Wasatch Speed Goat Mountain Racing Team

Last month I became a member of the newly-formed Wasatch Speed Goat Mountain Racing Team. The team came about from an idea Scott Mason had to put together a nationwide, grassroots running team consisting of readers of his website that are dedicated to the sport of trail running. Scott, and co-director Tim, have lined up a great group of sponsors and the team is starting to roll.

What kind of runners make up the team? Olga said it best …this is a team for regular folks, mid-pack (ok, there are some at the front, some aspire to be at the front and some used to be there) … The important part - we get to be who we are! The exciting engaging communicating eyes-popped-hooray trail mountain ultra junkies! … the camaraderie is amazing! Look out for us at the races and say hi, we are YOU!

I am definitely in the aspiring to be at the front of the middle, or back of the front category. I’m in awe of my teammates’ accomplishments and hope to learn as much as I can from them. Having only been running for a year and a half, I’m very lucky to be part of such an amazing group! There are 17 runners in total, with representation from California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, New York, and New Hampshire. The ‘goats are everywhere!

Take a look at the team results and schedule. That is one serious list of races! I’m very happy to be part of the team and am looking forward to meeting everyone as we race together. It’s a great bunch of guys and gals - hats off to Scott and Tim for putting it together, and to our sponsors for lending their support!

Nice Day at the ‘Office’!

So I end up working all day Sunday. EMERGENCY mode. LOTS of stress. Things breaking. I get home and here’s an email from Karl inviting me to check out his day at the office:

Ummm, yeah. I think I like his office better…

Race Report: Desert RATS / Spring Desert Ultra 50 miler

Another race in the books. Fruita is awesome, I love it out there. Raw and natural, rocks and dust.

I arrived plenty early for the 06:30 start. So early that I had time to re-tie my right shoe about two dozen times trying to get it just right. I was totally OCD there for a while. Must. Get. Shoe. Tied.

I toed the line in the pre-dawn light wearing throwaway gloves and tube socks I had cut the ends off for arm warmers. I was stylin’! Or ‘fashionly’, as my 5 year old daughter would say. After a week of going crazy fighting a cold, achy legs, and bundles of nerves I was ready to get going! Thankfully, I felt pretty good and was optimistic that I could at least finish this thing.

The course is a 25 mile loop that you finish and then reverse direction to make 50 miles. The tricky thing about this race is that there is a 25 mile race and a 50 mile race being run at the same time. The 50 milers can drop out at the turnaround and still get credit for a 25 mile finish.

Connect the dots…

It’s a tough run with a lot of tight singletrack, and a few stretches of dirt road. Plenty of rocks, sand, and slickrock to grind your feet into bloody stumps, and a little over 8,000 feet of climbing to keep things interesting.

The plan for the day was to hold back and save some for the final 1/3 of the race. I sort of followed that, but could have done better. I ran all of the first climb, smiled and shook my head at the amazing summit sunrise, and then got held up a bit on the descent by a train of people in front of me. After the first aid station I caught up with Kirk, he recognized me from Salida (where he finished one spot ahead of me) and I recognized him as well. It was the first of about 100 times we would cross paths throughout the day. He had never gone longer than a marathon and was running strong in his first 50 miler!

Kirk having WAY too much fun - at least make it look like you’re working!

The middle part of the course is so cool. Mostly flat, but right along the edge of cliffs and winding in and out of canyons. You can really cruise on this section and take in the great scenery.

Mile 10 - feelin’ good…

Around mile 15 I hooked up with Sandy, one of my new teammates. We each knew the other one would be at the race, but hadn’t set up a way to meet. And there we were. Small world. We ran together for a few miles, before he pulled away at the turnaround.

Sandy cruising along a few minutes ahead of me

Sorry ’bout the watermarks, I’m buying prints and they don’t offer electronic downloads

You can view/buy photos here.

