Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
Ran a 10k - Official Thread (18 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ned
- Start date
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
That’s certainly a lot of water when you think about possibly having three or four gels in a marathon. It makes me think about limiting gels (maybe go with one early when you have enough water from pre-race) and switching to sports drink later.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Yeah, for me, I can't see that being an issue. You're likely more along the lines of "why don't you have some water with your gels".
Me, I'm more "why don't you have some gels with your water". Especially in the summer.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
I drink so much less than I used to. It would be a major change to drink like that again. It makes me annoyed and uncomfortable just thinking about it.
gruecd
Footballguy
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
I signed up for a 10K today for April 3 that apparently will happen despite COVID. Waves of only 50 runners so I'm not sure if there will be anybody running my pace or if I'll basically be running solo. It's sponsored by a high school track team so hopefully there will be some track/cross country kids in my wave.
I guess this is my A race since I have no plans on any other races this spring. Goal is to average under 6:00 which would be a PR. I have a decent degree of confidence that I can do that. I won't adjust my training much other than making sure to run some fastish longer tempos next month and taking it easy a week or so before the race.
I guess this is my A race since I have no plans on any other races this spring. Goal is to average under 6:00 which would be a PR. I have a decent degree of confidence that I can do that. I won't adjust my training much other than making sure to run some fastish longer tempos next month and taking it easy a week or so before the race.
pbm107
Footballguy
Unless the course is super hilly this should be a lock. I received email confirmation that my half Marathon in March is expected to go on and purchased the AlphaFly’s yesterday. I figured if I am going for a PR I could use all the help that I could get.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Going to lace up tomorrow and do anywhere from 0.1- 3m tomorrow am, depending on how the back feels. I'm worried it will feel ok and that the legs will want to go go go...I need to be smarter than I look and am about this and force myself to not do much regardless.
Still sore, but no twinges. Rode the citibike slowly to and from work yesterday (3m each way)...felt tired/sore afterwards, but not damaged.
Still sore, but no twinges. Rode the citibike slowly to and from work yesterday (3m each way)...felt tired/sore afterwards, but not damaged.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Dr_Zaius
Footballguy
Just signed up for the half marathon after the confirmation that in person will be a go. I haven't been following a plan, but have been religious about getting a long run in every Saturday. I will try to do a little more quality over the next two weeks. Trying to figure out what my goal should be - I'm hopeful that I'm fit enough for a small PR.
MAC_32
Footballguy
El Floppo
Footballguy
Did 2.75 at basically a fast walk pace, keeping the strides short.
Not tweaks or twinges but the back was still a little sore throughout. Upped the pace a tiny bit after a mile just to see, and dialed it back when I could feel things slightly more sore.
Not sure what the plan is. I think I'll try every other day, continuing at slow pace and low miles adjusting one and/or the other by feel. I can't afford any whammies, but also don't want to lose all fitness.
Ok....30 mins post run/stretching, the back is just now getting a little stiff. Bleh.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Yeah...doesn't feel worsened in terms of damage, but is back to being sore and stuff again. Not sure if running is the best idea here. Maybe more rest is better long term...just don't know. Dammit.
MAC_32
Footballguy
Movement and reasonable amounts of engagement mixed with liberal amounts of ice and heat are generally the best remedy. The hard part is figuring out what's the optimal mixture for one's self. Cause every back injury is different.
El Floppo
Footballguy
I've been through enough of these back tweaks over the years that I have a sense of how they go for me. But I'm not used to them while doing 30/40 now, and I'm not sure if this one is more severe or just a product of my being older. The age thing has profoundly affected my ability to shake these kind of injuries off and just bounce back without much/effort...so I have to be smarter about how I approach this.
My up to the minute internal debate is whether I take the time (won't be insignificant) to find and see a Dr on my crap insurance and get a scrip for PT. I'm leaning towards yes, as this is taking longer than normal to get back up and running.
lumpy19
Footballguy
tri-man 47
Footballguy
Seems to me the time you'd spend seeing the Dr is time you could spend googling around to find stretches/yoga for a sore/stiff back. And as you note, you have experience with tweaks. A little bit of trial and careful error would probably help you identify which routines are beneficial to you. You've got the crew here to bounce ideas off of and to give you the discipline that a PT would provide. Also as you note, you've got to be smarter about this now. Why pay a Dr and/or PT to be smart for you?
