Moose Mountain Trail Races 29K Race Report
TL;DR
During most of the race, I thought I was running slower than last year, but after saw that I wasn't. Ran smarter, and PR'd by about 16 minutes. Enjoyed a beer at home after.
Prologue
This is my "every year" trail race. It's the first trail race I ever registered for, and the race I have run the most. First year was a reroute due to (re)construction of the fire watch at the top of the mountain, thus the times for that race couldn't be compared to the next three. The second year the race went virtual for COVID, but my friend and I ran the course anyway (which we know well, it's our home trails). The third year (last year) I was just coming off injury, but put in a time faster than I expected (3:27).
This year, I'm probably in the best running shape I've ever been generally, but with more weekends in DFW than I would choose, my mountain legs aren't as strong as I would like.
My only goal was to run faster than last year (3:27). To do that, I knew I had to run the last 6km better than each of the last three years. No/little walking!
Due to flight delays the night before the race, I only got about 3 hours of sleep before heading out to the race. I was racing with the same friend I usually run with, but we had already agreed that we would "run our own race" and not worry about sticking together. He's injured and not as trained as he would like, and also our styles are different. I'm faster on the uphills, and he's faster on the downhills, so if we went lowest-common-denominator by sticking together, it would be a slow time for us both.
Race prep was uneventful. Weather forecast was all over the map. Maybe rain, maybe cloudy, maybe hot by the end of the race. Got my vest on, two flasks of caffeinated Tailwind (Berry) and headed for the start line. Three race distances all starting simultaneously. 29K/42K/50K. The 29K is the "OG" for the 30 years of the race, with the 42K and 50K distances added more recently. I like the 29K distance because it's basically up the mountain, and down. That simple. The other distances reroute you to other trails.
0830 (such a late start!) rolls around, and we're off.
0-6km (0-3.7mi), 210m/689ft of gain
This is an easy, but constant, uphill. Most of the distance is runnable, and very quickly my friend and I are separated as I move up through the pack. My running pace on this grade is faster than many of the runners. Things feel "normal". I know I'm trained better this year than last, but I don't think I'm running any faster than last year. After I clear through the pack, I'm generally passing more runners than are passing me.
6km - 8.5km (3.7mi - 5.3mi), 270m/886ft of gain
We turn off the fire road and into the trees. This grade is mostly a hiking grade, with some short runnable sections. I keep a decent hiking pace, but don't feel any faster than last year. I start to wonder if I'm going to be competitive with last year. My overall fitness is better, but it doesn't feel like I'm making up any time. I occasionally pass people, and occasionally get passed. Often by the same people. Net kills were probably +2 or +3, but I wasn't really counting.
8.5km - 11.7km (5.3mi - 7.3mi), 106m/348ft of gain
Another runnable grade (mostly). Pass 3-4 people, get passed once. Still feeling like I'm running the same pace I ran last year. Excuse-formulation starts to creep-in. "I don't have my mountain legs", "I didn't get enough sleep last night", "It's smoky" (it was a little), "I'm running too many junk miles", and then the go-to one, "I just suck".
11.7km to 14.4km (7.3mi - 9mi), 300m/990ft of gain (the turnaround point)
This is the most serious part of the Moose Mountain climb. I imagine the pros can run some/all of this, but most everyone is hiking. Some of the leaders are already on their way down the mountain, and blow by me as I'm grinding my way up. The race has really thinned-out at this point, so I'm not really passing anyone or getting passed.
The weather for the day turned-out cloudy, and a bit cool/windy on the mountain. My Garmin Tempe logged temps of about 16C/61F, but with the wind, it felt uncomfortably cool up there. Burned off most of my sweat at that point, and I was eager to get to the turnaround so that I could get back below the treeline.
Got to the turnaround point, got my bib punched, and start the return home.
14.4km to 22.8km (9mi - 14.2mi), almost all downhill
I'm grouping the return/descent into two sections. Just the primary descent, and then the last 6km. The primary went well. I was running paces that, again, felt the same as last year. I passed my friend, who was still on his climb, and he tells me that he counts 34 runners in front of me (for all distances). That feels like a lot. I pass him at about the same point I passed him last year, so again I feel like I'm no faster this year. I check my watch, though, and see that I'm under two hours into the race, and already well on my way down. So I must be running faster than last year, because I wasn't going to eat up 90 minutes of time on the return. That gave me some confidence.
Through the race, I hadn't been pushing myself has hard as I had in prior years. While my only goal was to beat my time from last year, I wanted to have enough left in the tank for a strong 6km on the fire road. In each of the prior three years, despite being a downhill, I broke down and had to walk the (few) slight uphills, including a tiny one right before the finish. I wanted to run that strong this year. So I was saving some gas for that.
22.8km - 29km (14.2mi - 18mi), almost all downhill
There's a meaningful uphill at the beginning of this last section. So I hiked that (running it would have burned me up at that point). I was pretty much alone for 2/3 of this section, but as I got closer and closer to the finish, I checked my watch and a PR was basically locked. That gave me some confidence. I also felt like I was running faster than in prior years at this point (finally!). And then I saw some runners on the road in front of me. With about 2km left, I told myself I was going to pass them. And I did. The first guy I passed increased his pace as I was passing him, in an effort to keep up. But I increased mine in response, and he quickly relented. /flex. Then there was a girl a little further up. I was gaining ground, but then she chose to walk a slight uphill. Which, in prior years, I had walked as well. Not this year. Kept running that uphill and passed her.
Finally I get near the finish, and there is a slight uphill to deal with. You can't see the finish line at this point, so in prior years, I didn't know that the finish was just ~150m away from the crest of that short hill. So, in all three prior years, I walked that hill. This year I remembered the finish line was close, so I told myself "DBAP" and ran up that hill (ala Kate Bush) and quickly got my reward -- a view of the finish line and a strong pace for the last little distance to cover.
I ran the last 2.5km at a sub-5:00/km (8:00/mi) pace, a real win for me. Thanks to the runners I wanted to pass, thanks to my fitness, and thanks to me running a smarter race.
Looked at the clock as I crossed the finish line, and saw 3:11, a 16-minute PR from last year. Grabbed a finisher cupcake, wolfed it down (wrong move), and waited for my friend to finish (who did really well given his injury/fitness).
The numbers:
Strava distance: 28.8km/17.9mi
Elevation gain: 1,002m (3,287ft)
Official time: 3:11:03 (PR!)
Overall rank: 19/75
Male rank: 15/36
AG rank: 3/9
My first race AG podium! Sure, it's a small race, and sure, I got lucky with the field being strong in AGs outside my own, but I'll take it! My time from this year would have placed me 13th overall last year, but the field was stronger this year.
I was happy with my time, but already wondering "how the hell do I beat that time next year???".
I drove home, showered, plopped my butt on the couch, cracked the Moose Mountain Trail Races lager, and opened Strava. It was clear that I destroyed "2021 me" on that last 6km, so that was no surprise. But what was a surprise,
is that for almost the entirety of the race before that, I was gaining time on "2021 me". Probably 99%. So I was running/hiking faster than prior years, it just didn't feel like I was. That was great to see as well.
So, another year in the books.
R2R2R now just ~six weeks away!
sadly, I was driving and son #4 Didn’t get the DVR working. Taking son #2 to tour ole miss. Really hoping the video is on YouTube or Facebook soon, haven’t seen it yet.
) and works hard and he was there all summer for workouts also.
what’s that?
