Ok, admittedly I overtend myself on occasion. On Saturday, I tried to chase down a epic V10L surfski while in the lead in the sea kayak division on a sprint race on the West River. That effort hurt. Somehow, winning my division wasn't enough. Then after spending family time around the pool at home, we went to Wash DC for a book signing and met up with my old sailing buddie, Steve Kabler. So, at 11pm, I was finally back at home and contemplating still getting up before 6am for the trail race. Figured I would answer that question in the am. After having a few years of very low training and then being sick with rocky mtn encephalitis over the last winter, I was into more serious training than ever. Somehow, I needed to do this race. It had been a long week of training, but my legs were still feeling ok on saturday night. I suppose part of that was having an easier than usual work week.
After getting up and having a headache from the beers, I figured if I went back to sleep, I would never get a run in. So, off to the trail race after some quick food and coffee. It was truly gonna be just a training day so I could get some time on my feet and hold a map and practice some map skills. Ok, I have said that before "only a training day." Anyhow, I wanted to see how my new fancy pants training program was doing with my running legs which always seem to leg behind my bike, swimming, paddling and everything else muscles.
Anyhow, got stuck in a tad of traffic, no big deal, but surprising for that time of day. What are these people doing at this time of day? Wash DC is interesting.
I hastily registered when I arrived. Noticed a lot of the racers and some old friends had actually marked on their maps. So, it wasn't an actual orienteering race. You could view maps prerace. No map and go stuff. The nav looked to be simple (if any at all), so I put the map away and jogged back to my car for my 30 second warmup. Had 5 min to race start, so hastily grabbed any shoes I could find in the car. I happen to have 3-4 pair in the car nearly at all times, much to my wives dismay.
For some reason, I chose some 6 oz racing flats. Only raced in em once. They do make me feel fast though. That is important. Why I chose them for a long training run, is beyond me, but they were the easiest to reach and figured it might strengthen my feet. The race was about 10 miles as the crow flied, but I planned on making it about 25 miles, so the racing flats were a curiosity 24 hrs after the race. I also threw on my heart rate monitor and gps so I could keep tabs of myself. Plan was not to bury myself since Tamela was keeping tabs on me going overboard with my program. I suppose a gps was illegal in a nav race, but the map had no cordinates, so a gps wouldn't have helped. But there were no rules for this race either.
Turns out the only real nav challenge was seemingly at the start. Not wanting to have all the trail runners follow me (a few looked like gazelles), I sprinted away as I watched nearly everyone else take the trail down the Bull Run corridor.
Well, I got my training in, since I encountered deadfall and enough vegetation to make it a mighty bushwack. Sure enough, I hit the trail near the first cp, and the lead 4 runners were all together on my tail. Argh! Will never know if that was the right choice, as I needed a little recovery. Luckily, I recovered very quickly.
I had already lost my race number in the bush, so got stopped at the cp while they verified who I was, ugh! I actually had sprinted into the cp in front, so being pulled aside was aggravating. Now I was high tailing to play catch up.
From here, we mostly ran the trail as we were too close to the park boundary to cut any corners. The 4 of us ran together, each taking the lead. This went on till the last mile of the race. That was exciting and a sure sign I have some new running legs. At the next cp, we were told we were in the lead, which turned out to be a mistake, since mysteriously another runner was about 1 min ahead at the finish. Not know someone was ahead, the 4 of us marked each other and enjoyed the company. I only knew one other runner, who was a local orienteering runner, but with us also were two very fast runners. One of em turned out to be the winner of the local trail run series, so he was no slouch. The other mate was a talented 16 year old flyweight cross country runner, who was clearly faster than the rest of us on the straightaways. It was funny that he asked me early on if I was in his age group. I wanted to say, "I could be your parent." Turns out, he can put out a low 4 min mile, or so he says. Anyhow, he had no nav skills and didn't run with a trail map. So, he basically ran with us. Our only saving grace was that we were faster offtrail than he. Each of us had our own particular skill. I for instance was better at downhills and offtrail running, gapping them on those sections. But, the youngest one could out climb all of us with ease. So, the lead changed again and again and again. This was becoming a real race. The man on man thing. I was running close to my lactate threshold heart rate, but felt pretty comfortable, save for the hills and offtrail work where the heart rate bumped way up. Entering the easy trail and last 3 miles, we were all neck and neck at the last cp. This was getting exciting. This is where the pace ramped up. I had been the only one carrying a backpack with a bladder, and I now started emptying my bladder. It was getting serious. Everyone was now breathing hard and at 2 miles to the finish, I felt comfortable with the pace, but knew this was going beyond a training day. Ok, would coach tamela be mad. So, there I was, debating burying myself to win, versus let them battle it out for the perceived win. You know that feeling "ok, how hard should I go." Turns out, at the last cp, my lost race number slowed me again and they had to confirm my entry, and they opened up a gap. I was now running a 5:30 min mile on trails to catch back up, so my body said, ok, your gonna hurt tommorow. I never caught those guys. Emptied myself in the process and backed off near the finish delcaring no joy. But, that was fun. They had me by 45+ seconds at the end. Surprisingly, we didn't know there was another runner just ahead on the trail. Our young competitor had somehow faltered near the end, falling back to 5th place. We were guessing it was lack of endurance at his age, he surely seemed the fastest among us. I ended up crossing in 4th overall.
Then, the real training day began.
After eating a few slices of pizza. I headed back. Partly in that I hadn't registered for the bus ride home and also, I didn't bring money for the ride. I was stuck running back. My map was ruined at the finish by getting wet from someones open bladder. So, I had to stick to the long route home, adding on another layer of suffering. By now, my 6 oz racing flats were honestly killing my feet. After a few mild blisters, bruised feet, and certainly tired legs, I got in near 25 miles of running and some hiking in slightly less than 4 hrs. Everyone else had taken the bus back to the start, so I was all alone when I arrived back in the middle of a rain downpour. The racing flats are probably shot, they just aren't designed for that kind of mileage and terrain, which included jumping logs, sliding downhill, several creek crossings, gravel, and enough mud to permanently discolor them. Now, 24 hrs later, my legs are yelling in protest. It was certainly too hard to be a training day. Oh well! At least I am on form.
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