MAC_32
Footballguy
Olde Girdled Grit Half Marathon
This race was...something else, but as I commented a few days ago this was expected. The course conditions warning from the race director while not surprising was appreciated and led me to tee up a few different contingency plans.
I headed out to the course a little early to scout out the worst parts. I hadn't ran here before, but I know enough that have to know where the problem areas likely reside. The 50K and half marathon groups went off before us, so there were already volunteers around the problem areas. I came packing with old road shoes, yaktraks, and hiking boots. I used to have a pair of screw shoes, but they got purged a couple years ago and I never manufactured replacements (derp). I also wasn't adding this to my plate Friday night as we don't have the right screws on hand anyway. I had expectations for what it would actually be and didn't think screw shoes would win anyway.
After discussions with a few people out there they confirmed what I thought would be the most likely scenario. Since our overnight temperatures stayed above 40 most of the flat areas that were covered in frozen snow appeared broken up enough to make them runnable. The problems were primarily the hills and stair cases. And they were major problems. So this made decision making easy - yaktraks.
I then headed down the hill to the start to meet up with friends a little bit before the gun. I chose a bandana, long sleeve tech over tech tank, shorts, gloves, liberal amounts of lube on the nips/ crotch/feet, green compression socks, an extra pair of thick 'dry' socks, a cotton candy dum-dum, with a ? in my pocket for later. And away we go.
Miles 1 and 2 - 7:33 (138 HR), 7:02 (161) - The first 1.7 miles were road miles, straight uphill to the trails. I hoped there would be a few other sub 90 minute half marathoners with more trails experience than me to leash and that wish was granted. I wanted to start off somewhere around 5-7th in line because I did not want to be the lead but I also didn't want to risk getting bottlenecked. I got to the park entrance in this position about 20-30m behind the lead pack. Knowing I only had 0.4 miles before the conditions would deteriorate I surged to get right behind the lead group and did that just as we turned toward the first descent.
Mile 3 - 10:44 (164) - Jesus ####### christ. This hill was only 120' but at a grade > 20% covered in rock hard ice there was only one way I was getting down this thing - plop...and I slid the whole way down on my ###. I kept my hands up as much as possible, so my gloves wouldn't get water logged but I did need to do some steering to make sure I didn't go over the cliff to the right. I didn't slide the whole way down the hill, but the narrow strip to the left was too unstable at that grade so i gave up after about 30' and went the rest of the way down on my butt. After crossing a suspension bridge the next 0.4 miles were runnable - it was exactly what I expected from the outset, it clearly was ice 24 hours ago but was just broken up enough in most places as long as you ran with a wide stance and avoided tight turns/thicker sheets of ice.
Then it got ugly again. The 70' > 20% switchback climb was rough enough, but once on top the conditions weren't any better. This ice had not broken up and was on a narrower trail that zig zagged its way along a cliff. For the most part I stayed on the conservative side, but in the worst sections I tempted faith closer to the cliff and bounded up the hill side off trail through trees and just hoped there weren't any surprises in the snow pack below. My watch buzzed towards the end of this stretch and the moment I got to peak at the result net quite the internal chuckle. Little did I know what was next.
Mile 4 - 10:49 (166) - This picture is scary enough yet it doesn't really give the rest of this descent justice. The worst part is around the bend to the right. As you can see, clearly anything not on the guardrail is an accident waiting to happen - and that wasn't even safe once getting around that turn. On that part I opted to go on my heels (the downside to yaktraks) while holding onto the rail and skidded down this section...but the last 30' were guardrail less. So, plop - and back to my ### again. I wasn't so smart with my hands this time though. I did too much steering down to the next stair case and my gloves got water logged. Grr...I carefully walked down one more ice covered staircase and intended to plot out what to do next, but then was greeted by another staircase back up out of the gorge. This section wasn't quite as slippery as before, but since we came back through this way a mile from now I made a mental note that it probably wouldn't be the case on the way back. Once on top the next 1.3 miles were a runnable loop comparable to what I encountered from miles 2.3-2.7, so it was time to get my bearings back together.
Mile 5 - 10:34 (158) - I realized two things early in this stretch - I had lost touch with the lead pack and my hands were a problem. Running open handed in the water logged gloves was simply too uncomfortably cold - and this was while running. I knew there would be more walking, hiking, sliding, etc later so my body temperature would not remain elevated. So I clenched my fists in tight. They were still cold, but warm enough to curb any fears of hypothermia. Out of curiosity as I completed the loop and made a mental note of my time to that point (7:17 - not that bad for running on partially broken ice I said to myself).
