Glenn Tachiyama

I left at the front of the field feeling a little better about life. Despite the fact that my legs were feeling unreasonably tired just 40 miles in, I was still hanging in there and feeling good about having been able to get a (second-hand) apology off to Dana.

Ryan caught up to us soon thereafter and all of a sudden we were five, with Old Man Mackey just a few strides back in sixth. Timmy led us on the singletrack contour over to the Devil's Thumb descent with the banter now having been reduced to a minimum. The race, it seemed, was officially on; five boys running through the woods, grunting, peeing and listening to the sounds of the river down in the canyon below.

And then we dropped back in. Dave pulled a Kilian, running the berm of the trail, zipping by the lot of us in search of the river. We all let him go. I needed to pee and I also felt like I needed to slow the pace, so I stopped a couple of switchbacks from the river and let the train go by. I didn’t want to be forced into an uncomfortable pace on the Devil’s Thumb climb, I just wasn’t feeling it.

Every time I do this climb, I think about how much fun it would be to run it on a fresh pair of pins, but it’s never fun in the moment, with 45 miles under your belt. I always just grunt and then curse about the hike that I’m forced to maintain. This year was no different and while it was nowhere near as hot as the last two years, it actually felt like we were dealing with some heat for the first time, but more uncomfortably some significant humidity. My stomach started knotting up a bit and I got that sinking feeling that things were heading south.

Jogging out from the top, I was feeling unbelievably flat. I needed to regroup and I knew it. Jogging was absolutely the order of the moment on the cruiser section over to the Michigan Bluff drop. If I wanted to race later, I would have to forego the racing now. My descent to the river was unimpressive, while my shuffle back out would probably have been faster at a convincing power hike, but the running cadence was good for confidence. At the Bluff – my mental halfway point – I emptied my shoes, picked up new EFS bottles and then ran on out, polishing off a longer-than-remembered descent into Volcano canyon and a shorter-than-remembered ascent to Bath Road. Coming up into Foresthill I was all of a sudden feeling pretty good.

Heading out from the Bluff. Photo: Marianne Bush

I knew now, on the Foresthill Road, that I was going to at least finish the race, but I’d pretty much given up on competing for the win. I had five guys 10-12 minutes ahead of me, and I knew that at least one - if not all of them - were going to finish out the race stronger than me. The Foresthill stop was a good one. I got a time check from AJW: 9-15 minutes behind the lead five. In addition I got a fresh pair of socks, a cool-down soak, new EFS bottles, and a kiss and a giddyup from the wife and kids. 

AJW gives me the run down. Photo: IRunFar Media Enterprises

I set off with Christian, a young and talented runner from the area, down the Foresthill Road. As usual, my conversational skills were at a minimum, and even a close call with a basking rattlesnake did little for my desire to chat. To his credit, Christian – who I was meeting for the first time – was comfortable with minimal conversation and happy to provide the silent companionship that I was after. The running felt decent if not impressive on the way down to the river, and unlike the last two years it was not punctuated with any positional changes. This year was just about getting down to the river. The split estimations along the way suggested that I was holding my own on the chase pack but losing ground to a charging Timmy and Ryan. As it turned out, I ran my fastest ever 16 for the Cal Street section, but given the significantly cooler conditions it would have been a disappointment if that hadn't been the case.

With Christian on Foresthill. Pic: Ultrarunnerpodcast

At the river, I traded Christian for Connor and learned that we were going to cross the river in boats again. I was marginally bummed not to be fording for the third year in a row, but really was just happy to be getting close. The river is a huge landmark and getting there with functioning legs is something to be celebrated, so I celebrated quietly as we waited the couple of minutes for the boat to come back from the other side. Once we were across, we were almost immediately passing an exhausted Mike Wolfe and moving into fifth place. That one was a surprise.

Cooling off in the river. Photo: Glenn Tachiyama

Connor prompted me to get running as we pulled out from the river up towards Green Gate. As I re-found my stride, I realized that my climbing legs were well and truly on their way out. They had been sub par all day, but now quite frankly they were just pitiful. I had to walk a few of the steeper pitches up to Green Gate, but managed to shuffle the rest. From there on in, I was still able to move well on the flats and downs, but any kind of upgrade was pretty pathetic for the most part. And so we rolled, now in fifth. 

Cruising up to Green Gate. Photo: John Mackey

Photo: Meagan Hicks

Connor was getting excited about hunting down places; I just wanted to finish and sit down. Nonetheless, the news from Auburn Lakes Trail suggested that we were closing the gap on an unnamed runner in fourth. I believe they said six minutes, which meant that we were closing fast. I figured it was Mackey, but as it turned out it was Dylan, and he was clearly a hurting unit when we caught him at Brown's Bar.

With just 10 miles left to run and a reported 15 minutes to Mackey in third, I figured it was just a question of holding on to fourth at this point. If I could run the downs convincingly, shuffle the flats and mellower ups, and hike the climbs with purpose, then I figured I could get it done. It wasn’t going to be especially pretty, but I knew we were at least getting close.

I actually enjoyed the hoof up to Highway 49, as I could hike without shame. Connor had led the whole time we’d been together and I could sense a slight bit of frustration on his part when I dropped to a hike on some of the more pathetic rollers. But there was no shame on the prolonged steep climb to Highway 49, and the hiking felt so good. And then, before I knew it, we were hearing cars and an aid station. 

Dana was there at Highway 49 and so were the kids. I was looking for some sympathy or at least a hug – Dana’s usually good for that kind of stuff – but damn it she was having none of it. She had her game face on and she wanted me to get after it. Mackey was apparently walking and just four minutes removed from the aid station. Just like that a podium was up for grabs. I honestly couldn’t believe it. I just didn’t feel like I was running that well, but then you remind yourself that nobody is moving well at the end of a 100 miler and it’s the guy who slows the least that prevails. A last sorrowful look at Dana for sympathy and another order to get on with it and we were out of there.

And so it was, in the beautifully scenic Cool Meadow that I made the final pass of the back 20, assuming third in the process. We had heard cheers as we were leaving Highway 49, so I knew there was work left to do to fend off a charge from behind, but I figured that if I could run everything up to the Robie Point climb then I would probably be fine. With my downhill legs still alive, Connor and I were able to move really well on the descent to No Hands Bridge, which in my mind pretty much sealed the deal on third. We shuffled the horse grade to Robie and then hoofed the last 800 feet of climbing into town.

Closing in on the finish. Photo: Amy ?

The tarmac felt good, the rubber of the track sublime, and crossing the line again with my boy was a treat that will never get old.

All pics: Glenn Tachiyama

In the final analysis, I have to be happy with another podium finish. I know I didn’t run my best race out there and feel like I maybe missed an opportunity, given the cooler temperatures, to really lay down a time that I can look back on in years to come and be proud of, but it was still a six minute personal best and an effort that required some grit. And the gritty ones are always satisfying.

As usual, I vowed somewhere on the Devil’s Thumb climb that I would never put myself through this torture again, but I know I’ll be back next year. As AJW likes to say, this race gets under your skin and into your blood. With a fourth, two thirds and a set of times that continue to get faster, I just feel like there is more to be squeezed from this race. The Cougar is proving elusive, but maybe if I keep chipping away at it, I’ll get that day where it all comes together and I’ll make that long drive back to Colorado with a little extra weight in the back of the car. Or maybe not. Maybe my son or daughter will win it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself as usual. A big thanks to all the wonderful aid station volunteers, to anyone and everyone who offered encouragement along the way, to Christian, to Conor and his amazingly hospitable parents, and of course to my wonderful family for coming all the way out to California to freeze their tooshies off just to hand me a couple of bottles (and be growled out). You are all owed.     

