Cheyenne Mountain 25k Race Report

This whole running thing is fun.  Races like today's definitely help remind me of this.

Cheyenne Mountain 25k Trail Race
16.8 miles, 2,146' gain/loss

3rd place, 1:59:08

When I first heard of this new race at CMSP, my initial reaction was one of skepiticism.  After all, two other races (Xterra Marathon and Fall Series) just sprung up in the park within the past two years.  The amount of trails in the park are limited, so there was nothing new here as far as I was concerned.  However, the timing of the race was good - Collegiate Peaks falls two weeks later - so I signed up for the 25k a couple of months ago.

Cheyenne Mtn 25k (looking south)

It was during a reconnaissance mission of the course five weeks ago that I originally aggravated my hip, and only in the past week have I finally seemed to have gotten back to full strength.  Needless to say, my last memory of CMSP was not an amiable one.  I did, however, get a good feel for the layout of the course that day - numerous tight, twisty turns.  Steady yet gradual climbs and descents.  Long stretches of groomed trail interspersed with rocky, technical sections.  I normally welcome technical courses, but nursing my injury had me worried that this would be too much too soon.  Turns out it was fine.

My plan was based on the desire to build patience, test my fitness, yet leave me fresh for CP50 and minimize the risk of re-injuring my hip:

• Easy up the initial climbs (miles 1-4 or so)
• Move into a better position on the north loop's descent (miles 5-8)
• Crank up Talon on the south loop (miles 9-12)
• See where I stood at the top of Talon.  Shut it down a little if possible (miles 13 - finish)

Things unfolded according to plan.  This video, courtesy of Pikes Peak Sports, shows I was comfortably in 7th place at the half mile.  Early in races, I will pay close attention to the breathing patterns of those around me.  A goal I usually have is to "sound better" than anyone else.  It helps me relax during the critical first few minutes, where a race can't be won, but can surely be lost.  I knew that Peter Maksimow and Tommy Manning wouldn't be coming back to me - they've both qualified for the U.S. mountain team before - but the other guys were all unknown quantities.  I just followed my plan and ran my race for the first half.

As we topped out on the north loop, I had caught sight of Paul Mann, who was the last person between me and the two leaders.  I estimate I had given him a good 25-30 second spot by the one mile mark.  One thing I love to do in trail races such as this is try and figure out others' strength's and weaknesses.  I noticed that I didn't seem to be gaining much on him during the uphills and open spaces, but the downs and rocky spots were where I would reel in substantial distance.  Once I made contact with him at mile 5, I tucked in behind him, chatted with him for a little bit, and passed him on a longer downhill stretch.  I suspected the rest of the race would be lonely.  I was only somewhat right.



As the miles clicked by, I just focused on form and steady effort.  I expected to be a good three or four minutes behind Peter and Tommy, but then I started to get conflicting messages.  One person said they were much closer, another said maybe more like five or six.  I was hoping that at the very least, I could keep the gap from growing any larger as I turned up the north loop at mile 8.5.  By now, I was passing many 50k runners, who had started a half hour before us.  Only one girl with an iPod in didn't try moving over for me; everyone else was extremely cool about it.  I took a peek ahead at one vantage point and saw what looked like Peter and Tommy, and they were MUCH closer than three minutes.  I took a glance at my watch, and looked again when I got to where they had been and the gap was only ninety seconds.  I was thoroughly confused - had I cut the course?  Were they just screwing around?  Was I actually running THAT well?  I dismissed option #3, but found myself with a little extra motivation to keep cranking up this stretch to see if I could make contact with them.  In fact, at the last switchback before the top of the south loop, I looked up to see that they were only about 10 seconds up on me.  I yelled at them to get their asses in gear as they had no business dogging it like that, and that's exactly what they did - BOOM.

Once I hit the long downhill from the top of Talon all the way to the finish, I couldn't see them anymore.  I knew I was sitting on a very large lead over 4th.  And frankly, I had worked my tail off to get up the hill.  So, I just shut it down into a doable gear and coasted home.  I was able to catch a peek of Peter and Tommy one last time just before the finish, and they had re-opened about a 90 second lead on me again.  The last few miles were relaxed and comfortable, and I began looking ahead to the looming 50-miler.  A nice touch was finishing in 1:59...it just sounds so much better than 2:00.  The 25k ended up being a good 16.78 miles on my watch.  Luckily, I was familiar enough with CMSP to know well before the finish that it was running quite long.

At the finish, I got world's longest massage.  It must have been 45 minutes long.  I got to catch up with a bunch of friends - Peter, Tommy, Amanda, Christoph, and 50k runners Brendan Trimboli and Brandon Stepanowich to name a few.  The post-race food was top-notch: catered chicken/pasta/salad from Carrabba's.  We hung around long enough for awards and to see the top 50k'ers finish.  Definitely a well-run inaugural event.  Low-key, yet with many nice little touches such as well-stocked aid stations.  It's hard to have fun when it's 35 degrees and blustery out, but I did just that this morning!  Can't wait to try my legs at 50 miles in two weeks! 

Race Article from Pikes Peak Sports

Results  

Mile splits:  7:52, 7:16, 7:13, 7:45, 7:38, 6:19, 6:34, 6:23, 7:07, 7:10, 8:07, 8:05, 6:37, 6:45, 6:45, 6:59, 6:02

I'll leave this entry on a light note.  Let the good times roll say the twenty year olds.

F***

Cancer.  a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis.

Or just a scary-ass word that invokes the words, "Oh, fuck" from even the most pious monk.