I hit the skids hard after the halfway point and struggled for a good 5 miles or so. Then the phoenix rose from the ashes and it was game on! I steadily reeled in 6 guys up to mile 35. Including Kirk and Sandy, who I thought were LONG gone. It helped that some mountain bikers told me some guys were not too far ahead (but still out of sight). Things came together great for a while and I pushed hard to gain some ground.

Sandy looked like grim death when I went by him, and then I caught Kirk at the mile 38 aid station. We ran near each other for the next few miles, but he was going strong and I was starting to fade. I had run myself into the ground earlier when I was feeling good and was paying for it. He was gone again.

Into the final aid station I focused on the climb that followed. Here comes Sandy! Looking strong and determined. Man, what a comeback! Now I was the one left for dead as he would go on to put 10 minutes into me by the finish. Then - what the @#$?? Kirk comes by me AGAIN. Turns out he missed a trail marker and put some extra distance in. It didn’t slow him down at all, I still couldn’t stay with him after he spotted me some free time. Great run!

I finally crossed the line in 10:12, 11th place - 6 blisters, one missing toenail, and Niel Diamond’s Sweet Caroline blasting through the loudspeakers. Life doesn’t get any better than that!

Sweeeet Caroline, da da dah…

My result was not what I’d hoped for, but better than I expected. I cut an hour and a half off my time from last year, and gained a lot of valuable experience. It cracks me up to think of setting a Personal Best in terms of hours! My fuel was 100% gels, and I only took water from the aid stations. My total aid station time was 9:20 vs. 23:20 last year. I did great with the salt intake and poorly with the fluid intake. Still work to be done there.

I was really surprised by my last 3 split times compared to last year. I didn’t gain much ground in that section. I was slightly disappointed after the race, but considering being sick with a cold and the bad blistering that started at mile 10, I’m glad I was even able to finish. When the huge blister popped on my left foot, I could hear my shoe squishing with every step as if I’d run through a puddle. Ouch! I need to get that figured out. The only other time I’ve gotten one that bad was on the other foot at this same race last year…

da splits (just running time - no AS time included)

I had a great time meeting some new people and running the desert trails. I drove 4 hours home that night and 2 days later am recovering well. It’s definitely cool to walk the halls at work and not have people stop in their tracks and ask, “What happened to you?!?!”. That was a frequent occurrence last year…

I still can’t get that Neil song out of my head.

Back to Where it All Began

In a week’s time I will be running through the desert again, participating in the Spring Desert Ultra 50 miler. I can’t wait to be on the trails of Fruita. Carving up the singletrack, and skipping through the rocks. For the first few miles, anyway!

This is one of my all-time favorite places to run - u can see why

One year ago, this was my introduction into the world of ultrarunning and racing. I picked this race out because I had ridden my bike on all of the trails and was familiar with the course. It was every bit as hard as I thought it would be - I was hooked!

I had no idea how to train for running a 50 mile event. The limited information I could find all shared a common theme - accumulate time on your feet. Starting out with a good base was emphasized over and over. Well, I took a somewhat unorthodox approach. My training started on New Year’s Day with a 3 mile run. I did my first ever double-digit run (12 miles) in the middle of January. It took me 4 days to recover from that one. I was slow, but determined. Leading up to the race, I put in 8 weekend runs of between 20 and 30 miles. The rest of the week was spent recovering and getting in a few 3-5 milers where I could. In the four months before the race I ran a total of 510 miles.

It was far from the ideal approach, but considering where I started from and the short amount of time I had to work with, it did the job. I survived the run taking 11:37 to finish it.

Fast-forward to this year. In the last 4 months I have run just a little under 1,000 miles. I have also raced a 10k, 12k, 50k, and marathon in that period. My runs this year have been significantly more difficult, incorporating speed and hard efforts, technical trails, and lots of climbing. Around 30,000 feet in the last 6 weeks or so. Last year it probably totaled less than 5,000.

What is most interesting to me is to see a graphical representation of my daily distances over the last 4 months. Last year I did consistent long runs, but the overall mileage accumulation was lacking.

