2012 SJS50 - Strained DNF

Still not sure what to make of my race this past weekend in Lake City.

You see, 4 days before the race, I went for an easy 9 mile run around the hood. 9 miles at a very relaxed effort with the goal of mixing in a few sprints around mile 4&5 just to remind the legs I hadn’t forgotten about them. All was going great till mile 8 when my right quad got tight. I was running a 8:15 pace by then. Didn’t think much of it till I was done during my post run stretch & cool down. A simple right knee lift to the chest to stretch out the glutes and hip flexor revealed a badly strained quad muscle.

Right then and there I knew I was screwed. A strained muscle would need a good week to heal up. I had 3 days before trying to run 50 miles. Common sense would suggest to not even start the race. The day before the race, many asked me my goals. I responded by saying I either drop at Williams (mile 15.7) or run a hell of race. Deep down inside, I had my money on dropping at Williams.

Race morning couldn’t have been any nicer and at 5am we were off. About 4 miles in I felt the quad tighten up pretty bad and restrict my muscle & running movement. The only thing in my mind was the inevitable drop at Williams. I was starting to get all pissy and negative. After 5 minutes of this I just had to check myself. Put this issue out of my mind and not think about it till Williams. The next 12 miles into Williams were awesome and I enjoyed every second of my run.

About a ½ mile before Williams I was reminded of my quad again. It literally painfully locked up and forced me to walk for a few seconds. Right then and there I was at peace with a DNF at Williams.

But a funny thing happened. I got into Williams, reloaded my Nathan pack and headed out. See the way I looked at it is not much running was going to be had on the way to Carson or the Divide. Or at least I thought. I had also exerted very little effort since the start. So I ran every pretty much every step between Williams and the Carson turn off strong. I crushed the climb up to Carson and up to Coney (high point). The miles up high went by way fast. I ran pissed this whole time. Running pissed is a good thing as it’s an indication that I’m focused with the task at hand, that I’m extremely competitive and that time just seems to go by quickly.

A mile plus from Divide (mile 31) my quad gave out badly again. I still ran hoping for the best. Upon leaving the Divide Aid Station, I caught 2 folks I had been giving hell to catch for a few miles. At one point around mile 28, there were 5 plus minutes in front of me. Specks dotted along the alpine far ahead of me. Well, one of the folks I was passing was WA. Over the past 15 miles I didn’t acknowledged much less notice any other runner. But WA is a friend who I was so pumped to see and am always rooting for during his races. As I passed him our interaction was minimal but I was still rooting for him to crush it. Passed the next guy a minute or so later and I was officially in 18^th place overall.

We had a bit of a climb left around mile 33 and outside of the quad I was feeling beyond fantastic. So I ran the last ¼ mile to the top of a hill. Just to let the runner I passed know he didn’t have a chance to keep up. Then absolute pain in the quad forced me to walk 20 steps into my run. We crested the hill together and I ran with him downhill for maybe a minute. In my mind I was cursing him. “You SOB, this downhill pace is pathetic and you are so lucky my quad is seconds away from blowing up”. These thoughts were nothing personal. Far from it. Simply my competitive nature. I just knew it was a matter of time.

Right foot plant followed by a hearty stumble. My right leg was officially done. A minute or so later WA came by. He knew I was done. I was pissed he wasn’t running and leaving me in his dust.

I tried to run again a few minutes later. But I fell to the ground as the leg was having none of this running stuff anymore. So I walked the next 7 miles into Slum Aid (mile 40). I ran for 7 hours and 30 minutes then finished up with a 2 hour “cool down” gimp walk to Slum.

Split Comparisons (2010 vs 2012): *Splits for 2012 not yet published

Williams (mile 15.7) – 2010 3hrs 58min & 107^thPlace vs 2012 3hrs 27mins
Carson (mile 21.5) – 2010 5hrs 32min & 86^thPlace vs 2012 4hrs 50mins
Divide (mile 31) – 2010 8hrs 21min & 73^rdPlace vs 2012 7hrs 02mins
Slum (mile 40) – 2010 10hrs 20min & 78^thPlace vs 2012 9hrs 30mins
Finish (mile 50) – 2010 13hrs 35min & 90^thPlace vs 2012 DNF. All together now, DNF!