Pilot Hill 25k

This would be my third year out of four running 'Wyoming's Oldest Foot Race.' I missed it last year but won it consecutively in 2009 and 2010. Sitting two weeks out from Western States and being just 15.5 miles in length (8.5 up, 7 down), this up-and-down hill race was sitting perfectly on the calendar as a last little benchmark sharpener on the way to Squaw, so I couldn't resist.

The goals going in were to register a third win and hopefully run a little faster than 2010, with an emphasis on running the descent at all-out looney pace.

A small crowd was on hand at the start, but with Horsecow Lonac (a mid-15 5k'er when fit) lining up and a few other fit looking dudes milling around, it looked like there would be some guys to help keep the effort solid. From the gun, training partner and perennial first mile over-achiever, Mike Hinterberg, took a flier as we made our way through the opening stretches of rolling sand flats that make up the first few miles of this variably terrained race.

Having forgotten my watch and subsequently borrowed a friend's GPS device, I was to be beeped at every mile for the duration. Annoying, but somewhat unique to have splits along the way. With Mike still ten meters ahead and a young college-age lad (Scott Foley) on my shoulder, the first mile beeped at 5:55. Given the less-than-stellar sandy conditions underfoot and rolling nature of the route thus far, I figured I was probably a touch hot through the first mile.

Scott and me early

Not long after the first beep, Scott and I were passing Mike and starting to tuck into the early sections of uphill that would eventually lead to the communication towers at the top of Pilot Hill (8,829'). And not long after that, I felt like I had to let Scott go; he was clearly a talented runner and any effort to hang on would spell disaster later in the race. Knowing nothing about Scott, I put together a couple of guesswork assumptions: he was a college track or cross country runner that trains for at most 10k races, he would likely smoke me to the top, but I may have a shot at catching him on the deceptively tough descent when post-10 mile fatigue began kicking in.

Pics: High Plains Harriers

And so it went. I watched Scott build a couple of minutes on me, solo in second, as we made our way up to the towers. I had turned in 59:40 in 2010, so was hoping for anything under 60 this year given that the tailwind was significantly lighter. As it turned out, I hit the top on legs that felt 'just okay' in 60:07, with a set of splits that essentially slowed as the terrain turned steeper (5:55, 6:14, 6:45, 6:53, 7:24, 7:52, 8:29, 7:47).

Scott had torched the ascent in a very impressive 57:51, but now the advantage, I believed, turned in my favor. Two+ minutes is a ton of time to make up over seven miles, but I'd come here for the downhill, meaning the rabbit out front was much appreciated. I immediately set to work, running the first flatter mile of the descent into what always seems to be a stiff return headwind, at a much elevated heart rate. I decided to continue pushing the envelope over the more technical rocky terrain in the mid section with hopes that I'd be able to gain some kind of visual on Scott before I blew a gasket. About three miles in (5:56, 44, 47), I got my sighting and it looked like I might have chopped a minute off the lead already.

The effort had caused a good amount of fatigue by the time we were down to the rolling sections around the sand flats, but I figured I had a shot, so I kept pushing. With a couple of miles to go, it was evident that Scott was hurting and I began to feel confident that I would be reeling him in, which I did with a mile left (6:00, 6:01, 6:04, 6:41).

I ended up running a net PR on the course (1:42:24 vs 1:43:45) with a descent almost two minutes faster than last time. Both those facts helped erase some - not all - of the post-Zegama doubts that have been sitting uncomfortably with me for the last few weeks. Yes, this is a small race, but it really wasn't about winning, losing or drawing, it was about gauging fitness. My takeaway is that I'm in at least as good a shape as I was in 2010 (over this course) when I ran my first Western States (4th, 16:04). An additional nugget and confidence booster is that it turns out that Scott has just graduated from Boise State, running a track 10k of 29:52 at the Mt SAC Relays in April and a 68 minute half marathon somewhere else not so long ago.

You take what you can in the mental game before a big race.

I was going to run Storm Mountain up and down the next day as a final effort before Western States, but as it turned out we ended up being evacuated from our home with all hell breaking loose west of Fort Collins in some of my favorite acreage in the whole world. My heart is pretty heavy right now for those who have lost homes and also for the beautiful forestland that is currently burning up, but I'll use that as fuel when things start hurting next weekend. I'm doing this one for The Fort.

Devastating

Week Ending June 3

Mon - 9.5 miles (2,300') easy. Soderberg - Southridge - Audra - Horsetooth summit - Rock - Wathan - Spring Creek - Herrington - Stout - Falls.

Tues - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 10 miles track. First Tuesday Night Track session of the season. Big group. Workout was 1,000 open, then 2 x (1,000, 400 rest, 600, 100 rest, 300) with 400 between sets. Had pretty dead legs from the weekend and truth be told, I just don't have the turnover right now to even pretend to be able to keep up with the big boys at the track. That's something I'd like to remedy a bit after Leadville with lots of high intensity shorter reps and less weekly mileage - maybe take another shot at that sub-2:30 marathon. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Today's workout went: 3:23, 3:15, 1:56, 55, 3:21, 1:57, 53. 4 mile w-u, 1.5 mile c-d. Not even close to where I would need to be to go 2:29, but I think I can get there with focus.

Weds - Noon: 7.5 miles (1,800') easy. Straight up and down Horsetooth via Southridge - Audra. Slow and super easy. Felt a bit worked from yesterday's track session.  
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Zipped around pretty good considering the effort it took to get up Horsetooth six hours earlier.

Thurs - AM: 11 miles (1,300') easy. Bluesky, Indian Summer with Slush, Celeste, Sarah, Kyle and Al_Wesir.
PM: 10 miles (2,000') hills. Towers steady. Started out pretty easy, then upped the tempo as I made my way up the hill. Was 18:00 at Herrington (PR + 1:30), then essentially stayed on second half PR pace from there. Felt pretty knackered for most of the up and most of the down. Ho hum.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
January: 330 miles (45,200')
February: 445 miles (58,500')
March: 501.5 (79,600')
April: 430 (66,800')
May: 387.5 (70,700')
 
Total: 2,094 miles (320,800')
Avg: 419 miles (62,525')
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2012 Summits (71): 
Horsetooth (7,255') (33)
Arthurs (5)
Palisade
Milner
Alexander
Green Mountain (7,335')
7,725'
7,098' (Poll Mtn range)
Goat Hill
Reservoir Ridge
7,260' (Ziggy Point)
8,415' (Leila Peak)
Mount Ethel
Buckhorn Mountain
5,740' (1)
5,740' (2)
7,178'
Table Mountain (7,074')
5,773' or 'Aggie Peak'
Green Ridge (7,402')
Spruce Mountain (7,781')
Storm Mountain (9,918')
Sullivan Stump (7,778')
Lily Mountain (9,786')
Round Mountain
Crosier Mountain (9,250') (4)
Lookout Mountain (10,626')
Longs Peak (14,259')
Mount Elbert (14,443')
Aizkorri (1,528 meters)
Aratz (1,443 meters)
Aitxuri (1,551 meters) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Fri - AM: 15.5 miles (1,100') easy. With Lucho, Rob, Amy and Nate in Leadville. Dam Road to May Queen and about a mile further on Colorado Trail, then back. This section of trail will be a suck-fest on the way back to Leadville in August. I need to run Fish Hatchery to Twin Lakes and then I think I'll be familiar with the whole course. I actually think I'm going to run those roads a few times before race day, just to pick up some landmarks to help break up the monotony of the race.

