Training Log Archive: bbrooke

Another cloudy, blustery evening -- very pleasant. I did the workout I missed last night:

- Ran one mile to warm up.

- "Ins & outs" x 6 at the arboretum.

- Ran a half mile to cool down.

Paces for the quarter-mile fast segments (how do people keep up this pace for a full mile...or more?!):

8:02
7:42
7:57
7:42
7:50
7:40
7:36
7:38
7:35

C • pace 3

I missed my running group workout this evening -- I had a work meeting in Greenwood Village that didn't finish until 5:15 pm, and then it took 75 minutes to get home in rush hour traffic. Ugh.

Walked to & from the rec center. A really pleasant night -- cloudy with blustery wind rustling the tree leaves.

Restorative yoga class at the rec center.

I had wolfed down my dinner about 30 minutes prior (after only having a protein shake for "lunch" in the car on my way to Greenwood Village), so I was afraid my stomach might act up during this class. Luckily...it did not.

Weekly Runners Roost group run -- this time starting offsite at the Mayhoffer-Singletree trail. Out & back.

- Ran a half mile to warm up.

- Two-mile repeats. Others were doing 2-3 sets, but I had "permission" to just do one set at an easy pace -- 9:17 (slight uphill), 8:44 (slight downhill).

- Ran a half mile to cool down.

- Removed all email addresses from RMOC's 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2018 national meet web sites (to hopefully cut down on spam messages...).

- Made some adjustments to database table layout and PHP code for RMOC results.

- Added new map & course details to the meet details page for Camp Elim. Updated the registration options. Moved people from old to new course options and sent email confirmation.

- Sent out RMOC email with meet reminders & member news.

I had planned to walk over to the rec center for yoga...but my stomach had other plans.

I've actually been feeling mildly sick since last night. Something I ate? A viral invader? "Toxins" released from my intense massage therapy session yesterday afternoon (is that really a thing?)?

Neighborhood walk. The balls of my feet are sore, but otherwise I don't have any intense pain lingering from yesterday's race -- just some soreness going up stairs.

Event: Lincoln Mountain Trail Run (4M, 8M & 6-Hour)
 

A long write-up for a long race:

Got up at 3:30 am and left home at 4:15 am.

Arrived at Lincoln Mountain Open Space at 5:30 am, after seeing two of my favorite critters along the last few miles of dirt road: pronghorn antelope (rare but not totally unheard of in this area). To the extent that I believe in luck and omens, I thought this was a good omen.

I set up my little transition area (camp chair w/ new "Sport-Brella" attachment, mini-cooler, gallon of water & duffel bag), and was ready to go about 10 minutes before the race started at 6:00 am.

I haven't been doing as many long runs over the past few months as I would have liked in order to feel really prepared for this race, but I felt like I could definitely do four laps / 16 miles (which I've done once before as my longest-ever run, at last year's Greenland trail race). My "stretch goal" was five laps / 20 miles.

My plan was to walk all uphills (even on the first lap when I knew I'd be tempted to try to keep up and not look like a slow-poke), and to run everything else. I kept thinking of the Mike Tyson quote -- "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" -- but luckily I was never in so much pain or discomfort that I had to walk on the downhills & flats. My definition of "uphill" certainly got more liberal as the miles racked up, though, and my running stride was very short & choppy near the end.

Since this was a trail race, of course the "four-mile" loop was slightly longer than advertised -- 4.4 miles. I was ultimately able to do five laps, along with two of the 1.25-mile mini-laps they switched us to for the last 30-45 minutes. Yay! That put me at fourth place out of eight women, 19th of 26 overall. If I had had time to do one more mini-lap, I might have been on the podium -- but I'm trying to not dwell on that, since I exceeded my goal of 4-5 laps.

The weather was PERFECT for the first three laps -- 60ish and mostly cloudy. The clouds cleared to full sun at ~9am, but it never got too hot. Towards the end, my feet started to hurt, and I felt the mildest of twinges in my right achilles. Then my feet cramped up after I finished and finally sat down. But otherwise, I was fortunate to not have any serious aches or pains that limited me during the race (nor any stomach issues).

Things I would do differently next time: (a) have a checklist pinned to my chair, with things to do after every lap -- empty rocks out of shoes, re-do sunscreen, stretch, snack. I forgot at least one of those things after every lap. (b) Spend less time dawdling in between laps (if I hadn't rested so long in between laps, I would've had time for another mini-lap to potentially bump that other woman out of third place). (c) Maybe spend less time taking photos on the course (flowers...Pikes Peak...scenery...etc.). :-P

Overall -- very fun and I hope to find more trail races with this format.

Indian Paintbrush & yucca on the course.	A runner with Pikes Peak in the background.
One of the uphill sections.	My transition station with new Sport-Brella. :-)

Lap   Mile 1    Mile 2    Mile 3    Mile 4   Mile 0.4   Total*   Transition
 1   00:11:15  00:12:02  00:10:17  00:11:15  00:04:45  00:49:35  00:03:28
 2   00:12:23  00:11:54  00:10:24  00:11:46  00:04:50  00:54:46  00:10:56
 3   00:12:38  00:12:33  00:10:46  00:12:23  00:04:19  01:03:34  00:05:54
 4   00:12:58  00:12:42  00:12:11  00:13:24  00:04:38  01:01:47  00:18:35
 5   00:13:26  00:13:25  00:14:36  00:15:04  00:04:37  01:19:43  00:09:50

Lap   Mile 1   Mile 0.2   Total*   Transition
 1   00:12:13  00:02:13  00:24:16  00:01:50
 2   00:15:57  00:01:51  00:19:38  --:--:--

*Including previous transition time.

C • Impressive 7

p.s. Overall winner: 8 full laps + 2 mini-laps (~37 miles). Women's winner: 7 full laps + 2 mini-laps (~33 miles).