Talked to my mom on Monday and found out that each of my parents found out this past week that they both have cancer.  Prostate is my dad's flavor, while my mom has the pleasure of breast cancer.

That's the bad news.

Good news, which has been trickling in throughout the week, suggests that neither of them are about to drop dead or have to undergo nasty, years-long battles with this enigmatic cellular deviant.  Doc told my pops that he'll likely die WITH prostate cancer, but not OF prostate cancer.  Mom has to undergo a mastectomy, but it looks like she gets to avoid the twin horrors of radiation and chemo.  She'd been good about getting annual checkups.  Here's to early detection!


When the headhamster starts spinning, I think adventure.  Newest idea - I'm not sure how well it will fit into my training, but I'd love to run the four pass loop this summer.  Looks more and more like I need to spend a good week up around Aspen...I hafta find a passable route between Snowmass and Capitol as well.

As I've frequently alluded to in the past, I run as much to process the crap that life throws my way as I do to keep from getting fat, feed my ego, and get rid of excess energy.  So it's always a bit strange to sit here and write down how far or fast I went on any particular day, as if the numbers define that event or something.  Nonetheless. 

20 flat miles in the dark this AM.  10 out easy (8:15's) on the Santa Fe, and 10 back averaging 6:30's.  I was curious to see what was under the hood after 18, so I brought home the last trail mile in 5:40.  Iced and stretched afterward.  In no point of my training has a twenty ever felt so inconsequential - I felt I could have easily tacked on a ton more, and would have done so if daddy obligations didn't begin around sunrise.


The Santa Fe is a mixed bag.  I love being able to translate mile splits into fitness and such, but I'm sick of the same damn thing every day.  Today's run only included 600ish feet of elevation gain.  I can find that in 2 miles outside the front door of my school.  Speaking of which, Cheyenne Mtn is a week away, and it's not exactly flat.  This week has seen me return to near-normal mileage (53 miles after 6 days) and intensity.  The only thing left to add back in to my full regimen is hill work.

And maybe this week can bring a little less news.


 

Walking a tightrope

5 and change on the Santa Fe trail today.  My mileage for the week stands at a whopping 15.  Good news:  hip felt OK this afternoon.  I knew it was there, but no pain.  It seems I can do flat surfaces at low intensity for now.

So what HAVE I been doing this week?

• 800mg of Ibuprofen 5x a day.
• Icing 2x a day.
• Stretching 2x a day.
• Weights.
• Praying to various gods, deities, idols.

This is a scary time.  On one hand, I may be back to a normal workload within days.  In that case...I can't believe I lost any sleep over this.  However, there's always the risk of making things worse.  Tracking it down, I now think the intensity of my pickup 2 weeks ago in Cheyenne Mtn State Park may have been the immediate cause.  Running hills (albeit slowly) for the next three days probably aggravated it - but it wasn't until that stretch that anything felt wrong.

Five weeks till CP.

Forty school days left till playtime.  I'm already conjuring up a few adventures.  My short list:

• Find a class 4 route between Snowmass and Capitol Peak.  I wonder if Cave Dog would tell me his route...
• Trinity Traverse.  (Arrow, Vestal, West Trinity, Trinity, East Trinity)
• Huron/Missouri/Belford/Oxford/Harvard/Columbia/Yale in one shot.
• Blanca's Gash Ridge, possibly linked up with the Blanca/Little Bear traverse.

Any takers?

There is a fine line between sadism and masochism

Normal people view runners as masochists.  Running hurts.  Sitting on the couch with a remote and a bag of Lay's doesn't hurt.  That's about as far as many ever go when deciding what to do with their time.

Recreational runners sometimes get to a point where going for a run doesn't hurt anymore.  It just becomes something they do.  Maybe they'll suffer a little bit if they decide to train for a marathon, but since suffering sucks, they avoid all but the necessary pain - namely the weekly long run and the race itself.

A few even go as far as to do actual workouts every now and then.  Generally, speed hurts.  Pushing oneself hurts.  Some tolerate the pain better than others, but it usually feels great when the workout is over, and the sense of accomplishment drives many to do it again another day.

Today was one of the rare workout days where I transcended pain.  Instead of enduring suffering, I out-of-body doled out an ass-whopping like no other on the frame that I usually occupy.  I was the inflictor of pain, not the inflictee.

Amanda Ewing and I carpooled down to Cheyenne Mountain State Park to do our long workout - two hours with 45-60 minutes uptempo mixed in.  We decided to scout out the Cheyenne Mtn 25k course and add on if necessary.  Neither of us felt especially spry at the onset of the run.  I suggested we just log miles until we hit the Talon section of the trail (about mile eight on the course), then work that stretch of seven-ish miles.

Talon loop is the bottom one, tops out on the far left.

We both started to get some life into our legs as we got into our second hour.  I was prepared for some uncomfortable mileage as the four miles up Sundance and North Talon don't relent.  7:31, 7:40, 8:21, 7:29 with a gain of about 200'/mile.  I didn't check HR or pace throughout, but I could feel I was doing work.  Moreso than other days, I welcomed the pain.  Embraced it.  Kept pushing to see how much of it I could dish out.  Definitely went to a place I only get to when I'm truly flowing.  The avg HR of 168 confirms this - that's a few beats below my 13.1 race effort.

At the top of Talon, I enjoyed some rolling, twisting, and downhill burners - 6:31, 6:18, 5:43.  Flying down twisty singletrack is bliss.  Met back up with Amanda.  Mopped up with a few miles afterward.  2h45min, 19.5 miles, 2,400'.  Looks like another 60-65 mile week in the books with an easy ninety minutes tomorrow. 

Feeling poppy today.