adventures in plodding...

Typical pre-race routine:  3 miles easy @ Bear River state park + 6x20 sec. strides.   5k race tomorrow.

5k in 24:10. A little outside the 23:30-24:00 range I was hoping for. At 7:30-7:42-7:58 -(7:11 pace), it wasn't the best executed race pace-wise for me. Being just out of season, the race was stocked with high school XC studs who took off in a mad dash at the start. I obviously let them go, but still got sucked into a faster pace than I wanted. My first half mile was at sub 7 pace, which included a slight uphill. That had me in oxygen debt right off the bat, from which I was never fully able to recover. The legs felt ok, but I was sucking wind and hanging on for dear life most of the way.

I would've been totally happy with the time, but my solid interval workout from earlier this week lead me to believe that I could've run slightly faster. It may have been a somewhat misleading workout, because I have a pretty weak base at this point - with only 2-3 quality long runs over the past few months. Not having the 3 minute recoveries between miles this time around set me back a bit more, and I think that made going out too fast harder to recover from that it otherwise would've been. All easily fixable issues with some solid weeks of volume. The calves felt fine, which was a big plus.

I also accomplished the dubious feat of DFL'ing the 20-29 age group, despite being in the top 30% overall (29th/100). Tough whippersnapper crowd out there today! You think there'd be at least one 20-something hobby jogger out there slower than 24 minutes besides me, but nope!

Did a 1.5 mile warmup, then looped back after the finish to catch up with my wife Andrea and pace her in (she had a much better executed race than I did!), which amounted to about another half mile, so I'll call it 5 on the day.

Gave in to the cold wind and did 41:30 on the soul-sucking indoor track at the rec center.  First trip there this season.  If nothing else, it's always good for people watching!

Easy hour - not pushing the pace too much with Ragnar coming up this weekend.  Hoping the hour range becomes more frequent in the future.

LEG 1 (7.0 miles)  - 6:45 am

After a sluggish start with our 4am wake-up call and some navigational issues, we hit the road a bit late, which meant having to jump into a later wave than our originally slated 6am wave. Being runner #1 for our team (12 runners, 2 vans, 3 legs each, ~200 miles for those unfamiliar), I knew I'd have to go right off the bat. I did my best to stay loose and hydrated, taking in water and jogging around in the grocery store parking lot to try and wake the body up as our van made a brief supply stop before heading out. We then made the trek up Mt. Charleston to the start line.

Most people think of Vegas and think 'OMGHOT!', but this was not the case at the starting area, where an inch or two of freshly packed snow covered the ground and 40 degree temperatures greeted a shivering crowd - and me merrily prancing around in my shorts and singlet. We arrived just in time to join the 6:30 wave, which started closer to 6:45, with the race itself being under a bit of a delay. My target pace for this leg was about 55 minutes. That might seem ambitious for 7 miles, given that I had listed my estimated 10k pace at about 8:30 a mile, but the entire leg had a pretty significant net downhill, with only one small (but annoying) uphill at about halfway. I hoped that 1)I'd be able to handle the down-hills well to successfully hit my target and 2) that my nagging calves would hold up ok.

Being only my second Ragnar event and first as runner #1, it was exciting to toe the start line and represent us for the 'straight-up' start. Lots of nervous energy in the air, with about 30-40 runners in my wave with their accompanying vans there to cheer them on. We counted down from 10 and then team 'Spooning with Strangers' was on its way! To my amusement, I was briefly in the lead for about 5-10 seconds not even by my own design (gotta represent, right??), then pulled back on the reigns and let some other folks in front. I was pretty much expecting at least one person to take the 'hi mom!' approach and shoot out at mach-1 to take the early lead, but surprisingly nobody did and the very front was clumped together pretty nicely. I settled into about 7th and could see the leaders until just past half-way or so. About a mile in, I passed a guy and moved into 6th. I caught up to a woman in a bright pink shirt and ran neck and neck with her for a minute or two, then let her re-open a bit of a gap, as I was conscious about not getting too carried away with the early downhill and saving myself for later miles (not to mention later legs!). At about mile 2, I was passed by a different guy and dropped to 7th. Nonetheless, I still felt good and tried to stick to the plan.

I kept the woman to within about 100-200 yards (the bright pink shirt was easy to zero in on with the early morning light!), but wasn't really able to make much headway. Despite this, I was running quickly and comfortably. I purposely did not check my watch much during this leg, as I knew the splits wouldn't mean much, but could perceive that I was definitely on target. At about halfway, I reached the only uphill of the entire leg - a pesky thing of about 400 meters. Giving my lungs their first real workout, I powered up pretty aggressively, known that I'd have downhill the rest of the way to recover on. I had been enjoying the cool shade of the early morning hours at that point, but as if right on cue, the sun came out for the first time just as I began my ascent. This made things a little more challenging, but I was able to hold it together pretty well. At around 5 miles, my team's van passed by, honking wildly and menacingly brandishing a cowbell, and pulled into a turnout to hoot and holler some more. Their enthusiasm, complete with the obligatory 'NICE @SS!' from my wife, was a nice pick-me-up and helped me to bring it home.