The Negatives:
I had no business being out here on a gimpy right leg.
I never got a chance to push the effort due to the gimpy right leg.
Never had a chance to see how the body would react beyond mile 40. How it would react after 10 hours of running.
Need to rely on more then my homemade calorie water cause it won’t always be available to me.

The Positives:
Aid Stations – I spent no more then a minute at each of the stations.
Hydration – I drank 4 to 5 ounces every 10 minutes for 7 hours and 30 minutes straight.
Fuel – I took in an average of 200 to 300 calories an hour for 7 hours and 30 minutes.
S Caps – I consumed 10 S Caps during the 7 hours and 30 minutes of running.
Physically – I felt awesome the whole time. Reassured my training since I started focusing on Leadville this past November is paying off.
No bonk. No stomach issue.
Other then 5 minutes of frustrations early on, I loved every second I was out there.

Conclusion:
Like I said at the start of this post, still not sure what to make of my race this past weekend in Lake City.

Congrats to TG for his first place masters finish. Congrats to LD for starting out Dead F’ing Last and still coming in 2^nd Women Overall. Congrats to WA for yet another outstanding race. Can wait to see you hammer it home in Leadville. Oh, and WA, thank you and your amazing family for everything this past weekend.

It was a fantastic weekend with the family and outside of this little DNF, the trip couldn’t have gone better!

The San Juan Solstice 50 Miler is my favorite race I’ve ever been a part of. Do yourself a favor and run it. Hell make a long weekend out of it. The race is top notch in every category! I plan to make it part of my race schedule and a family vacation for years to come. And if you go, the Elkhorn RV Resort and Cabins is the place to stay. Just don’t book a spot before me cause I’d hate to miss out.

Torreys & Greys (via Kelso Ridge)

I'm not going to lie, during one section of the climb, I was pretty scared.

Had this been a standard run up and down Greys & Torreys, I wouldn't have wasted my time blogging about a route that's been tackled thousands of times by runners.  However, with our climb going up Kelso Ridge, I felt that alone would be of interest. 

Start time was at 5:10am from the I-70 / Bakersville exit.  Along side me was the now veteran Soccer Coach himself.  3 miles of slow grind up to the trailhead followed by a quick stop at the nasty ass toilet facilities and finally we were off for some real fun. 

I had suggest running this route as I thought it would be a great training week for the upcoming SJS50 in 2 weeks.  WA thought adding in Kelso would make for a more interesting run.  And boy he wasn't kidding.

We made quick work of the mile plus to the turn off to the Kelso Ridge.  For some reason, I had envisioned the climb up to the ridge being this huge bitch of a climb straight up a scree field.  It was more like 200 or so feet up to the saddle. 

(WA racing the morning sunrise)

(Top of the saddle with the Grey's route not far below)

 

Once on the saddle, the long climb began.  The route is steep and has some pretty impressive exposure.  Majority of the route was Class 2 with probably three Class 3 sections. 

Above was the first of the Class 3 sections.  A 15-20 foot wall with one pretty tough spot.  The picture above does it no justice.  What you don't see below me is a sheer 500+ foot drop.  About half way up, I realized I needed to re-adjust my position.  It was at this point I looked straight down and oh shit was I scared for a second.  A quick regrip here and foot plant there and I was out of the tough section.  Took me a good minute to regather myself and off we went with another 1,500 feet of climbing left. 

Again, the pics above do the route no justice but hopefully gives one an idea of what we dealt with.  On a side note, the last picture is of the "Knife Edge" the last Class 3 section.  Apparently the cool thing was to climb to the top of it.  Yeah, f**k that.  You're above 14,000 at this point and it's a long way down on both sides.  Not much room for error. 