Sat - AM: 10 miles (4,400'). Whitney Peak (13,271'). Mike and I had originally planned on climbing Mount of the Holy Cross, but the seasonal closure on Tigiwon Road was still in effect, so we opted to head down from where we were camping on Homestake Road to climb Whitney Peak - an elegant 13'er with relatively easy road-side access. At approx 9,100 feet on the Homestake Road, there is a trailhead (set back and not immediately obvious) for Whitney Lake. The trail runs a little over 2.5 miles up to Whitney Lake at 11,000 feet through beautiful aspen groves and occasional meadows of wildflowers (not yet in bloom).

From the lake, the views of Whitney Peak were Colorado'fully majestic, and while the true summit could not actually be seen, the spiritual notch summit of the mountain was in plain sight and quite striking. After some debate, we decided to head up through heavy tree cover in the general direction of the southeast ridge. Approximately 800 feet of directionless bushwhacking later and we popped up above timberline with a clear line of sight for the summit. Perfect. The route was largely a class two talus field walkup, with a few spots of easy class three. The views of Mount of the Holy Cross, its lakes, tarns and especially Halo Ridge from the top of Whitney inspired major enthusiasm for future outings in the Holy Cross Wilderness.

No trip with Mike would be complete without at least some directional doubt, and indeed below treeline on the way back down we managed to get completely turned around in search of the lake, wasting a good 45 minutes slopping around in marshes, climbing deadfall and generally wondering where the hell we were before finally finding the lake and zipping back down the trail to the car. According to the summit register, we were just the second party up in 2012, which is one of the best reasons I can think of to enjoy Colorado summit views from vantage points under 14,000 feet.

Lake Whitney, Whitney Peak to left. All pics: Mike

Mount of the Holy Cross southern ridgeline with peak far right.

Descending SE ridge, before the drop down to the picture below.

Descending towards treeline.

Whitney Peak and SE ridge to left.

Hanging with the gang on the hillside above camp: Mike, me, Shadow, Alistair, Maddie May, Alex

Sun AM: 21.5 miles (4,000'). Red Cliff to Vail by way of Shrine Pass Rd - DBow's cut-off - Two Elk Trail - Vail back bowl - Highline ski run - Mill Creek.

Dana dropped Mike and me off above the small town of Red Cliff on Hwy 24 from where we planned to run to Vail to meet back up with her, the kids and other friends at the Teva Mountain Games. The road up towards Shrine Pass was an absolute joy to run, so Mike and I set a good honest pace while enjoying the Holy Cross couloir views from on high. About seven miles in at a little under 11,000 feet we cut left on Lime Creek Road before hanging a right onto Bowman's Cut-off Trail in the direction of Two Elk Trail and the Vail Back Bowls. We got snarled up a bit in snow and deadfall on the north-facing slopes on Bowman's Cut-off, but were rewarded with killer views of the Gore Range from the high point of the run at around 11,700 feet. Running late again due to the snow and deadfall, I told Mike I'd meet him back in Vail before setting off with a general idea of what I needed to do to get there. After climbing one of the Vail back bowls to the Vail Mountain ridge, I made one wrong descent attempt into thick trees and snow, reascended and then ended up shooting straight down the Highline ski run at max pace. Just as I popped out, Mike emerged on the service road and we hit the remaining two or so miles together back into Vail. Good little outing.        

Total: 105 miles (18,900')

It feels a little weird to be in taper mode right now given the relatively light mileage in May, but hopefully that will make me one of the more rested guys on the start line in Squaw in a couple of weeks. Ultrarunning is such an obsessive, compulsive sport that it seems to me that guys find it immensely difficult to take their feet off the accelerator when it comes to sharpening for a goal race. Not me, I relish the taper and take it seriously. The one and only goal for me in the last three weeks before a big race is to get to the start line with a fresh pair of pins.

My training hasn't been optimal this year and my racing has been just okay, but I remain confident that I can race hard in California and perform well. I know the course, I know how to get from Squaw to Auburn in one piece, and I know how to ride the highs and lows. I keep reminding myself in moments of self doubt that 100 miles is a long way to run and the shorter-distance form book goes out the proverbial window on race day. Just as it has been the last two years, the cougar is the goal, and I believe I can make that happen regardless of who else is running. My only concern is to run the best race I can, get to Auburn as quickly as humanly possible, and then start tucking into AJW's Sierra Nevadas just as soon as I can.

One more week and then the family road trips out. Fun times ahead. 

Zegama Marthon and other thoughts

"Zegama is no a very technical track."

Those were the first words of English the Zegama race director put out there as the course preview got underway the evening before the race. And for the most part he was telling the truth; it's just that when the course did get technical - between the second and third summits in particular - it got really technical (as running races go). But let's not get carried away here, we're talking class two rock hoping with a few very short sections of class three hands-on-rock action over a stretch of maybe four miles.

The challenge on the rest of the course was really about dealing with the grade, which for the most part was pretty steep. And then of course there was the weather. Wet rocks, wet grass on looney descents, slick mud, and trails sliding off the side of the mountain (literally). I lost count of the number of times I hit the deck, but generally speaking I was moving faster on my ass than on my feet, so the butt surfing actually worked out pretty well.

The race went out hard, as they always seem to do in Europe. By the time we had completed a circuit of Zegama and begun the first ascent I was probably in 30th place. But that was fine, I was sure half those guys would be coming back to me by the time we topped out on Aratz - the first summit of the day.

Yeah, that never really happened. As it played out, I would pick up some runners on the climbing, generally lose ground on the descents and then salvage a few positions over the last 10 kilometers of downhill to the finish when the endurance factor started coming into play. On the techie crux of the race through the middle section, and the ensuing parachute drop, I probably gave up close to 15 places, while also almost losing my head to a loose rock from above that whistled within a meter of me at break-head speed midway through the steepest drop of the day.

I survived. My ego took a pretty good bruising though.

I love negotiating technical alpine terrain, but I guess I'm just never in that much of a hurry to do so when in the environment. I tend to consider alpine jaunts as time-on-feet training - or just pure pleasure - as opposed to some kind of performance outing, and that was brought into sharp focus at Zegama.

I simply didn't have the technical chops to compete - or even want to try and compete - with the Basque boys around me. Finding myself way back in the pack up there as I did on race morning, I guess I just wasn't motivated enough to put body parts on the line. Maybe if my uphilling had been stronger through the early stages of the race, I would have been compelled to take some risks, but my climbing/pow-hiking wasn't good enough and so I found myself pussyfooting around up high with a mindset more focused on getting through the race in one piece than on rapid movement.  

Maybe I'm getting old. Or maybe, as others have speculated, we U.S.-based trail runners just don't have the occasion or opportunity to rip on the kind of courses that make up the Skyrunning circuit in Europe and across the world. Of the three Skyrunning races I have participated in, I have been humbled by two (Sierre-Zinal and Zegama) and done okay at the third (Pikes Peak).

