Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile Trail Run

The Ultra monkey is officially off of my back, kind of........ This past weekend I raced in the Silver Rush 50 Trail Run in Leadville, CO. At the last minute I entered the race, hopped a plane and arrived in Leadville 6 hours before the race start....for you mathematicians in the crowd that means I arrived at midnight. So with about 4.5 hours of sleep and minimal nutrition I hit the trails in Leadville. Being a complete novice I took the advice of some training pals and took the first 7 miles painfully slow. When I couldn't stand it any longer I decided to just run and listen to my HR monitor to advise on my pace.

There were several highs and lows in the race. The highs included meeting a bunch of cool people throughout the day, the beautiful scenic views of the rockies, water at the aid stations and crossing the finish line - albeit bitter sweet. This was my first ultra distance event and I decided early on that I wanted to race this course and see how hard I could push myself. This I did and was on pace for about a 9:30 time - until I took a detour at the last aid station that burned a solid 30-35 minutes along with the three diet cokes that I sucked down at the last aid station for energy to finish strong. Even worse was that I led another runner up the same path and detour. She would've finished in the top 5, most likely 4th place in the women's overall category if I was paying closer attention. This type of mistake was a HUGE bummer and I feel simply awful that I completely jacked her race. So the last 7 miles of the race I cooked in my juices trying to shake this moronic mistake ad decided to just run hard. This I did till the last 1.5 miles and realized that I was going to be unable to make a sub 10 finish and simply walked it in as other runners passed me by - a very hard pill to swallow. I learned quite a lot in this race that I plan to take with me to the Leadville 100 Trail Run in 5 weeks. The overall experience was worthwhile and I'm looking forward to the LT 100.

Ultra runners are a different breed - what I'm learning is that most of them are in the sport because they are running from something. This is their escape.

Here's to the "firsts" in life. As you get older there are very few - only this past weekend I experienced yet another. Lot's of "firsts" left on my bucket list.

Cheers!

Early Morning Run In Leadville

It was a beautiful morning in Leadville. The temps were in the low 40's and the sun was up at around 5AM. Will, Nancy, Tim and I got started at about 5:05AM and began from the starting point, Harrison and 6th ave. It was a 13 mile run to the May Queen campground. 50% of the run was on roads or dirt trails that were pretty flat and easy. There were some small ascents and descents on the first 5-6 miles but nothing major. The second 6-7 miles were on trails that were for the most part friendly. The good news is that at 4AM when we begin on race day for the 1st hour we'll be running with head lamps but the sun will rise before we hit the more difficult trails - which really weren't all that bad. It took us 2.5 hours this am but we stopped to take pictures and walked a good portion. On race day this stretch can be done in under 2:15, keeping my heart rate at 125BPM or below.

From May Queen to Twin Lakes it's 26 miles and it was the training run that I did a few weeks ago, which took me 5:15. But I was pretty spent after completing that section of the course - lot's of hills. From Twin Lakes over Hope Pass to Winfield 1/2 way point is another 10 miles, 7 of which are ascending and descending the mountain. We'll all be training on this portion of the course tomorrow morning.

This evening we're all going on a night run, including Margaret a 14X finisher at Leadville and has won it outright a couple of times. She is 62 and tough as nails. The purpose of tonights run is to navigate the power line section of the course in the dark. A difficult section that we'll all be facing late in the evening on race day. It'll be my first night trail run so going to take it easy to get some experience. We'll only be running/hiking 10 miles this evening. The temps will get down into the 40's or lower at the higher elevations, but right now there is no rain in sight. Going to test out my new camelback water system this evening, excited about this device that carries 64 ounces of water. This should last me 2 hours during the race before I'm forced to refill. The good news about this device is that my hands will be free - to a) brace a fall or b) enable me to carry my trekking poles.

This afternoon after getting in a few hours of work at Provin grounds coffee house we all went to the rodeo. It was a red neck rodeo as usual. The highlight of the rodeo was watching the young kids 3-6 yrs old try to ride the sheep bare back. They are some brave and tough little monkeys.

Well gotta get ready to go on our night run. More to follow and with more pics tomorrow.

Cheers!

Over the river and through the woods.........to Hope Pass

On Sunday we completed the second day of training in Leadville. Day 2 we started our run out at Twin Lakes and climbed our way to Hope Pass then onto Winfield station. The total run was around 25 miles, out and back. I was very conservative on the way out, keeping my HR at 120BPM for most of the time. This paid dividends on the return trip back over Hope Pass. The overall terrain on the way up to Hope Pass was a lot of up and downs through shaded woods. A lot of climbing. Could've gone faster but got with a good group of people and just managed a nice pace. Trip out was 3:15 and return was 2:30 as I was able to run hard for the majority of the time, which was aided by my slow pace over Hope Pass. I will use this strategy on race day. The only problem, is that on race day it's 40 miles out to Twin Lakes- so it'll be interesting to see how the legs are on the return from Winfield Station.

The only part of the course left to run is the first 13 miles which I believe is mostly road or flat dirt trails. So here's some simple math on predicting my times out and back:


Mile 1 - 13 2:00 Hrs
Mile 14- 40 6:00 Hrs
Mile 41- 50 3:15 Hrs
Mile 51- 60 3:00 Hrs
Mile 61- 86 7:00 Hrs
Mile 86-100 3:30 Hrs

Total Time Projected = 24:45

This seems plausible on paper, however come game day it could be a different story. I've got 7 weeks left of training to prepare for this race - hopefully it'll be enough. I could be a standard deviation of up to 2-3 hours if the wheels fall of the wagon in the late stages of the race. I also have not yet run the trails in the dark and will need to do this at least once before the race. Still time left to build muscle mass required in the quads and calves for climbing and descending.

Below is the view from Hope Pass. What did I learn on day 2:





1. Need trekking poles
2. Patience on the climbs are very important
3. Hydration and caloric intake are critical - being consistent with timing
4. Running back from Hope Pass is a good thing as it gets the blood flow back to the quads
5. Be prepared for a change in weather - it sleeted and rained on us
6. Stay focused on HR and pace
7. The crew and pacers are critical to my success
8. Must train on hills and speed walking to succeed

This weekend I will get in at least 40 miles - day 1 hills - day 2 10 miles of speed walking and 10 miles of running at a descent pace.

Training regimen will be changed drastically from triathlon to trail running prep.

More to follow