(WA near the top of Torreys with my car way down there by I-70)

(WA finishing off Grey's in style)

 

Once on Torreys safely, the rest of the route was pretty straight forward.  Only issue of the day was the strong wind blowing east to west.  Other then that, all was great.  Temps were warm and I felt fantastic the whole day out.  

The descent of Greys was a blast.  The crowds of folks hiking was shockingly minimal.  All those we encountered couldn't have been nicer.  I even saw JV on the way down and exchanged a quick hello as we moved on.  JV did mention he was running with another guy who looked like Anton Krupicka.  Never saw an Anton look alike but did see a Johnny Damon circa Boston Red Sox's look alike.   

 (Wrapping up Greys)

Stats were 13.75 miles for the day.  Slightly shorter then the normal route up Greys/Torreys.  A shade over 5,000 feet of climbing.  Slightly higher (by feet) then the normal route.  Time running was around 3:55 and total time was 4:17.  

Most impressive stat was our time on Kelso Ridge.  Something like 0.98 miles in 79 minutes.  Boom!  Out of here! 

San Juan Mountains - The Return of the Boomers!

Three day Memorial weekend followed by two days of work followed by four days of vacation with the family.  I wish more weekends were structured like this. 

With good friends in Durango, any excuse is a great excuse to make my way down to SW Colorado.  This time around, the wife and I decided to spend Thursday and Friday in Ouray before heading to Durango thru Sunday.  For some reason, Ouray still considers the first week of June as either "Low" or "Mid Season".  That means lodging is still cheap.  Especially for those spots located just feet of the creek and 3 blocks away from the heart of town. 

Temps in Ouray at 3pm Thursday were 84.  Ridiculous.  Overnight low never dipped below 50.  My morning run during the little ones nap was done along the Perimeter Trail along with some scouting of the Portland and Owl Creek trails.  After a few attempts over the years, I finally figured out Perimeter loop.  Granted I never once looked a map and have always relied on horrible trail markings.  

The loop is roughly 4 miles long and offers up a healthy 1,500 feet of up and down.  If you're in town, do this loop.  You will not be disappointed.  The views it yields of the small mountain town are second to none.  Especially along the no fall zone near Cascade Falls along the north east portion of the loop.

Saturday's long run started and ended along the Colorado Trail at Molas Pass.  More importantly it was spent with some old friends.  SK who I've paced at both Leadville (2010), Hardrock (2011) and likely Steamboat (2012) and Pat who also paced SK last year.  All that beautiful San Juan mountain weather on Thursday and Friday was not around on Saturday.  Not along the highest elevations at least.  Dark clouds and strong breezes greeted us at 10,600 feet as we started our run west bound towards the Engineer and Mineral Creek turnoffs. 

(Looking back east towards climb 1 and Snowdon Peak)

The only real climb of the day is at the start and tame with over 1K of vert.  Pace for the day was easy.  3 days of travels, 2 days of various sleeping in beds not mine left me a bit stiff.  After the climb we quickly came across a few of these. 

(Hopefully visible bear footprint)

 

Not pictured were the huge piles of bear shit.  Both prints and poop continued on for a few miles.  The nice thing about running with SK and Pat is they've been runners and hunters of the San Juan Mountains for decades.  I would have never seen the prints much less known it was bear shit. 

This portion of the Colorado Trail was awesome as it hoovers around 11,600 feet for miles.  The up and downs are minimal but relentless as the trail is weaving in and out of numerous creek headwaters. 

8 plus miles in we saw our first flash to the south of Engineer Mountain some 5 miles away.  None of us were concerned till an insanely strong gust nearly knocked us over.  Temps dropped big time.  Snow started to fall.  We continued on for another 5 minutes but decided to turn around.  The snow fields were big and soft and when avoidable, the trails were just a marshland.  We were going nowhere fast.