Sierre-Zinal is not a particularly technical race, but the opening ascent is much steeper than anything I typically run or race on over here. Much like Zegama, therefore, my 'race' at Sierre-Zinal was essentially over once the first 5,000 feet had been negotiated. Pikes Peak, on the other hand, is neither technical nor that steep, rather it is a race about pacing, altitude management and running, and I have performed decently there. Yes you ascend close to 8,000 feet, but at no point during that race should you be hiking (unless of course the altitude gets the better of you). The trail gains 8,000 feet over 13 miles, which works out to an average grade of about 11 percent, or 600 feet per mile. Some would describe that as amateur hour in the mountains (dubbed 'douche grade' by some of the rate-of-ascent purists in the U.S. mountain ultra scene), but the general reality of running in the Mountain West, especially when it comes to racing, is that grades of between 400 and 800 feet per mile are - for sustainability reasons - the angle at which our mountain trails are generally cut.

And I'm fine with that. It just means that I perform at a pretty mediocre level on steeper pow-hiking grades. For as much as I love to ascend steep terrain, I've never felt the need - nor desire - to rip on it. Good job I don't race on uber-steep terrain too often then, I guess. 

Interestingly (all things of course being relative), my fourth shot at a Skyrunning race will come in July on a course that I actually know quite well, and a race that straddles the middle ground between the Euro-style Skyraces and standard U.S. mountain races.

The Speedgoat 50k never gets that technical, but is certainly 'nastier' than Sierre-Zinal or Pikes Peak with regards to terrain. The grades are steep, but with the exception of one hillside, never so steep that the course can't be covered in its entirety at a running cadence, while the altitude tops both Sierre-Zinal and Zegama, but doesn't come close to Pikes' above-timberline action.

The beauty, strength and draw of our sport lies in its variety. I love to race it all, but also recognize where my strengths lie.

People ask me, for example, if Western States or Hardrock is harder (expecting Hardrock to be the answer), and I typically tell them that they're both incredibly hard. For me, Western States is way more punishing physically than Hardrock because it's almost 100% runnable and a race in the true sense of the word, whereas Hardrock is a painfully slow high-altitude grind where you're on your feet for almost twice as long and negotiating sections of legitimate mountain terrain. But you get to hike for hours on end and really don't get too involved in the competition aspect of the event. Patience and perseverance is the name of the game there. Western States is a running race held on grades that play into my wheelhouse, which is the reason, I think, that I have done quite well there and have performed comparatively better than my (somewhat compromised) Hardrock effort. But make no mistake, the last 20-40 miles of both races are - or can be - excruciatingly painful.

I guess the conclusion to this rambling and disjointed post is that the disciplines of mountain, trail and ultra running are hugely diverse, and therein lies the greatest draw of the sport. It is the rare talent that displays mastery of all terrain and distances. From long to short races, from buffed to gnarled, there is a slice of something for everyone. 

The passion for the mountains that the Basque people displayed in Zegama was a joy for me to experience, and that, at the end of the day, is what our sport is and should always be about.

Three Weeks Ending May 27

Week Ending May 13

Mon - AM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Tues - AM: 11 miles track. Hit the track early with Mike and Slush for 3 x 2 mile @ 10k pace. Was hoping to run 5:20s, but settled in at 5:30 pace and knew early that's where I was for the morning. Had to work a bit for these: 10:58 (5:29, 5:29); 10:57 (5:29, 5:28); 11:01 (5:32, 5:29).
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Noon: 8.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg. Could have run all day it was so nice out, but much to do.
PM: 3 miles (700') easy. Bench loop.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 (1,000') easy. With Celeste on Bluesky.
PM: 7.5 miles easy with FCTR.

Fri - AM: 13.5 miles (3,200') easy. Marking Quad Rock course with DBow.
PM (1): 5.5 miles (1,200') easy. Marking QR course.
PM (2): 3 miles (500') easy. Marking QR course.

Sat - Off. Quad Rock race directing all day.

Sun - Off. Traveling all day.

Total: 72.5 miles (10,700')

Week Ending May 20

Mon - Off. Traveling all day.

Tues - 10 miles easy on roads in La Palma (to lighthouse and back on south side of the island with Geoff and Joe).

Weds - 8 miles (2,500') easy. Trail run to Pico de Bejenado in La Palma; awe-inspiring crater views and an all-star cast of characters to enjoy with.

Photos: Ian Corless

PM: 4 miles easy jog to watch 100 meter fun on volcano scree. Major crick in neck from flight prevented my participation.

Thurs: 8 miles easy on roads with Max, Geoff and Dakota. 

Fri: 4 miles (1,000') easy with Marcus, Ian, Wolfepaw, and Ian on last few of Zegama course. Trails seemed benign enough. Two days later they would be carved up with rain run-off, and sloughing off the side of the mountain in places. Major false sense of security from this run.

Sat: 6 miles (600') easy with Dakota and Nikki in Segora.

Sun: 26 miles (9,000') race. Zegama Marathon.  Not my best day. More to come on this.

Total: 66 miles (12,100')

Week Ending May 27

Mon - Off. Traveling all day (chose not to run a mile around Madrid airport with Joe).

Tues - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Totally dead legs and below zero energy. Ughh.

Weds - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Not much better than Tuesday.

Thurs - AM: 18 miles (2,100'). Warmed up a couple of miles on valley trails, than met Mike and Slush for a loop around Lory: Timber - Westridge - Howard - Link - East Valley. Then tempo'ed an out and back to Arthurs TH from the visitors center on Lodgepole, tacking on a mile cool down at the end to take me through to the 8:30 Quad Rock debrief with Lory rangers. Good to be back running with hometown trail friends. Felt much better than Tues and Weds.
PM - 6.5 miles easy. FCTR social run.  

Fri - Noon: 11.5 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Legs still a little achy, but felt smooth nonetheless.

Sat - AM: 27 miles (8,900') hills. Early morning start with Sarah, Kyle and Mike from Garden Gate TH to top of Crosier (9,250'), then down middle trail to Gravel Pit with Mike, and up Dunraven Glade to the Signal/Donner TH to meet up with Pete. Hoofed it up to Donner Pass with a summit of Lookout Mtn (10,626') thrown in for good measure. Had planned a Crystal summit too, but that would have been an extra 7 miles and ~2,000 feet of gain, which I wasn't really feeling and Mike definitely wasn't, so we turned around and headed back to Dunraven TH, getting a ride off Pete back to Garden Gate. Outing was slowed a good bit by some pretty significant downed-tree carnage on the Donner trail, but nothing that couldn't be skirted, ducked or hurdled. Ended up being pretty clammy out, which is all good training for WS. Slow and easy today with some hiking on the last grunter from Miller Fork to the Bulwark Ridge intersection.

Sun - AM: 11 miles (4,700') 14'er. Camped Saturday night near the South Elbert TH with the family and some FoCo/Boulder/Springs trail running reprobates. Up early for a jaunt up Mt Elbert (14,443') before a day of playing in the mountains with Dana and the kids. Little to no pop in the legs after Saturday's outing, but still managed a running cadence for at least a majority of the uphill. Summit to myself with little to no wind. Laced the descent. Killer start to the morning. I have to say, that for being the highest mountain in the state, Elbert is quite an unimpressive lump of a peak with a thoroughly anticlimactic summit (which is to take nothing away from the fantastic sea-of-summit views). 
PM: 3 miles (700') bits and pieces with the family around Blue Lake under Quandry Peak and then on the Colorado Trail by Breck.

Total: 92 miles (21,500')

Been super busy the last three weeks, which has impacted the training volume considerably (not to mention the blogging output). One more week of mileage before I begin tapering for Western States - or at least I think that's the plan. Back to Leadville/Minturn next weekend for a last crack of the mountain whip.