Leading up to the race last year

The graph for this year tells a much different story. I put in 7 consecutive 60 mile weeks in the dead of winter. Then I cut back in preparation for the Psycho Wyco 50k in early February.

The same period this year

After that race, I started working with Coach Karl. He’s had me doing shorter distances (but still significant) for my long runs, and focusing a lot more on climbing, tempo efforts, and technique. I still have a long way to go, but I have been getting a lot stronger and faster in the process. A friend asked me the other day if I did any cross-training. I replied no, but then added that I don’t really feel like I need to. My running is so varied now. 10 min miles on a flat treadmill, 14 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing after work on rugged trails, steady-state road runs, pushing my daughter in a stroller, footwork drills, tempo work in the low 6:00 range, easy hills, hard hills, cadence, night runs, long walks with the dog, etc. I had fallen into the trap of doing the same old thing over and over. It was good consistency for the winter season, but the training I’m doing now is what will really help me get to a new level.

Ok, graphs do not a successful race make. I’m still relatively inexperienced and need to be very smart about pacing, fueling, and hydrating. I’m a little bit concerned about the lack of 20+ mile runs I have in me leading up to the race this year. If the tradeoff is me being fit, uninjured, and with fresh legs at the starting line - I’ll take it. It will be interesting to see how I hold up beyond 35. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch a whiff of the finish and drive it on home. We’ll see!

My New Running Buddy

Today I took Jessica with me on my training run up Waterton Canyon.  It was my first time running with the new stroller we bought, it worked great!   We had a hard time finding one, most jogging-type strollers are built for kids half her size.  Since she is almost 5, we were definitely coming to it late in the game.  I bought a $uper nice one from REI and brought it home thinking I was ok because she was well within the weight limit spec.  When I assembled it and we tried it out, the fit wasn’t even close.  Back it went.

We finally happened to find one at Sports Authority that was large enough to do the job.  It may only last us a year or so, but the price wasn’t too bad and I’m sure we’ll get some great use out of it.  We already put it to the test at the zoo last week, today it was 8 miles of dirt road.

Jessica and baby Kelsea

The morning was on the cool side, but within half a mile I was shedding layers like crazy.  I put out some heat pushing that load!  There were tons of runners coming and going, I couldn’t believe all of the friendly greetings.  Everyone would have a huge smile on their face as they waved at Jessica.  It was a little funny when we would pass someone huffing and puffing their way up the road while we were carrying on a conversation about butterflies, or worms, or clouds, or whatever her 4 year old mind could come up with.

The highlight for Jessica was stopping at our turnaround to have our ‘Clif Bar Picnic’.  I gave her and Elizabeth a Christmas present consisting of all different flavors of Clif Bars so they could try them out on their walks together.  Jessica loves choosing a new one for each outing.

Today it was Cool Mint Chocolate!

We should have traded glasses!

Going down the canyon was fun.  Most of the time was spent racing a bunch of worms underground that we could only see with a special machine…  They were fast!  We stopped about half way down and looked at some HUGE bighorn sheep.  Lucky for us, they’re pretty docile.

Sheep ya later!

It turned out to be a great run and will definitely be something we do more of in the future.

Say Cheese!

Race Report: Salida Run Through Time Marathon

This was a challenging race! It started in town and climbed 2000 feet in the first 8 miles averaging a 5% grade. After that there were several more 500-600′ climbs and descents to negotiate. A lot of the course was snow packed dirt road, with icy sections and some parts that had 12″ deep ruts in the frozen mud. The turnaround was at a long abandoned ghost town in the mountains above Salida. We backtracked a couple of miles before breaking off and taking a different way back to town.

There were close to 200 runners that started the race with just under 100 racing the full marathon. The rest were doing a half marathon. I was in the middle of a full training schedule, so I was just using this race mostly for training and for practicing pacing/fueling/hydration strategies. I rested the day before, and will rest the day after, then it’s right back into it as I ramp up for a 50 miler I’m targeting next month.

