2017 Laurel Highlands 50K

Tackling the Big Climbs Again

Most trails races I've looked at have climbs much bigger than what I have readily available to train on regularly. Finding a workable training routine to prepare for these races has been a big challenge and one I have yet to solve. Despite having made some great strides since running Hyner 25K last year, I'm still not where I need to be if I'm to continue running trail races that have even moderate climbs of 500 ft or more.

Training leading up to the race was split between trying to get in some longer runs, run more hills, and regaining some of my lost speed. They don't work well together, at least not the way I could do it 45 years ago in my mid-20s. It was a rarity to get in a two hour run and that only got me to 9 miles. I was getting in more runs at Valley Forge, mostly on Mt Joy. I could see improvement there because I was running sections that last year I had to walk. My speed was picking up on the shorter intervals, but mile repeats were still a struggle to get anywhere close to what I needed to run. In the middle of all this I had a 10K scheduled in April and my annual 50K race at Dawn to Dusk to Dawn in mid-May. I comfortably met my goal in the 10K, though it wasn't that difficult and challenging, but it was encouraging and seemed to trigger a breakthrough with my easy run paces. D3 was a tough race and I did not meet my goal, but I was able to regroup and finish strong, a good indication that at least some of my training was having a positive effect.

Leading up to Laurel Highlands I tried to plot my expected and required paces based on the course profile, my previous experiences in trail races, and my training paces running Mt Joy. I made some assumptions about the trail conditions and how they would affect my pace. As I discovered during the race my assumptions were not valid. I expected to slow to about 30:00 mile pace on the climbs, 14-15 minute pace on the descents, and otherwise hold about a 16:00 pace. These turned to be overly optimistic for the most part.

As usual I barely slept the night before and was up before the alarm went off. I grabbed breakfast minus my usual coffee, checked out of my motel, and drove to the finish area where I would catch a bus ride to the start. (Could I blame everything on not having my morning coffee?) I was quite early which gave me a chance to chat with a few other runners also waiting for the bus. Several said they would be chasing the cutoff as well, so I hoped I'd have company for at least part of the race. It was about a 45 minute ride to the start which left us with about 15-20 minutes to check in and take care of any last minute needs.

The call finally came to gather for the start. Even for an ultra trail event this was informal. I almost missed hearing the start, but everyone started moving so I went with the flow. We started up an unpaved road to where we turned onto the trail. This was my first surprise. We took a left turn onto what might as well have been a steep, narrow stairwell. It was single file and there were places where grabbing the trees or a rock outcropping helped. This was already throwing off my Garmin measurements as well as my pace. I had anticipated being able to run this approximately 150 ft climb this early in the race at about a 15:00 pace, but it was a slow scramble. Even with the short section on the road where I was moving quicker, this already put me a little behind pace. There had been enough rain recently including that morning, that the trail was muddy. With enough rocks that I had to be very careful as well as slower than expected I was falling further behind on the flatter portions. Then we came to the first big climb, about 650 ft over about a mile followed by a drop of around 500 ft. The climb wasn't that bad considering what I expected but the descent was so steep and muddy, not the mention the rocks, that I couldn't make up any time at all. I was already 10 minutes behind my worst case scenario and hadn't even reached the second of the three major climbs.

When I did reach the second climb, about a 700 ft ascent, I actually made up time on it. Then lost all I had gained and more navigating short switchbacks, more mud, and very steep downhill sections. I was 20 minutes behind and still had the biggest climb ahead of me, about 1250 ft of gain over 1.5 miles. Around this time I noticed a runner with a yellow Massanutten Mountain Trails shirt on but no number. He was the sweep runner which meant I was dead last as I had suspected. The third climb turned into walking for a short while, stopping to catch my breath, then repeating over and over and over again. A couple times I had to stop and sit before I could continue. While I distrust my Garmin on the actual distance, it was certainly indicative of my progress when it said I was moving at a 45:00 mile pace. By the time I reached the top I was a half hour behind pace and would have to run 15:00 mile pace to the cutoff to beat it. That simply was not going to happen, especially knowing there was another 300 ft climb just before the 19.3 mile checkpoint. I wasn't so exhausted as I had been last year at Elkhorn because I was still moving at paces varying from 25:00 to 17:00 depending on the footing and whether I could jog or had to walk, but that wasn't getting me there in time. I said as much to Tim, the sweep runner, and he texted ahead to let them know I would be dropping at the 11.6 mile aid station. Since they would be breaking it down and cleaning up, I could get a ride back to the finish with one of the volunteers.

Much to my surprise Jim ran back to meet us with a couple of ice cold bottles of water which were very welcome after drinking lukewarm water for miles. He took over escort duties while Tim ran ahead to catch up to the new back of the pack runners. I reached the aid station in 4:25:25 where I was welcomed like a celebrity. A little quick math shows I would have just over an hour and a half to cover 7.7 miles on single track trail with at least one 300 ft climb. That's 11:40 pace or so. I couldn't run that on a flat road course. Since they were cleaning up I could help myself to as much as I wanted of the food and drink that was already prepared since there was no one behind me. The watermelon, cantaloupe nuts, Coke were all welcome. I did have to take it slow instead of stuffing myself. I think if I had tried some of the cookies and other offerings my stomach might have objected. Once everything was broken down and packed up I got a ride back to the finish with another volunteer, Jason. He was kind enough to drive to the finish line where I could get some more substantial food, e.g. pizza, then drove me back to the parking area for the bus where I'd left my car.