But now it was back to Kevin McAllister's funhouse. And unlike Harry and Marv I was tasked with going back through it. only this time I also had to dodge the other HM's who hadn't gotten to the loop. Woof. The first stair case down was unpleasant as I expected, but sustaining hyper focus kept me upright. To my surprise, I only almost fell once. But then the behemoth linked earlier awaited my arrival. I expected the HM'er to be hogging the guardrail and they didn't disappoint. I made it maybe 10' before falling and sliding back to the bottom. How the hell am I going to get up this thing. Then I got passed. And a lightbulb went off. I grabbed onto the leash and followed. Their chosen path was different than mine and didn't result in my falling and sliding back down the hill. I just hoped it continued because as long as we sustained momentum our chances of getting to the top enhanced. My blocker bit it just before getting to the final turn (but didn't slide down the hill). At that moment I remembered what the terrain around the turn was then looked to my left (look at the link before) and made the decision to trudge through there. I wasn't going to dare look to my left heading up that side hill but it was also heavy wet slush snow and there were enough tress to grab onto if I felt like I was losing my balance. I got to the last big one and vaulted myself through the split then I was on my way again.
But not. I was then quickly reminded that there was still a long ways to go. The next 0.2 miles were on that single track built into the cliff only now also with runners coming towards me. So I was even more aggressive bounding along the conservative side through trees along the hill side. I didn't have any issues with these the first time through, so hopefully the rest of them are just as stable. Maybe. But the last thing I wanted was to have an encounter with someone coming the other way losing their balance, so this seemed like the lesser of two evils. As I reached the next descent my watched buzzed and I was genuinely shocked to see such a 'fast' time through this section. Then I remember I did the first 0.6 miles at 7:17 pace - and laughed.
Mile 6 - 11:05 (152) - I was exhausted when I reached this descent. More mentally than physically, but definitely both. And the switch back nature of this path only added to the challenge. It's one thing trying to bound down hill on this stuff in a straight line, but changing direction? Well, that's impossible. I'd get about halfway to a switchback then start to slide then ease my way down to my ###, using my hands to stop at the edge of the switch back before going over a cliff. I'd compose myself then do the same thing going the other way. It worked, but there were five of these in total and it took me longer to get back up after each one. Towards the bottom I was passed by the same person that did on the stairs earlier, which was a welcomed relief as the next 0.3 miles were runnable and I needed to shut my brain off for a couple minutes. A 140' incline awaited on the other side, but with less of a grade than the ones prior it wasn't coated in ice and was still just steep enough to make running it a waste of energy. So for the first time in this 50 minute journey I really had a chance to breathe - it was still a power hike, but it was just nice to engage a different muscle group and not need to worry so much about every single step. Once on top I was passed by someone else, so I grabbed onto that leash then shut my brain off again for a bit.
Mile 7 and 8 - 8:48 (159), 8:11 (160) - We'll call this part of the race the eye of the hurricane. A sense of calm came over me as I only needed to be aware of clear thick icy sections, but I also knew a grand finale awaited. So I took this opportunity to get my bearings back together and let my two leashes ahead guide the way. Which ended up being a good thing as there is one particular turn in which I know I would have bit it (hard) had I not had those rabbits. Both of them were very steady over this section, but I noted they had some issues on a corner about 30m ahead. As I approached I saw the hazard and had I not seen them struggle would not have thought anything of it - what was probably multiple feet of ice had partially melted and was now about 6" of standing water with still another foot of ice underneath. Good grief. I generally always make turns wide, but I went especially wide on this one and still had trouble staying vertical.
Towards the end of mile 8 is when things get interesting again. One more descent back into a river valley...which would be solid ice. The trek down was treacherous enough, but thankfully it was in a straight line so I didn't need to do anymore of the butt technique with now soaked gloves. I needed to balance myself with trees along the side a couple of times, but those stops were just brief. The next 0.5 miles back to the suspension bridge mentioned mile 3 was a different story.
Mile 9 - 9:02 (158) - The river flooded earlier this week. And in most areas it flooded completely over the trail. I couldn't devote the mental energy to contemplate how thick that ice had to have been a day before, but thinking back as I'm writing I'd compare it to the tight turn I mentioned earlier. A large percentage of this section was in 6" of standing water on top of a block of ice. Changing direction was impossible, but stopping would have been worse. Should you do that then restarting would be an adventure without something to grab onto. And 100% hyper focus was necessary to get through this upright. I was able to make it the whole way with only one slip (and no fall), but realizing I couldn't stop as I approached the suspension bridge I slid into it like I was trying to beat a throw home. And now the hardest part
of this race awaited.