Quad Rock and Spain/Zegama reflections in the blogging pipeline once work and other commitments are all caught up. But here's a sneak preview: Quad Rock A-, Zegama C+.

Week Ending May 6

Mon - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
January: 330 miles (45,200')
February: 445 miles (58,500')
March: 501.5 (79,600')
April: 430 (66,800')
 
Total: 1,706.5 miles (250,100')
Avg: 427 miles (62,525')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012 Summits (58): 
Horsetooth (7,255') (27)
Arthurs (5)
Palisade
Milner
Alexander
Green Mountain (7,335')
7,725'
7,098' (Poll Mtn range)
Goat Hill
Reservoir Ridge
7,260' (Ziggy Point)
8,415' (Leila Peak)
Mount Ethel
Buckhorn Mountain
5,740' (1)
5,740' (2)
7,178'
Table Mountain (7,074')
5,773' or 'Aggie Peak'
Green Ridge (7,402')
Spruce Mountain (7,781')
Storm Mountain (9,918')
Sullivan Stump (7,778')
Lily Mountain (9,786')
Round Mountain
Crosier Mountain (9,250') (3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Tues - AM: 7.5 miles intervals. Last Tuesday morning workout of the 'off season.' We revert to Tuesday nights at the CSU track in a couple of weeks. Workout was 2 x road mile, 2 x 1,200. Ran with Chris Mac for all of these: 5:24, 5:15, 3:59, 3:51. Been a few weeks since I've done an interval workout, but these felt decent enough. Felt good to spin the wheels a bit.    
PM: 7.5 miles (1,800') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Wathan - Rock - Soderberg. Felt some good flow on this one, especially up Wathan. Hopefully turning the corner on a week or two of post Lake Sonoma-, flu-induced fatigue.

Weds - Noon: 6 miles (700') easy. Valley trails.
PM: 6.5 miles easy. Bike paths before FCRC board meeting.  

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (2,700') easy. Early morning cruise with Slush and Mike. Good to be back on the Thursday morning schedule. Falls - Spring Creek - Herrington - Towers - Secret Trail - Rock - Horsetooth Summit - Rock - Audra - Southridge. 
PM: 10.5 miles (2,000'). Towers hard. 29:20 (6 second PR). Started out conservative and feeling a little bloated from lingering stomach bug issues, but soon settled into a steady rhythm once on the hill. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to push out a hard effort, but the Stout split was in the ball park and things felt reasonably controlled, so I committed from there. Thought I was going to spank my PR and go under 29 minutes given how smooth I was feeling, but I guess I wasn't moving quite as well as I thought. A PR is a PR, though. Splits w differential versus PR splits: Towers: 2:58 (+13 secs), Stout: 8:46 (+3), Herrington: 16:25 (-18), Spring Creek: 24:57, Top: 29:20 (-6).

Fri - Noon: 8 miles (2,100') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Wathan - Horsetooth Summit - Audra - Southridge - Soderberg. Hot one today, but was feeling good. Think I might be over the hump with regards to fatigue and stomach buggery. 
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Sat - AM: 14.5 miles (5,100') Hills. Longs Peak (14,259'). From the East Longs TH to the summit via Keyhole route. Original plan was to summit Lady Washington (a ranked Larimer County peak), but at the Boulder Field, I decided to forge on and tag Longs with the idea of picking up MLW on the way back down. Running was good enough through the trees, with a firm pack of snow from Goblins Forest to treeline and then pretty much clear the rest of the way up. Wind was blowing a gale through the keyhole (no surprise there), and there was some ice sketch traversing the ledgy sections past the Keyhole, and a fair bit of snow in the Trough, but it was largely good going. Took things pretty easy for the most part. Wind was fierce past the Trough and I was freezing my nads off, so didn't linger on the summit (tag and go). By the time I was back at the Boulder Field, I was pretty much done with being whipped around by the wind, so forewent MLW in favor of a route-one return home to Get Stuff Done. Bumped into The Slow Man between the BF and Granite Pass on the way down. Goblins: 14:40, Chasm: 45:00, Granite: 59:42, BF: 1:19:21, Keyhole: 1:32:36, Trough top: 2:04:40, Summit: 2:17:10, Down: 2:00.  

Sun - AM: 23 miles (1,600') long. Ran the 14 miles from home to help out at the 'Bagel Hill' aid station (mile 6/19) on the Fort Collins Marathon (and Half) course, then ran with Pete for four miles to the 23 mile marker before backtracking a half mile to run with Sarah for her last 3.5 miles en route to a sub three hour finish in her first marathon; good for second overall. Also had the pleasure of running with Luke Crespin (running right at Pete's pace) and ultrarunning rock star Brooks Williams who was up from the Springs with his soon-to-be bride in for her first half marathon. Fun morning, legs felt great. Roar.
 
Total: 110 miles (18,700')

Couldn't resist the call of the high country this weekend to officially get the 2012 alpine running season underway ... in May. There is a ton of above-timberline terrain already snow free, which is really bad news for the watershed and forests, but great news for runners, and I intend to make the most of it. Obviously I can't do the live-out-of-the-truck thing (lived those years already), so I'll be setting the alarm early this summer.

Quad Rock on Saturday, then volcanoes and Pyrenean peaks the week thereafter. Burch has been prognosticating about the men's race over at his joint. I think he's missed a few names. Stapanovich will be a factor, Jim Rebenack went under 4 hours (comfortably) at Chuckanut, then the word on the local wire is that Antonelli has been pumping out quadruple Towers sessions in preparation. And I'm not even going to start on Hinterberg. But I'm still betting the house on Burch. 

Some of those guys are going to get beaten by the women's winner, who in my book is going to be one of Leila Degrave, Steph Lynn, or Jenny Pierce. The car is going on Steph, with a back-up long shot bet on Kristel Liddle who has reportedly been consuming hills for breakfast, lunch and dinner in training.

In the 25, we've got the brothers Goding, Towers Sam, barefoot Kyle, old man Jaime and late-entrant Crandall. Not going to call that one, but I think it will be close. If Cat Speights runs like she did yesterday in the marathon, then she takes the 25 mile tiara for the women. Does anyone go under 3:10 or 7:20 for the men? I don't think so. 3:50 or 8:45 for the women? I'm thinking not, but those are the arbitrary, we-don't-have-a-course-record-yet standards that I just made up.

The fun starts at 5:00 AM Saturday morning. I think we're ready. 

Week Ending April 29

Mon - Off. Wow, picked up a stomach bug from Stella that quite literally put me on my back. I haven't been out of commission like that in quite some time. Running was completely out of the question, and with Dana knocked out too, parenting was also a near impossibility. Thankfully, Alistair found some empathy and behaved himself while the rest of us wallowed in self pity.

Tues - AM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls. Miraculously, I woke up with at least some energy, and the stomach problems seemed to be largely gone. Definitely tired, but was at least able to jog.
PM: 6 miles (600') easy. Valley loop. Still tired, but jogging seemed to help.

Weds - Noon: 8 miles (2,000') easy. Horsetooth summit on Southridge/Audra, descent on Wathan/Spring Creek. Still not right, but definitely better.
PM - 6 miles (600') w/ 3 @ tempo. Jogged out to Arthurs from Soderberg on the east valley, then came back on the west valley / nomad at a solid tempo effort: 24:40 out, 18:35 back.