 (Another mile plus up wold have been our turn around point.  Weather and conditions forced us around a tad bit earlier)

We backtracked for 5 plus miles and of course the weather was perfect.  As we were approaching the Sultan and Grand Turk face, we went off course and started wrapping our way around Putnam Basin to the Bear Creek headwaters which put us at the Putnam Aid Station of Hardrock.  The trail there was a beat up hunters trail and took forever to traverse the 1 1/2 miles to the basin.  However it was well worth it as SK and I relived our time here just last year after enduring our second thumping of rain, hail and lightening. 

 (Location of the first/last aid station along the HR course - along with some great memories of last years pacing)

Back to the car we went.  About a mile plus away from the car, the nice weather changed yet again.  We made quick work back to the car with no signs of rain or lightening.  SK and I decided to run the Colorado Trail till it hit US 550 some mile plus away and return back to add on to our miles.

 ( A mile plus away from the TH.  Them dark clouds laid down the hammer on us 10 minutes later)

Maybe 100 meters into the run we were greeted with the simultaneous heavy rain, flash of lightening, crackling of thunder and the loud BOOM!  We turned right around and sprinted to the car.  Boomers for another 15 minutes.  Graupel for another 30 minutes.  This mountain running in the San Juans can get down right scary.

(Already in the planning stages - hopefully next year)

Overall the weekend was a complete blast.  Some stats for the quick weekend.  Friday's run - 6 miles - 2,000 feet of climbing - 1hr 10mins.  Saturday's run: 20 miles - 3,000 feet of climbing - 4hr 45mins.  And a pair of shoes that after 500 plus miles have finally torn.

May 2012 Summary

Runs - 27Workouts - 0
Injured - 0
Running Days - 24
Average Miles Per Running Day - 11.25
Vert - 21,600 Feet

The Bad:

Racing - I've never cared to race much but have found it to be a necessary evil as I prepare for certain races.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to race.  What I don't like is how at it effects my current training pattern. 

Going into the Quad Rock 25M, I hardly let the race impact my training from a mileage perspective.  However I did pull back on intensity on a few runs.  Specifically a mid week tempo run which I'm finding to be one of my most important workouts along with my long run.  After the race, a rest period was just needed.  I felt great but pushing the effort over the next week just seemed like a bad idea.  Therefore miles and effort were sacrificed.  And at what cost?  Hopefully the effort exerted during the 25M was worth it over the long haul. 

The Good:

Running - Other then taking more rest days then I care to take, I continue to see improved consistency on the quality of my runs week in and week out.  The rest days stem not from a need to recover but rather a need to rest the left calf.  A left calf that continues to get stronger but on occasion is quick to let me know when I might be pushing it a bit too much.  Thankfully a day off is all that is needed.    

Workouts - Second month in a row in which I avoided the gym.  My days off have been both physical and mental breaks.  There were mornings where I was ready to hit the weights and found that getting a bit more sleep was more beneficial.  Sleep is something I do poorly so when the opportunity arises, I try to take advantage of it. 

Randomly over the month, I continue on with my push ups, sit ups, planks, rehab exercises.  The toughest workout of the month continues to be my time spent in the backyard as we are in the middle of complete make over of the outdoor living space.  2 projects down, 1 more to go. 

Memorial Day Weekend - With summer now here, I'm making it a goal to get the family up into the high country on the weekends.  On Sunday, we spent a good part of the day in Salida.  Enjoying good food, beer and music at the bluegrass music fest.  And exposing monkey to one of the coolest things she had ever seen.  Bouncy Cow Castle!!!

Looking Forward:

My injury that occurred Feb/Mar is something I'm starting to view as a blessing.  Had I not been injured, then there is a chance I might have been burnt out by my training.  Instead I enter June feeling fantastic and looking forward to building upon the foundation laid down over the past few months. 

Goals are pretty simple this month.  Run more miles, run more time, run more elevation gain and run more up in the high country.  Junes going to be a busy month.

Busy and highlighted by a long weekend trip spent in Lake City running the SJS50.  I know, I just spent some time bitching about racing during my training.  At least this necessary evil is spent on 50 glorious miles around the most beautiful mountains this country has to offer.