The race was organized by the Chaffee County Running Club. Obviously a tough group with a no-nonsense approach to running and racing. I like it!

We are a smaller non-profit race and there are no bands, dancers, jet flyovers, etc. along
the course. We do not provide a finisher medal, bouquets of flowers, space blankets, etc. at the finish.

My drive down on Friday afternoon went along the beautiful Arkansas River. It was nice to stop and stretch my legs and spend some time on the riverbank.

Arkansas River

 

I arrived in Salida to a temperature in the 20’s and a blinding snowstorm. Luckily it didn’t dump all that much, but since the course topped out at 9,000′ I knew we would be in for some snowy travels. Good thing I’ve had lots of practice in that department this winter!

We received an update from the race director a few days before the race that described the last several miles of the course:

Please keep this snowy section in mind. If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, consider switching to the half marathon before the start. We are not totally equipped to evacuate most of the marathon field on short notice if it can not continue. If you get to the final aid station at 17.5 miles and have doubts, drop out and return to the finish on the plowed route.

 

Yeah, baby! Needless to say, that just added fuel to my fire…

Thankfully, I actually had a good plan (and mostly followed it) for once. Thanks to my coach. I took it a lot easier than I normally would have on the first climb and didn’t get caught up in chasing or trying to stay with anyone - no matter what. Just my own pace.

I had hoped to keep my heart rate under 160 and still hold a sub-10 minute pace up the first climb, but the truth was I worked fairly hard (165bpm) to keep it under 11 minutes. I had done some research, but the climb ended up being steeper and feeling longer than I thought it would. I did much better once the grade eased off just a bit and I was able to drop down to a 9 min pace and keep my heart rate in the 150s.

Even though I worked harder than I would have liked on the climb, I was still very careful to keep my effort manageable and save something for later. Good thing, I would definitely need it! I was somewhere between 25-30th place when I got to the top at mile 8.

There was another very STEEP climb around mile 10 before a long descent took us to the turnaround point. I hit that in exactly 2 hours. A little tired, but fairly comfortable. I was optimistic that I could step it up a notch and maybe squeak in under 4 hours, but first I had to climb back up the long hill I had just run down…

Things were going pretty well, and I was starting to pass people more frequently. It was obvious that most had simply gone out too hard. Not me for once! By my count I was 21st at the turnaround, and when I reached the mile 18 aid station (which was also the mile 7 aid station) the volunteers were telling me great job and that I had really moved up a lot (they were keeping track of everyone’s number as they came through).

I started the deep snow section of the course, thinking - this is tough, but not too bad. Ha. Ha. Within a mile I was trekking across a vast expanse of snow, trying to stay on top of the crust, and breaking through every couple of steps up to my thigh. Ok, that just got a whole lot tougher - and no end in sight.

All time goals went flying out the window at that point. I just concentrated on passing people when I could and got another 5 or 6 in this stretch. I was hurting, but they were hurting more… On the plus side, the route was easy to spot as those of us wearing shorts were leaving a blood trail for the rest to follow. That crusty snow was hard, and sharp! My shins looked like I took a cheese grater to them.

Mile 24 - am I there yet??

 

Finally, the plunge to the finish line. I told the race director afterwards that it felt like this course had about 24 miles of climbing and 2 miles of descent. That final drop was pretty steep! He laughed knowingly and said it was like an Escher drawing.

I finished in 13th place out of 89 starters, with a time of 4:35. The winner made it in 3:49 (the only one to break 4 hours), which was about 40 minutes slower than last year - definitely tough conditions this time around! I was psyched to run a smart race and stick to the plan my coach worked out. It was a great race in a beautiful setting!

More photos here

Full results here

Nice Trail Run

Got a good dose of dirt today. Nice to see spring starting to make an appearance.