Thurs - AM 16 miles (3,800') fartlek. 2:28. Soderberg - Spring Creek - Towers (to top and then back down) - Shoreline - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge. Put in a tempo-type effort (if not speed) coming up Spring Creek (17:42, 3-way to Towers) and Sawmill-Loggers-Carey to Towers (19:17). Legs were pretty flat from the tempo effort yesterday, in addition to general flu fatigue.
PM: 7 miles easy. Social run with FCTR. Boom, and just like that the stomach bug was back. This was one of my more miserable runs in recent memory.

Fri - PM: 5 miles easy. Valley trails at Lory. Still not right, low energy levels, but better than the night before.

Sat - AM: 27 miles (6,000') long. Ran the Quad Rock loop from my house at a steady training pace (3:58). Original plan was to run some varied paces and push hard up the last climb, but due to continued stomach-bug bloat and low energy levels, I just plugged the whole way.  

Sun - AM: 20 miles (2,100') long. Initially I was going to complete the Quad Rock 50 course by running it in reverse after yesterday's clockwise loop, but I just couldn't face it. I was definitely feeling better, but I chose to run some faster mileage to give myself a break and get the run over with. Circumnavigated the reservoir from my house, with an attempt at connecting on the north end via a supposed (mythical) trail off the north dam. Ended up bushwhacking most of the way into Lory and down-climbing off a cliff band. Clearly, I need navigational help next time I attempt that. Bushwhack aside, most of this was at a comfortable 6:50 - 7:50 pace, with a 7:30 average.
  
PM: 5 miles (1,500') hike. Escorted my niece, Alistair and Stella up to the top of Horsetooth where we enjoyed a nice picnic and a chance encounter with Alistair's kindergarten teacher. As usual, hauling baby weight up and down Horsetooth proved to be as a good a workout as any training run.


Total: 105 miles (17,600')

Battled through a rough week with a really nasty stomach bug, but I think I'm through the worst of it. Hopefully, this week will be a nice rebound week and I'll be able to get some quality work done.

It was fun to run the Quad Rock course on Saturday. However, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor saps who'll be running the full 50 as I was finishing up my single loop. The course is plain old tough. If it's a hot day, I'm predicting high levels of carnage, and a 50-mile finisher rate close to 50 percent. Of course, I hope to be proven wrong. Plans continue to come together. We've lined up 'R&B-flavored' Lee Holiday and the Time Off for musical entertainment; Pateros Creek will be serving their English Mild, which we have dubbed the '51st Mile;' we've got a kids' course mapped out; schwag a plenty to dish out; and a nice cool reservoir to dip your tired legs in post race; oh, and a sizzling BBQ too.

Today is the last day to register. Yes, we're sold out, but due to a number of runner cancellations, we've decided to bump onto the start list anyone from the wait list who registers by tomorrow. But registration will definitively close EOD tomorrow.

And how about Team Pearlie? Dylan and Timmy sweep the top two spots at Leona, while Ashley picks up second in the women's race. With Dylan now on the start list for Western States, PI officially has a scoring team at the event (if, of course, there was a team event). On the right day, I believe that all three of us have a legitimate shot at the podium. The race is stacked like never before (seems like I've heard that before), with the international component being especially intriguing, so maybe some team dynamics might come into play. A little shoulder nudge here, a loose foot there, the team break from the peloton at a well-timed aid station. Who knows? The Big S will be bringing their star-studded cast of international runners + massive support crew, but you better believe that the Dirtbag Pearlies will be scrapping the whole way.

Fortnight Edning April 22

Week Ending April 15

Mon - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 4 miles (500') easy. Bluesky.

Tues - AM: 9 miles easy/steady. Turned the legs over at a very controlled effort at Jane's morning workout: mile, 2 mile, mile, 2 mile. Ran with Dennis for all of these: 6:19, 13:10, 6:06, 12:53.
PM: 4 miles (500') easy. Bluesky.


Weds - Noon: 4 miles (500') easy. Bluesky.

Thurs - Noon: 3 miles (600') easy. Bench loop.
PM: 7.5 miles easy. Social run with FCTR.

Fri - Off. Wanted to run, but crammed to get taxes finished (need to seriously adjust my withholdings) before my noon flight to Oakland, and then found myself a plate of pasta and an IPA deep at the pre-race shinding before I remembered that I was going to run on the CA end of the day. Oh well. 

Sat - 50.5 miles (7,000') race. Lake Sonoma 50.


Sun - 11.5 miles (700') steady. Joined Craig Thornley and Meghan Arbogast for a 10 miler at Meghan's 100k pace a week before her trip out to Italy to race the 100k World Championships. The legs felt surprisingly perky, if a bit sore, and the low to mid 7's felt good on the scenic rolling roads around Healdsburg.


Total: 98.5 miles (10,800')

Pretty much a taper week for what it was worth. Lake Sonoma was an excellent stock-taking race. A plan has been formulated. Kind of.

Week Ending April 22


Mon - AM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 6 miles (500') easy. Valley trails. Quads were definitely sore on both runs, but okay after a couple of miles.

Tues - AM: 4.5 miles easy. Out and back on the Mason trail while waiting for new tires to be put on the Xterra.
PM: 8.5 miles (800') easy. Bluesky TH to Arthurs and back.


Weds - PM: 8.5 miles (2,200') easy. Horsetooth summit via Southridge - Audra with a return on Wathan - Spring Creek. Legs were good on the Horsetooth climb, but still a bit quiffy on the descent.

Thurs - AM: 4 miles easy on Bluesky.
PM: 9.5 miles (2,300') w/ hard Horsetooth summit. Switched the biweekly FCTR Towers TT to Horsetooth for a change of pace and scenery. Started out relatively easy on the initial section of the Rock trail and then popped in behind Sam from about the Soderberg/Rock trail intersection. Ended up PR'ing by 8 seconds (23:42), which was a bit of a surprise given the Lake Sonoma effort on Saturday. Certainly more time to be chopped there. Splits - bench: 4:42; Soderberg/H'tooth junction: 7:23; Rock/Southridge: 15:43; summit: 23:42. Back via Westridge, Spring Creek. Legs kinda shaky coming down.

Fri - Noon: 9 miles (1,800') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg. 
PM: 5.5 miles (700') easy. From Bluesky TH to Nomad/Shoreline loop.

Sat - Noon: 25.5 miles (8,000') Crosier Triple Bagger. For the fourth year in a row, I headed out to Crosier Mtn (9,250') and gave myself an early season ass whooping with three summits from the three different Crosier trailheads that sit along the Devil's Gulch Road between Drake and Glen Haven. Originally, I was planning on meeting folk from the Fort Collins Trail Runners at 5:45 for a pre-dawn start, but family obligations meant that I had to reschedule and run this one solo, starting just before noon. Given that it was HOT out, it ended up being quite a test and the first rung on the heat training ladder for WS100. I mueled 70 oz of water (heavy) to the top on the first climb from Garden Gate and drank all of it before the run was all said and done.

