Mt. Mitchell Challenge 40 Mile Race Report
Trail / Road race from 2400 ft in Black Mountain, NC to 6700 ft Mt Mitchell Peak (highest pt east of the Mississippi)
Found out before the race that 3200 people had entered the lottery for the 200 spots in this event. That gave me a little perspective to enjoy the event as my odds of getting back in are slim. I had done this event in 8h17m two years ago. At that time it was an "A" race and I was well prepared. I didn't taper for this event proceeding it with a moderate 1.5 hr long run, sprint intervals, and a hard bike session in the five previous days. My main goal was to make the 3h15m cutoff at mile 15 which covers about 2800 ft of elevation gain and go on to finish the event. Next goal was a pr with a stretch goal of 8 hours. Associating time goals with this event is always dicey as the weather, course condition, and route are huge factors. Thank goodness a huge snow melt allowed us to run the course to the top, but the route was modified due to ice on a section of the trail. I think the mileage worked out about the same.
Miles 1 to 3 are road miles. I took off hard to bank time towards making the cutoff. Ran a 28 min 5k gaining 300 ft over that distance. Slow for most, but my fastest 5k time in quite some time. I was pleased with the effort and running at a hard tempo hr.
Miles 3 to cutoff at Blue Ridge Parkway. Single and double track throughout this section. Course started off dry and fast and became mostly wet for the bulk of the section. Hit one snow section as I neared the parkway. Ended up running tempo for 3 hours and made the cutoff. With that worry behind me I was set to enjoy the event. Very pleased with a 3 hour tempo effort.
Blue Ridge Parkway to Summit. I ran about a 1.5 mile section of hard top before heading back to the trail. From there it's a gradual climb on the Horse Range Trail which proven to be interesting. Best way to describe this section is a grassy double track which runs perpendicular to the face of Mitchell for about 4 miles. The snow melt run off turned this section into a swamp. There were drainage runoff crossings every 50 yards or so that were either cold water, snow, or ice. Being in the "weighter" end of the field, I nearly loss my shoes on several occasions and I sunk in the swampy soupy mess. The views were amazing and the weather picture perfect. Virtually no wind and 30 degree temps. At the end of the Horse Range Trail you hit an aid station and then face a 1.5 mile 1000 ft climb to the summit. This section is eroded single track that could best be described as the luge run at Sochi. I spent just under and hour navigating this part trying to stay upright. Towards the top I passed a mountain ranger carrying an injured runner off the course. My time goals went bye bye here. I kind of wish the footing had been better because my legs felt great and would have liked to pushed it harder here.
Summit to Blue Ridge Parkway. After in aid station stop it was 5 miles of downhill pavement. I pushed the pace to make up some time and knocked off miles of 8'12", 8'57", 8'22", 7'52", and 9'17" and passed about 8 people at the same time. The new Hokas One One were absolute money here as they soaked up the pounding.
BRP to Town. Back on the trail with thoughts of a pr. An unmarked split and a jaunt off course set me back a couple minutes and cost me two placings. The trail was more like a small creek with the run off and I soon gave up dodging puddles and splashed on down the mountain. Somewhere in here I felt a blister pop and a stinging sensation on one of my toes. After 15 seconds of saying this hurts I decided to put it out of my mind and get on with the challenge at hand. That lasted about 15 seconds as I smashed my right toe in a rock and took a spill that put the rubber side up and left me covered in mud. You've seen the football player with turf in his helmet...I had trail on me everywhere you could imagine. I'll end up losing that toenail as its already black.
Town to finish. Pretty uneventful. My shot a pr ticked by and I throttled back the pace to save some wear and tear on the legs. The thing that sticks out about this section is the spectators all saying you don't have far to go. Virtually everyone gives you their estimated distance and everyone of them is grossly short. I thank them for the support even though every fiber of my soul wants to say you're lying and will burn in heck for doing so. Finished somewhere around 8h27m but forgot to stop the watch. My placing was almost identical to two years ago, 105 out of 200 starters.
Came away from this event with a whole lot of positives despite missing some of my goals. Nutrition and hydration were dead on. I only hit two semi low points. I did seemed to be more winded when I was north of 5000 ft, but I did no elevation training as my future races on the calendar are all 4000 ft and under. I did slow at the end, but this was more a mental issue of the pr opportunity slipping away. I was most happy about holding tempo pace for 3 hours to start the event. Virtually all of my traing has been slow long runs and hikes in zone one with zone 4 bike and run interval days. The after event soreness wasn't crippling like usual and I was back to training in 3 days. I only had about a two day post race bout of "I never want to run again" which was then replaced by what's next.
Speaking of what's next, I just grabbed one of the last spots in the Georgia Death Race.
http://www.runbumtours.com/#!georgia-death-race/cr80 We'll see if 68 miles with 35,000 ft of elevation change can quell my desire to run in 11 days.