Even though I’ve lived here for 10 years, now and then I run a trail that I’ve never been on before. Today it was the South Rim trail in Roxborough State Park. It was great! I wish it was a little longer, and maybe a little more technical, but it was quite fun to run on. The uphill grade was perfect. This picture is from the high point, about a 6 mile run from my house.

You can see the snow-covered trail in the left foreground

I took the trail in the upper right to get back down

I’m definitely keeping this one on the list. It will make for some good weeknight training.

Race Report: Psycho Wyco 50k

I made the 8 hour drive to Kansas City to run in the 4th annual Psycho Wyco 50k (31 mile) trail race. It was a long haul, but well worth it. I was seriously questioning my sanity as I left work early to drive almost 600 miles across Kansas, but I reminded myself that this race was the motivator I had used through the winter to keep me going in my training. Now it was time to enjoy the fitness I had earned. I looked forward to testing my legs in my first ultra marathon of 2008.

Wyandotte County Lake Park (the ‘WyCo’ in Psycho Wyco)

The race was put on with the excellent organization of the Kansas City Trail Nerds. Those folks know how to do it right! The course was a tough combination of hills, rocks, dirt, stream crossings, ice, and mud. Everything a trail runner could want. In addition to the 50k, which would circle the lake 3 times, there were also 20 mile and 10 mile races. This meant that almost 400 runners were on the course for at least one lap - that’s a HUGE turnout for a trail race! I think it speaks volumes as to the quality of the event and the organizers.

I got a good night’s sleep at a nearby hotel, and woke up feeling ready to run. The temps were in the 30’s and would climb to around 50 by the middle of the day. I chose to run in shorts and a short sleeved shirt - it felt like a heat wave after the deep freeze we’ve been in this winter. In fact, with the exception of a light undershirt and a thin pair of gloves, I was dressed exactly like I would have been for a run at the peak of summertime.

I knew my legs were good, but my strategy needed some work. This would be the first ultra that I was really trying to ‘race’. This wasn’t a course conducive to fast times, so I didn’t want to focus on that too much. Instead, I would try for a good placing. Last year I was mainly concerned with just going the distance. This year would be different. My training had been excellent in terms of distance and speed, but I seriously lacked hill work - and I would need it on this course. The hills were relentless (in Kansas!?!) and the course was a steady barrage of steep ups and downs. The total elevation gain worked out to 4,500 feet. More vertical than I had run in the past 3 months combined…

Looking at the results from the prior years, I felt like it would be a good goal to try for a top ten finish and/or a sub-5:30 time. Trouble with that was, I would be running against a bunch of locals with good course knowlegde - while I would be running blind. If I were a more experienced runner, that might not be such a big deal. Since that isn’t the case, I tried to do my homework and read all the accounts of previous races, study maps, look at Google Earth, etc. I still felt inadequate.

Heading up the first hill

After a few words of instruction, the thundering herd was on its way. Crunching the styrofoam-like snow and frozen grass with feet that felt light and springy. Not knowing how hard I should start out, and knowing I would invariably get caught up running against people doing shorter distances, I tucked in around 15th spot right on the heels of a guy that I knew was a local. I had overheard him saying he was shooting for a 5:00-5:30 finish. Perfect.

I was concerned about the fast pace we were going, but figured as long as I stayed with the runner I had picked out, things should be ok. Plus, I felt great! I was RACING!

The guy I was running behind started walking on a hill very early in the race, turned out it wasn’t his day. Now I was on my own again. For some reason, this flipped a switch in me and I just started going harder and harder. Passing people left and right.

I pushed hard down this hill and passed several people - notice the nice clean shoes…

I knew I would have the benefit of a lower altitude. I live near 6,000′ and the park we were running in was around 1,000′. Instead of holding on to my oxygen card and playing it smart, I put all my chips on the table and played it all in the first hand. I felt like I had gills and was swimming in pure oxygen. Sucking the O’s, as they say on Everest. It was awesome.