First climb and descent were fine, but I probably got a little carried away on the descent. Coming up on the second summit, the alarm bells started going off and I knew it was going to be a tough outing. My legs had very little pep and the uphill work was just hard. I was sweating profusely and feeling just a little bonky. I ate a banana and drank a ton of water on top, then started feeling bloated. Coming up on the third summit, the nausea started kicking in and I had no other thought in my mind than to get the run completed. For the first time ever on this route, I dropped to a hike on the summit grunt (450', half mile), but I was fine with that. I made an effort at running it, but just had nothing in my legs. Took it super easy coming down on the final 3,200 foot descent in an effort to get back to the car in one piece; hiked the 200 foot grunter in the middle of the descent. I think the heat, combined with lingering fatigue from Lake Sonoma did a number on me today. Nonetheless, I am super happy to take the crosier-triple streak into its fourth year, and as always the unsurpassed views of the Divide and Estes Valley from on top were (almost) worth the pain.

Splits (vs a steadier 2011):

First ascent: 1:05:53 (summit spur: 9:05, 3:41 on top) (2011 - 1:02, 8:55)
First descent: 30:14 (36:47)
Second ascent: 47:15 (8:24, 5:38) (46:30, 8:07)
Second descent: 33:54 (32:59)
Third ascent: 49:53 (10:11, 3:41) (45:21, 7:49)
Final descent: 51:12 (48:49)

Run time: 4:39 (4:32)
Outing time: 4:52 (5:33)

Sun - AM: 19 miles (1,000') steady. Ran from home to hook in with the Horsetooth Half Marathon course. Watched the race get under way from the top of South Dam and then ran easy for the next three of four miles waiting for the field to catch up. Bumped into A. Marks on the way, which was a surefire way to keep things easy. Leaders went by on top of North Dam, after which I picked up the pace a bit, dropping into the low 6s through to Bingham Hill. Dropped back down into the low 7s on the bike path so I could let friends further back in the field catch up. Ran with Pete for a bit, then Alex, and finally Sarah over the last two miles. Rounded out the morning at the New Belgium finish area with a brew and a bit of hanging out, before heading back with the family for a morning/afternoon of weed pulling and Horsetooth hiking.     

Total: 105 miles (18,300')

Straight back in the saddle post Lake Sonoma. May or may not be the best strategy in the world, but I always find that recovery comes easier through running than it does through sitting around. Paid for it on Saturday with a pretty miserable run, but that one gets filed away in the brain-callusing file, which I'll be inspecting somewhere between the Middle Fork of the American River and the Western States finish line in late June.

Lake Sonoma 50

Sonoma County reminds me of home - Canterbury home, that is. The hills are a bit bigger, but the wooded, lush and rolling nature of the terrain has a very Kentish feel to it. Deep greens are always a welcome break from Front Range Brown, so feeling at ease with my surroundings on the drive north from Oakland on Friday, I felt like I was ready for a good run.

After a very restful night, it was up early to meet Darcy and Mackey for the quick 20 minute drive to the start at the south bay of the ridiculously scenic Lake Sonoma, a reservoir that feeds the vineyard covered hillsides of the surrounding valleys. Given the serenity of the lakeside route and the seemingly remote nature of the venue, the race had a certain calm about it that was really quite refreshing.  

We listened to a few brief words from race director John Medinger and then we were off up the road for a couple of rolling asphalt miles to stretch out the field before the singletrack stomp began. Despite the strong field, the road miles were run at a pretty casual pace, with runners seemingly more interested in banter and catching up than in racing.

We hit the trail at 2.5 miles and immediately got a taste of what was in store for the next six hours. The dirt track bombed downwards on some pretty sloppy trail, then just as quickly assumed an upward trajectory around one of the hundreds of drainage channels that feed the lake. This was then followed by some rolling turns, a couple of sharp up and downs and then some more rolling. If you want to run a jabby, rolling course then come out and run Lake Sonoma, as I believe the race is the dictionary definition of both 'jabby' and 'rolling.' In fact, let's just call it 'jabolling.'

I prefer my climbs and descents a little longer, but a little variation never hurt anyone, besides I was feeling decent enough through the early going that I was happy to be on the roller coaster tracks. The banter was good, with Mr. Koerner being in particularly fine form.

With all the mini climbs and descents, it became apparent early where peoples' strengths lay. Joe Uhan was steady 10 meters or so off the front, while Gary Gellin in second was running an awkwardly choppy tempo dictated by his heart rate monitor: hard on the downs and then trippingly slow on the climbs. A group of us edged around Gary a few miles into the singletrack and the pace quickened a touch as we bridged up to Joe.

After about 10 miles, the pace was apparently still too lazy for Timmy Olson who shot to the front and quickly gapped the peloton. Fair enough, I thought; nobody went with him. Jorge Maravilla led the pace of the chase group with, I think Dave Mackey and Dakota in front of me and a train of probably seven other guys behind. We hit the second major creek crossing after 12 miles, just before the second aid station, after having gone waist deep through the first water crossing at mile three or four. This one, while longer, was a little shallower but still deep enough that foot placement was something of a leap of faith.

'Warm Creek' crossing. Photo: Glenn Tachiyama

Shortly after exiting the creek and coming into aid 2. Photo: Drymax

I should have just gone straight through at the aid station, but instead stopped to top up on water as I had no clue when the next water stop was. Jorge, Dakota, Dave and Hal all scooted through, and with Timmy already a minute ahead, I was in sixth leaving the aid station with a bit of a gap to make up on the chase pack. I figured it wouldn't take long, but as it turned out I wouldn't see Dakota or Timmy again until the finish. Hal and Dave, however, would remain in sight on longer stretches.

And so it went all the way to the mile 25 turnaround. I would get glimpses of Hal and Dave every now and again, then on the shoulder checks I would see that there was nobody in close proximity behind. Given that there was a one-mile loop for the turnaround before recommencing on the return portion of the 50 mile out-and-back course, I never got a check on the gap to Dakota and Tim. Too bad because I wanted to tell them both to slow the hell down. On the short spur to the halfway aid, I caught up to Hal, while seeing that Dave was a minute or two ahead. I got a quick refill, managing to get out just ahead of Hal.

The first mile or two of the return journey would involve an 800 foot drop on what had been the biggest climb of the day on the way out, followed by a climb of equal length to the 30 mile aid, then another decent drop before resuming the rolling theme of the day. I hadn't really been descending that well for most of the morning as my quads were feeling strangely 'off,' so I took it relatively easy on the first big descent from the turnaround, which allowed Hal to get back in front of me. Nonetheless, it was good enough to pick off an obviously ailing Mackey. I resumed the lead over Hal climbing back up to the 30 mile aid station and then tried to hit the ensuing descent a little harder to see if I could build a gap, but it seemed like Hal was feeling feisty and ready to race, sticking to me like glue.

Mile 28 or so, with Mackey behind. Photo: Gary Wang

There was no need for shoulder checks to keep tabs on Hal as his headphones could be heard a good ten meters ahead. I'd get the second-hand music all the way through mile 35 or so, after which I slowly, finally, began to build a gap. While there was still no sign of the guys in front, I had heard the gap was six minutes from a couple of people along the course, and then just as I was pulling into the penultimate aid station at mile 38 I got a view of Jorge who I hadn't seen in a good three hours. Bummer for him, I thought, as I knew he was after a Western States spot, but a race is a race. I passed soon thereafter on a short climb and wished him well. My legs were still feeling decent so I was able to get out of sight pretty quickly. From there it was just a question of maintaining a tempo that would get me through to the finish in the shortest order possible. I had no idea how far Tim and Dakota were ahead of me, so continued to run as if I had a shot at reeling them in.

Then I got to the final aid station at mile 45 and learned that Dakota had somehow built a 30 minute lead on me and that Timmy was 10 minutes ahead. The sails were officially deflated and I slipped into 10-minute- per-mile mode for the last grinding uphill miles to the finish.