I was breathing pretty well at this point, but my legs were definitely starting to feel the effort over the closing miles and I had to dig a little bit to close the pace. After blowing past the always wonderful "one mile to go" sign, I set my sights on trying to close the gap on the woman ahead of me. I ran a strong last mile and closed quite a bit of ground, but ultimately ran out of room, finishing ~15 seconds back. However, I was able to soul-crush my 55 minute target with a 51:54.

Splits: 6:51, 7:39, 7:40, 7:41 (included uphill), 7:33, 7:30, 7:05 Avg: 7:26 (aint downhill wonderful?)

And with that, it was off to the races and the ~36 hours of immature hilarity, sleep deprivation, odd fart/body odor hybrid smells, and general weirdness.

LEG 2 (3.9 miles) - 5:40pm

My biggest concern after the early downhill run + sitting around in a van was that my legs would be trashed for the next two. So as our van members completed their legs - ranging from 3.6 to 9.4 miles - I jumped out of the van as much as I could to stretch and attempt to loosen up. The calves were definitely sore at this point, but seemed to get better as the day went on.

After handing off to the next van, we drove ahead to exchange 12, where would pick things back up later that afternoon/evening. This exchange was conveniently located in a large shopping plaza with a Target that we were able to re-supply at. We also grabbed lunch at a counter service deli-type place, where I had some awesome pasta that must've included about a dozen meatballs.

The exchange area for this leg was a bit disorganized. There was a single narrow road leading into and out of the exchange that lead out about 400 meters to the main road. So you had both inbound and outbound runners sharing the same path, along with two-way traffic that had not been shut down. This is always a bit challenging, particularly during night hours, hence the strict race rules regarding night gear (headlamps and vests lighted on both sides). Being on the eastern edge of pacific time, it gets dark pretty early in Vegas. Thus it was already pitch black at ~5:40 when I took my next hand-off for the 3.9 mile leg. My target time for this leg was 34 minutes - a little bit slower than 10k pace at ~8:40 or so, but also taking into account it being my second leg and the substantial uphill in the second part.

This was a fairly busy stretch of road, which lead to multiple stop-light pauses (ragnar has strict rules about obeying traffic laws, threatening DQs on the spot to those who do not, so I found myself waiting patiently for the little white man quite a few times). As a result things became a bit bunched up and I joined up with a small pack of about 4 people for most of the first mile. It was nice to have the company for a little bit, as I worked on staying relaxed in anticipation of the hills. I pulled away from the pack just before the mile mark and was a bit surprised to see a first mile split of 7:43, but still felt good in both legs n' lungs, so I went with it. Another woman soon motored past me with relative ease, only to put the brakes on another quarter mile later, allowing me to motor right back past her just as quickly. Glad I could be used for somebody else's kill tally. I feel so exploited now!

With just under 400 feet of elevation gain in about 2.5 miles, these hills were pretty substantial, so I just worked on using my arms and moving forward. I was breathing harder at this point, but still able to keep a pretty good clip going. This would have been decidedly less fun at the 7000 ft. of thin Wyoming air that I was used to, so I was quite thankful for the extra oxygen. I passed a couple more people on this hilly stretch, one of whom screamed out - apparently startled by my ninja prowesses. I guess the shock of being passed in a race is pretty traumatic?

There was one more stoplight pause in this stretch, which I was admittedly somewhat relieved for. Then I had to briefly halt at a crosswalk for some traffic. Other than that, I was able to keep moving forward pretty well. The road flattened out slightly on the final stretch, and finally I saw the bobbing lights of teams gathered together and red glowsticks of race officials. I put in a good kick and was able to gun down two more people on this last stretch before handing off again.

Final splits: 7:43, 8:45, 9:07 (crosswalk stop), 8:39 pace (.9 miles)

With the exception of a crosswalk stop or two to let a couple cars pass, I paused my garmin at all traffic light stops, so my total running time was 33:26 for an 8:33 average pace, which still had me under my target, so I was quite pleased. It probably took me an additional 1:30-2 minutes with the traffic lights as well.

LEG 3 (5.5) - 4:40am

After finishing my second leg, it was a whirlwind for awhile as our next runners all had very brief legs that were mostly between 2-3 miles, giving us not much time to linger at exchanges. I kept wondering how the fast teams with 6:00 milers ever got it done during this part. Complicating matters was the fact that the course meandered in a confusing criss-cross pattern during this time, without very clear van directions. Many a U-turn was made and one of our runners was left waiting around for a minute or two, but everyone got where they needed to be in the end.

