The sense of nervousness I normally feel prior to races
wasn’t there as I looked up at the expansive Cheyenne Mountain in front of me.
The sun had risen about an hour ago and there was a slight chill in the air,
but I knew it would warm up soon. This was my third time racing at Cheyenne Mountain
State Park, so I knew what to expect in terms of the trails there. It was the
home of my official first trail marathon finish a couple of years ago.
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| Race Start Line |
Racing here is like a flash back in time to the simpler days
of trail races. While Leadville and the North Face 50K were huge events with
multiple sponsors, big tents and food, the Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race
featured a folding table check-in, great volunteers and a 50K field of less
than 100 athletes.
I got there early to have some coffee and take my time
getting my gear together. I’m sort of a spaz before races and it seems like it
takes me forever just to throw on some shoes and my hydration pack.
I headed over to the start line about 5 minutes before 8AM,
said hello to a few other runners and took my place in the front third of the
group. I had raced here before and didn’t want to get caught up in the back of
the pack over the first climb. The first climb was about a mile of single-track
and last year I was caught behind the pack walking for a ways.
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| Just before the start in my fly Pearl Izumi gear |
The national anthem played over the loud speaker and the
gentleman in front asked “are you all ready to run?” A couple of hollers went
out and he simply said “Go!” and we were off.
The race course was a big figure ‘8’ consisting of a 7 and
an 8ish mile loop that we would complete twice. Basecamp and bag drop was in
the middle making it easy to mentally divide the course into four big loops. (Link to my Strava profile.)
I let the leaders go up the road and locked in at about a
10:30 pace for the first climb. It was a little faster than I would have liked,
but I was just pacing behind a girl that was moving steady up the trail, so I
didn’t back off the gas too much. Looking back on it , I think this was a mistake,
as I started off in the red for the first ½ hour of the race, and I never
really got back where I wanted to be. I remember thinking to myself in the
first 15 minutes to slow down a bit.
The girl in front of me started to fizzle out around mile 3
so I passed her and I locked into a manageable pace. My heartrate was still in
Zone 4 but I didn’t slow enough to recover. My training pace on longer runs had
me in the 145-155 heartrate range, but I was pushing out 165ish on this race
early on. Not good.
The trail is beautiful. It winds around trees and streams
and you could never really tell where you were in the group. One second you
would see a stream of runners in front of you up the trail, and then you would
go around a turn and feel totally alone.
The course gradually climbs about 1,000 feet for three or so
miles before dropping into some flat terrain and then descending back into the
valley. That descent was super fun as my legs finally had the chance to open up
and my breathing settled down a bit. I was still cruising a little fast, but by
now, I had resolved myself into racing with the goal of not killing myself.
I hit the bottom aid station at mile 7 and I was finally
feeling great. I was ready for the next section of the course.
The next loop is a killer. Another 1,000 vertical feet over
some steeper terrain lets the body know it’s time to work. For this section I
dialed it back and hiked when I needed to. It still didn’t feel too hard, but I
could start to feel the lactic acid in my legs. I was hydrating well so I was
hoping nutrition would not be an issue later.
After some quick uphill hiking and slow jogging, I made it
to the top of the ridge. I was thankful to have made it up quickly. I was still
holding a 10:30 average pace for the race, but I also knew I would have to do this
section all over again!
I blazed down the mountain towards the ½ way point. For me,
the downhill running can be more difficult than the uphill on my legs. My quads
were screaming as I flew down the mountain. I saw a bunch of runners that were
just starting the climb, so I knew I was holding a solid place in the field.
I approached the ½ way point still feeling strong, but I was
starting to get winded. I took my hydration pack off, took out my empty
hydration bladder and grabbed my new one from the bag drop. I never stopped
moving. Changing out my hydration on the go, I started loop two.
This is where the race begins.
The initial climb which seemed so easy at the start of the
race was now almost as steep as Everest. I held a grandma paced jog up the
climb trying to manage my heartrate the best I could. If I went too far into
the red, I hiked for a minute or so, and then started to jog again. The rest of
the race would go like this.
What seemed like 5 hours later, I came back to the base camp
to head out to the last loop.
I knew the last 8 miles were going to be challenging, so I
resolved myself to relentless forward progress to get through it. The first 4
miles would be a steady hard climb to the summit and that was goal number one.
At this point I was hiking anything that resembled a hill.
On the flats, I picked up my grandma jog and then went straight back into
hiking when the trail picked up over 4% grade. I was still good on nutrition,
but my legs were spent. Relentless-forward-progress. My average pace for the
race was now down to 11:15, but at this point it was just about
finishing. If all went well, I would still run a sub-six hour race which would
be a 35 minute PR on my 50K race.
I finally made it to the top of the climb and started the
downhill. My quads were spent, so I had to jog a slower pace down. I got passed
by three runners on the run down, but I didn’t have enough in me to push any
faster. Cardio-wise I was still okay, but my legs were all used up.
After another ½ hour, I could finally see the finish line at
the bottom of the valley. I was super stoked as I knew my family would be down
there to cheer me through.
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| Amazing aid station volunteers! |
I came to the base of the valley and saw Julie and my son
Micah about 200 yards before the finish line. Micah was in running pose ready
to run with me to the finish! “Let’s go daddy!” he said, and then he took off
like a lightening bolt towards the finish line.
It was all I could do to keep up with his 4-year-old legs.
He sprinted ahead of me right through the finish line! It was one of the
coolest moments as it was the first time my son has been at a race and been
able to run with me into finish.
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| Micah out-sprinting me to the finish |
My parents and Julie were there to congratulate me at the
finish line. I had run the race in 5:35 which was good enough for 22nd
overall and 4th in my age group. I beat my previous 50K times by over an hour!
Next Up: Hard Rock 25
Lessons Learned:
- I still need to work on going out slower at the start. I get caught up in the mania, but sticking to my HR and pacing plan is critical to doing better towards the end of the race. With ultra-racing, if I’m not going for the podium, going out fast is not a benefit.
- I can continue to work on my downhill running. My quads were thrashed at the end of the race and I think some more work on the downhills could have helped.
- Setting small goals during the race really helped my mental state. If it was too much to think about a full-loop, spotting trees and other marks along the course helped me from getting discouraged.
Nutrition
Prior:
1 Cup of Coffee
2 Cliff Bars (500 Calories)
During:
100 oz of Infinit (2000 Calories)
2 Cliff Bars (500 Calories)
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