Training Log Archive: Ari-oIn the 1 days ending May 24, 2015:
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Sunday May 24, 2015 #
8 AM
Trail Run race 4:23:51 [3] 31.0 mi (8:31 / mi) +617m 8:01 / mi
So.
I was going to be up in Maine this weekend anyway, opening the family camp. And I realized there was a trail race an hour away, mostly on ski trails (good footing) and once the weather looked dry, I pulled the string. Also, you got a pair of Darn Tough socks at the end; how could I say no? The night before I looked and people ran this race last year 30-45 minutes faster than Pisgah. 4:15 is possible (and was the A qualification for the elite wave at the North Face 50 miler in California, which would be "fun" and a good destination/trip/November Project thing, although now they dropped it to 4:00 so, yeah).
So I did. Got there around 7:20, warmed up a tiny bit, and went out running. No one wanted to be near the start line, even apparently the guy with the course record. We started off and it was mostly downhill and ran the first mile under 7. I stuck around with that group for another sub-7 mile and then decided that it was not in my best interest to kill my legs at that point, so slackened off to more like 7:30s.
This went fine until mile 6, when I stopped to take a pee, and then kept going. After that point, however, my pace started to slacken. First, it was due to uphills. Then I think it was due to the weather: it had started off in the 50s but was pushing 70 and sunny. And then, fatigue; I would push but my legs weren't there.
I still turned in a 1:59 for the first 25k, and that meant I could add 1 minute to every split and still finish in 4:15. And I was doing okay for the first five miles or so. But then I started walking uphills, and almost stumbling downhills. My legs were shot, and I was having to drink a lot to keep cool, as it was up in the 70s. The fields, in the sun, were pretty brutal. My feet were hurting and my legs were stiff and I was dropping 2 minutes per mile slower than the first lap; nothing under 8 after mile 18, and several of the last miles over 11.
Dropped from 5th place to 11th, got passed by Kelsey with two miles to go and she put two minutes on me, and got passed near the end by a guy I'd passed and dropped 10 miles before. So I had a good 20 mile race, and a sufferfest for the last 10.
Still, 4:24 isn't bad, especially for a warm day with basically no specific training other than "I'll just go on what I have banked from marathon/7 sisters, etc." This is part of SOB season: do stupid things. I think I won't run anything this long until the fall. (Next up: Greylock?)
I was going to be up in Maine this weekend anyway, opening the family camp. And I realized there was a trail race an hour away, mostly on ski trails (good footing) and once the weather looked dry, I pulled the string. Also, you got a pair of Darn Tough socks at the end; how could I say no? The night before I looked and people ran this race last year 30-45 minutes faster than Pisgah. 4:15 is possible (and was the A qualification for the elite wave at the North Face 50 miler in California, which would be "fun" and a good destination/trip/November Project thing, although now they dropped it to 4:00 so, yeah).
So I did. Got there around 7:20, warmed up a tiny bit, and went out running. No one wanted to be near the start line, even apparently the guy with the course record. We started off and it was mostly downhill and ran the first mile under 7. I stuck around with that group for another sub-7 mile and then decided that it was not in my best interest to kill my legs at that point, so slackened off to more like 7:30s.
This went fine until mile 6, when I stopped to take a pee, and then kept going. After that point, however, my pace started to slacken. First, it was due to uphills. Then I think it was due to the weather: it had started off in the 50s but was pushing 70 and sunny. And then, fatigue; I would push but my legs weren't there.
I still turned in a 1:59 for the first 25k, and that meant I could add 1 minute to every split and still finish in 4:15. And I was doing okay for the first five miles or so. But then I started walking uphills, and almost stumbling downhills. My legs were shot, and I was having to drink a lot to keep cool, as it was up in the 70s. The fields, in the sun, were pretty brutal. My feet were hurting and my legs were stiff and I was dropping 2 minutes per mile slower than the first lap; nothing under 8 after mile 18, and several of the last miles over 11.
Dropped from 5th place to 11th, got passed by Kelsey with two miles to go and she put two minutes on me, and got passed near the end by a guy I'd passed and dropped 10 miles before. So I had a good 20 mile race, and a sufferfest for the last 10.
Still, 4:24 isn't bad, especially for a warm day with basically no specific training other than "I'll just go on what I have banked from marathon/7 sisters, etc." This is part of SOB season: do stupid things. I think I won't run anything this long until the fall. (Next up: Greylock?)