Ready for a beer. Photo: Drymax

As RD John Medinger put it in a recent email to runners, "the course is a hard - but ultimately fair - test of your fitness and tenacity." I'd definitely go along with that. As a side note, I think the total climb is probably a little closer to 7,000 feet than the advertised 10,000 feet, but unlike some 10,000 feet courses with five or six big upper-cut climbs, this one jabs away at you with 60-70 unrelenting body blows and it takes its toll. 

The post-race scene was highly conducive to hours of lingering. Buckets of quality beer, an awesome Yucatan feed, perfect weather and good people a plenty. Yup, that's the ticket.

Thornley seems to get everywhere. One day he'll rule the (ultrarunning) world. Photo: Drymax

I'm not quite sure what to make of my race to be quite honest. Up until I learned that Dakota was 30 minutes ahead of me, I actually felt like I was having a pretty good run. Through the last five miles, I faded horribly and started getting down on myself for letting the leaders get away so early in the race. Three or four days later, and I'm calling it a solid training run. With the Lake Sonoma and NF50 showing in December, it is clear that Dakota is running at the top of his game right now; I've just got to figure out how to up my game to match.
 

Top 10. Photo: Drymax

There are plenty of positives to take away from the race. I ran hard all morning and felt like there would have been plenty left to give at 100-mile pace. My equipment worked fantastically. The proto PI 'Ultra' shorts are a thing of beauty. They held two 5oz gel flasks in the compression hip pockets flawlessly and with absolutely no bounce. I'm digging the new tops too: nice and loud. For fueling, I used EFS drink mix and the new Kona Mocha gel, which combined offered great energy and kept at bay any threats of cramping. I made a conscious effort to drink more than I normally would in a bid to promote digestion and absorption of calories, and I was generally successful with getting the extra fluids down.

A tweak here and a tweak there and we should be good to go for Western States. To be sharp for the back 50, I know that I need to incorporate longer trail tempo efforts and start cutting out some of the 'easy' fluff that I'm so comfortable pushing out in training. I've also got to start working the downs a bit, but that's all part of the master plan. Getting beat by 30 minutes was a good slap in the face. Time to start sharpening the volume. Tick tock.   

Rough splits from memory:

12 mile (1:29)
25 mile (3:15)
30 mile (3:52)
38 mile (5:01)
46 mile (6:05)
50.5 mile (6:51)

Week Ending April 8

Mon - 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop. Tired.

Tues - AM: 9.5 miles intervals. Small group again, but overjoyed to be running in the snow (for what it was worth). Workout was 5 x City Park mile (1.04), with 1st and last steady and middle three fartlek - quarter mile jog between + 1-2 min standing rest. Ran with Chris M for all five and felt horribly sluggish: 5:35 (5:22), 5:34 (:21), 5:41 (:27), 5:38 (:25), 5:37 (:24).
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.

Weds - Noon: 6 miles (600') easy. Valley trails, Soderberg to Arthurs and back.
PM: 4 miles easy on the bike paths before FCRC board meeting. Mileage padding.

Thurs - AM: 10.5 miles (1,200') easy. Early morning jaunt on Bluesky/Indian Summer with Slush, Celeste, Ziggy, Sarah and AlWesir. Nice crisp morning with another beautiful sunrise over Coyote Ridge. Notched things a touch over the last couple. Some good banter as always.
PM: 10 miles (2,100') Towers. 29:37. Eased into this one, hitting the road (.45) 20 seconds slower than last time, and taking it relatively easy on the grunts with the intention of gassing the shallower grades. The Stout split was 8:50 and Herrington 16:45, which means I made up about 20 seconds over the last 13 minutes versus two weeks ago. I ended up 4 seconds slower on what felt like a much more controlled effort with significantly less discomfort. One of these days I'll solve the riddle and put all the pieces together.

Fri - Noon: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls loop.
PM: 6 miles (600') easy. O&B Soderberg to Arthurs on Valley Trails.

Sat - AM: 21 miles (7,000'). Round Mountain ladder. This was the second outing of the Fort Collins Trail Runners' Spring Vertical Series and a repeat of last year's inaugural version, dubbed the Round Up. Total workout calls for an out and back from each of the four mile markers on the way up to the Round Mtn summit, followed by a final summit push (4.75 miles, 3,000') for a total of 29 miles & 9,500 feet. I decided to eschew the mile 4 O & B as I didn't want to overdo things with Lake Sonoma coming up next weekend. I also decided to take things super easy for the first three out and backs, before taking a harder run at the summit to finish things off. Ended up wavering between hard and 'can't be bothered' for the summit run, which ended up being surprisingly quick, just a couple minutes off my PR (50:24) at 52:23. I think we had an impressive 13 runners show up for the 5:30 pre-dawn push-off and then lots more as the morning progressed. Great sunrise over Alexander Mtn coming down from mile two. Total outing was 4:11, or 3:59 not including TH pit stops. 
 
The up splits: Mile 1 <+580'> (13:47, 12:40, 11:21, 10:22); mile 2 <+780'> (13:46, 12:25, 11:42); mile 3 <+460'> (11:54, 10:21); mile 4 <+580'> (10:51); final .75 <+480'> (9:05).

The down splits: Mile 1 (11:36, 9:15, 8:47, 9:56); mile 2 (9:03, 8:38, 9:36); mile 3 (10:29, 11:04); mile 4 (11:04); final .75 (6:45)

Sun - AM: 8 miles (900') easy on Bluesky. Been a while since I've been on a run and thinking about snakes, but with as warm as it's been I found myself scanning this morning.

Total: 90 miles (15,400') 

Took things a little easier this week on the running front, with a short run Sunday and an abbreviated Round Mountain ladder on Saturday. This disciplined behavior is an attempt to freshen the legs up a bit for the Lake Sonoma 50 next weekend, which will be my only 50 miler before Western States in June. It comes about halfway into my training block so an easier seven or eight days leading up to it seems reasonable enough. I feel pretty good right now, so I'd like to think I've got as a good a shot as anyone toeing the line.

Speaking of deep fields, Pete and I are pretty excited about the crew that will be assembling May 12 right here in Fort Collins for the Quad Rock 50. In the men's race we've got the JFK 50 record holder coming out to test his chops on a mountain 50 as he gets ready for Western States in June. He'll be up against last year's top U.S. finisher at UTMB, the third place finisher from this year's Way Too Cool and American River, and a host of Front Range speedsters who know the trails well. My money's on Burch, but I've been wrong before.

We've got a strong women's race too, with PI teammate Becky Wheeler perhaps the favorite on paper, but I'm betting she'll be pushed hard by Steamboat 50 winner Jenny Pierce, recent Salida winner Leila DeGrave, and some local Fort Collins women who are probably too modest to want to be named. My money's on Steph Lynn - pretty sure I've got that one right.

But it's not all about the front of the pack. Hell no, it's about the personal challenge. We've put together a tough course with a challenging cut-off, but we're betting that anyone with the requisite determination and mental fortitude will be able to get it done if they really want to. Pete went out and ran the full monty a couple of weekends ago (in the midst of 700-mile month). Based on his experience, he put together a 14-hour pacing plan. Check it out. And then come out next Saturday and run the loop for yourselves on the 'official course preview.' We'll have lots of local runners on hand (who may or may not know where they're going), which means good company at a range of different paces.

Wish I could be there for that one, but I'll be out getting my hide whooped in wine country USA