Running through Fester’s Wander, a section of the course that was created by following the race director’s dog as he ran through the woods

 

My heart rate was in the 170’s, which is pretty high, but I was barely breathing. I foolishly thought I could run as hard as I wanted, without suffering the effects. It was good while it lasted…

Finishing the first lap

I was aiming for a 1:40 first lap, and came through in 1:32 - even after backing off quite a bit during the last few miles. This put me in 4th place out of the 50k runners. I knew it was just too fast and backed off even more, thinking I would hit about 1:45 on the second trip around the lake. Once all the 10 milers finished their race, it got pretty quiet out on the course. One guy passed me 3 miles into the second lap, and that was the last runner (other than those I would lap) that I would see for the rest of the race. My motivation started to drag a bit without anyone around to chase, or to push me. My legs started cramping and I felt slow. I finished that lap in 1:43 and was pretty surprised that my time was still that good. I cruised through the aid station and headed out for my final loop.

By now, the day was warming up and the course was deteriorating rapidly. It started to get really muddy. Hills that I ran up on earlier laps, were almost impossible to walk up now - after 400 pairs of feet had churned up the soft dirt and everything had melted. I looked forward to the 3-4 stream crossings as a way to clean off my shoes. It was like running in creamy peanut butter a foot deep that had been sprayed with a fire hose for about an hour. I fell while running a slippery downhill and caught my forearm on a tree trunk. Ouch.

My legs, mind, and body all started to turn to mud as well. I had been skipping aid stations and just grabbing a new bottle from my drop bag when I ran through the start/finish in hopes of saving some time. I clearly hadn’t been drinking enough as my legs started to cramp more often and more violently. I was short on calories, too. So I finally made a 15 second stop at the 23 mile mark and grabbed some more water - and a Krispy Kreme donut to go. Wow! That tasted fantastic!! After doing a very technical singletrack loop, the course took you through the back side of the same aid station and I grabbed 2 more donuts to go! My body was starving and I hadn’t been paying attention. I sucked down 2 gels and drained my water bottle in hopes of jumpstarting my system.

It was too little, too late, but I did feel a tiny bit better. I started passing more and more people now that were on their second loop. Many of them would say something along the lines of them not believing I was still running in all that mud. I was tired, and I hadn’t executed a very smart race, but I kept telling myself to trust in the training. I knew I had put the work in, and that I could keep running to the end.

I had no idea what place I was in, or if anybody that I was passing now was on my lap or their 2nd. I just put my head down and ran as hard as I could. Man, it felt great to cross that finish line! I came across in 5:22, which put me in 6th place out of 108 runners that started the 50k (4th place in the 30-39 age group - 73 total finishers). I had achieved both of my goals!

Mud and blood - just another day on the trails…

My last lap was a 2:06, which had me pretty disgusted, I had fallen apart badly - but I got over it. Considering the conditions, I cut myself some slack. I wondered if a more conservative start, with more even lap times would have netted me a faster result. It’s hard to say, because I covered a lot of ground while it was still frozen. I think I probably should have backed off just a bit and respected the course more, though. Too easy to get cocky coming from Colorado to a race in Kansas. I’ll definitely respect it next time!

Me and my shiny new medal

Got Dog?

Kelsea on our first trail run together.

This is Kelsea, the newest member of our family. She’s a 2 1/2 year old lab/hound mix we adopted from the shelter last week. The angle of the picture is a little misleading, she bigger than it looks (~60 pounds) - and can rip your arm out of its socket when she catches a scent of a rabbit to chase.

This is our first dog, so we’re going through an adjustment period, but it has been a lot of fun. The kids all love her and she is very gentle with them.

She’s a remarkably well behaved dog, and is very eager to please. We’re mainly working on getting her to stop pulling on the leash when walking, and calming her down when other dogs bark at her. Aside from that, she loves her kennel and goes to it on command, and is very well housebroken. She fits in great with our family and we look forward to having lots of fun together!