After finishing our second legs and arriving to our next major exchange at around midnight, we attempted to get a few hours of sleep in the van. Between fretting about feeling crappy and not being fueled enough for my last leg, (not to mention cramped van quarters) sleep was hard to come by. Shortly after 4am, I left the van and jogged around for a few minutes, along with some dynamic and static stretching to try and loosen up. I felt sluggish, but still awake. I was not at all enthusiastic about the 5.5 mile leg, the second half of which would be all uphill. Fortunately I was given 55 minutes as a target for this leg, which I thought was still doable, though not by much. I planned to keep it relatively relaxed at the start, not be concerned with splits, and just do what I could on the hills.

I took the handoff and was on my way in the early morning darkness. This is a neat time of the race; teams are pretty scattered by this point and the rest of the civilized world is asleep, so it's a quick shift from the hustle and bustle of the major exchange into the quiet night, with the occasional light of a fellow runner bobbing in the distance. Even though you're dead tired at this point and your body is often protesting, this is one of the most spiritual 'feeling alive' parts of the race for me. I was very glad to have experienced it. Fortunately for me, my body was also feeling surprisingly good at this point (relatively speaking of course). We were in a more remote area during these early miles, but the considerable police presence was reassuring, despite the one patrol car that kept driving back and forth around me (granted I'm more suspicious looking than most).

I had what seemed like a pretty decent clip going and worked on staying relaxed before the hills. I was fortunate to have a few bobbing lights in front of me to key off of and managed to pass about a half dozen people in these early miles. My van stopped to cheer shortly before the 2 mile mark, which was another nice pick-me-up. At around mile 3, we began to start going uphill. I definitely felt fatigued by this point and tried not to think about the miles still to come. There was a substantial clump of runners just ahead of me which also gave me a bit of an adrenaline surge as I began to play the chasing game. Many people were walking by this point, so just by keeping myself going, I managed to pass all of them. Shortly after the glorious '1 mile to go' sign, the hill somehow became even steeper. I was pretty well spent at this point and forced to take a couple brief walk breaks myself. Finally the terrain leveled out and even sloped downhill for the final quarter mile push into the exchange with a spirited kick. I was pleased to see 49:31 on my watch, which put me at over 5 minutes ahead of target, even with the walk breaks.

Splits: 8:31, 8:31, 8:56, 9:18, 9:49, 8:59 pace (.5) Avg: 9:01

For my third hard run in 24 hours on hills after little to no sleep, fine. Overall I was very pleased with my part of the race, having hit my targets on all legs and not falling off the cliff too much at the end. I was also grateful for awesome, low-key teammates and a drama-free van. Looking forward to more events with this crew.

Now maybe my hamstrings will stop throbbing in the next day or two...

Easy 45 minutes out n' back along Wasatch Rd.  Right hamstring still a bit sore.  Probably no hard running for awhile.  Can't complain about a shirtless running day in Wyoming in November!

Usual wednesday loop in salt lake with the track club (all 2 of us).   Probably a little quicker than it needed to be, but I like running with others vs. solo for that reason and it wasn't super taxing.  Hamstring still a little sore, but felt better today.

Short run in the state park today.  Whole body felt tired.  Ran a mile and change, then joined up with Andrea for a little bit until she felt sick and cut it short, so I wussed out and called it a day myself.  Definitely the type of day where just getting out the door is a more victory.

Just over an hour easy at the rec center.  Counting laps isn't my forte, but I'll call it an even 6.25.  Felt physically fine, but it's always a mental drain being in there.  Windy/blizzardy outside, so I was happy just to get it in.  Wyoming winter is trying to announce it's presence!

45 minutes at the rec.  Felt much easier than saturday....if I can master the mental game of aimlessly running in circles, I can do anything!

More laps at the rec.  Didn't have my music today, which always makes it challenging, but I still made it through 50+ minutes.  New treadmill arrives tomorrow!

just over 5 miles with 2x3 minutes at threshold again.  Was hoping to do it all at once, but was gassed halfway through and needed a couple minutes of recovery.  Still nice to get some fast running in my legs though.  It was also the first run on my new treadmill, which will probably take some getting used to.

7.2 on the Porter Rockwell trail in Sandy with the track club.  We had a nice group going that made the time fly by super quickly.  I hadn't run on this trail before and wasn't sure if I would like the quarter mile marks or if they would drive me crazy, but they ended up being pretty nice.  Always feels like you're making progress!

45 minutes easy on the treadmill while watching Troy.  Nothing like some good old-fashioned battle scenes to get a person fired up!

Took advantage of the day off work and headed down to the park city rail trail for one hour at easyish/steadyish pace.  The last couple miles were a little bit of a grind, but I still managed a ~30 sec. negative split and tacked on at the end for the full hour.  Hope to keep up these solid effort medium distance runs with more regularity.

Easy fivers at Bear River.  First mile w/ Andrea, then 4 more for good measure.  Alas, no moose out on the trails today.

Easy run off WY 150 past Sulphur Creek Reservoir.  It was cold & windy and my head wasn't really into it.  Ended up stopping earlier than planned.  Pretty nice up there, apart from the weather though.  I'll have to work that route into the rotation more often.