The whole race, from the mail-in entry form to packet pickup to the race itself had an old time feeling about it. I want to go back and run it again for redemption, but not until I've solved the training problem on how to prepare for the extended climbs. I can't say enough about the race and how well I was cared for by the volunteers. It's a race I would recommend for any trail runner as long as they are prepared for that type of course. I'm hoping that, if nothing else, it will aid in my preparations for Powderface 21K in three weeks since I'll have more trails and hills to face and conquer there. The next two weeks will be a lot of trail and hill running. After that it's focusing on lots of time on my feet for North Coast 24. I can't think or plan beyond that at this point.

 2017 Immaculata Nun Run 5K

Flat Race Over Rolling Hills

With three weeks after my Dawn to Dusk to Dawn 50K, I should be mostly recovered, but it still doesn't give me a lot of time to actually prepare for racing a 5K. Fortunately I run this primarily to support and give back to Immaculata University rather than race it for time. I fully expect to run another personal worst (PW) again this year.

Saturday morning started normally for a race day and with the race practically next door, I had plenty of time to eat breakfast, drink my coffee, and drive over to pick up my packet. Although we've had some decent weather recently, Saturday morning was drizzling rain with temperatures in the low 50s. After I picked up my packet and jogged back to my car, I continued my warm up. It was a day when a good warm up was an absolute necessity. Jogging an easy mile wouldn't suffice. It stopped raining during my warm up so I ditched my hat and jacket. It was a little cool still; I think I would have been fine but then they announced the start would be delayed because of the weather - to give people more time to get there. I don't think that was really necessary, and it meant extending my warm up a little to stay loose.

As usual with this race the start was disorganized. I think half the field didn't even realize the race started until they saw people ahead of them beginning to walk and run. This being typical I lined up a little more toward the front than I normally would. There was only 8 seconds between my gun time and chip time when I checked results afterward. The start is only as wide as the starting mat, maybe 12-15 ft. Despite that it was easy to be running as soon as I crossed the mat with the way the field was milling around seemingly in no hurry to race.

Since current time on a Garmin is pretty useless I tried to check my time after a tenth of a mile and again after .25 miles to get a sense of my pace. It looked like it was about 10:20 pace as we were heading downhill before crossing King Road. Immediately after crossing the road we head up the first of several hills in the first couple miles of the course. That slows me down some both because of the grade and because we are on a narrow sidewalk with a stroller ahead of me that runners either can't or are reluctant to pass. No big deal since I;m not powering up the hill anyway. Shortly after we reach the top we head back down then tackle the biggest hill on the course. We don't reach the mile split until after the bottom of the hill. The hill slowed me more than I realized with the first mile in 10:41. The second mile has most of the remaining hills, one shortly after the mile split, then two more shorter hills but with a little steeper grade. Either despite my hill training or because I may not be fully recovered from two hill workouts in the last 8 days, they took more out of me than anticipated. I had to concentrate not to ease relax and ease up. In spite of good intentions mile two was a little slower at 10:52. I'm on a flat section now with only two more hills to speak of, neither particularly demanding but hills none the less. After the first of these we sweep around to join the course just before descending the first hill on the course heading down to King Road with a little over a half mile to go.

This is where the race took a peculiar turn. As I'm picking up speed running downhill and intending to use my momentum as I cross King Road to get up the last hill on the course, the traffic control monitors are stopping the runners, not the cars! I've heard of course monitors misdirecting runners, courses being laid out incorrectly, even trains interrupting races because of scheduling snafus, but in 50 years of racing I have never been told to stop in the middle of a race so cars could continue. The only exception to that has been emergency vehicles. He held us there 600m from the finish for 25 seconds. When I complained he even threatened to take my number and have me disqualified to I crossed without his okay. That could have been an amusing scenario because when he called out my number to tell the other traffic officers to make note of it, he couldn't even read it correctly off my bib.

Eventually he let us go. As I'm running up the final hill at least one runner said she agreed with me, though no one else had raised a fuss. I pushed hard over the last section trying not to let all that affect me. Even with the break in momentum actual running time for the last mile was 10:27, my fastest of the race, so I did finish strong unlike last year. Final numbers were 33:38 gun time, 33:30 chip time, and 33:05 Garmin time since I had stopped it when we were held up at King Road. That placed me 157th of roughly 300-350 finishers, possibly more as stragglers were still coming in with on 273 finishers on the posted results to that point.

I did speak to the organizers about the incident, so hopefully they will be clear with the instructions next year. I wasn't in the mood to hang around for post-race festivities so I ran my cool down and went home.

That probably finishes up my short races for the year unless I add one in the fall after I recover from North Coast 24. This also serves for some speed work going in to the Laurel Highlands 50K in one week. Hills will be a big issue there as most of the vertical gain is in the first 11 miles and there is a cutoff time I have to make at 19.2 miles. It won't be a disaster if I miss the cutoff (I'm pretty confident I will make it comfortably), since the race will be a good tune up for my summer destination race, Powderface 21K in Alberta. After that everything is focused on my goal of 100K at North Coast 24.