Mile 10 - 9:45 (153) - That first descent into the park? Well, to exit it you have to go back up it. Only now my feet and hands are soaked and the rest of my body is screaming uncle. So I popped in dum dum #2 (yeah, red!) and gave this giant beast hell. To refresh, this was a sheet of ice across the path and a cliff to the left with a narrow crevice to the right the only way up (how did we get down this thing!!!). Most sections allowed for power hiking, but there were several nooks and crannies in which it wasn't - whether it was a 5' vertical rock covered hump or a water/mud hole of unknown depth. I can't recall all the different maneuvers around these obstacles as in that moment I was only concerned about conquering it and moving onto the next one. The next thing I recall is seeing the turn towards flatter ground and laughing at my watch when I saw my pace was 21:25. The final 0.6 miles of the park were a lot like mile 7 - broken up ice covered but runnable. So i took this opportunity to start thinking about what's next.
My two leashes were still about 30m ahead, hands were freezing, and I recalled my yaktraks really bothering me on the original road ascent that seemed like hours ago. I contemplated dumping my long sleeve and going to the tank only, but with cold hands I opted not to. So I put my eyes on their backs with a goal of catching them by the end of the park where I intended to unload my gloves and yaktraks. I was surprised how much juice remained in my legs and that i was able to sustain 16X HR's as I closed the gap on them. It encouraged me about what i could do once back to the road. As we approached the shelter at the end of the park I sat on a bench and quickly ripped off my yaktraks then dumped my gloves. I only lost about 20m on them so I must've been fast - I'm surprised my cold hands were able to work with those yaktraks as quickly as I did.
Mile 11 - 6:44 (158) - Pavement. Oooh, sweet pavement. Never have I been so happy to feel you again. While I was mentally exhausted and my back was not happy I still had some juice left in my legs. So I set out to catch those leashes again before the bottom. I opened the stride and could tell my back wasn't happy about it, but it didn't worsen and as long as that was the case I pressed on. I passed leash one rather quickly and #2 towards the end of this mile, about 0.5 miles before the road stretch ended.
Mile 12 - 8:15 (157) - I didn't let up off the gas after I passed them. It was obvious I'm a better road runner than they are, but they are clearly better on winter trails. And the last mile and a half were on the latter. I needed to kill their will now, so they didn't think about coming after me again in the woods. In so doing, I came upon one of the early packers that clearly ran out of gas. I barreled by him on the final road descent as we entered the final park. The hills and grades were much less severe, but the ice was...siiiigh, worse. Without gloves nor yaktraks on anymore I decided not to use anymore of the butt technique, so it was time to surf. I'd try to be assertive towards the beginning of a descent, but then do a little jump and plant my feet then just glide to the bottom. Without yaktraks I really had to balance myself on the edge of the trail on any ascents and I absolutely could not stop my power hike or I'd just slide back down. Thankfully the rest of the trail was fairly runnable, but those ascents and descents had me at my mental breaking point.
Mile 13 - 10:01 (157) - And then I reached my physical breaking point. Given the state of my back on the road descent i wasn't surprised, but along this stretch my hips said no mas - then the rest of my body followed suit one after another. With my stabilizers fried I didn't feel like I had any control over movement nor balance. The only thing that kept me going at any sorta clip was another potential kill that surfaced. In the races spirit, this was all grit with doses of surfing when the terrain called. I had closed the gap to about 10m as I approached the final 0.25 mile but then i met my maker. Another ####### stair case. I saw he was bouncing up them, so to give myself a chance I needed to do the same and I knew 2 strides in it wasn't happening. So I stopped, composed myself, then power hiked up the rest. I'm 99% sure had I kept going and maintained balance I wouldn't have cleared one step at some point and would have had a knee on stairs meeting I wanted no part of. One less kill will have to suffice.
OFFICIAL TIME - 1:59:11, 5th place, age group win
Despite post race libations I was sore last night. Knew i'd be more sore today. And boy is that true. I am happy that my greatest source of discomfort right now is my ###. That tells me I did all this right. My back isn't happy, my calves get mad at me going upstairs, my quads going down, and I can't move without making audible noises but the butt muscles scream loudest. But I wouldn't change a thing. That was one hell of an adventure I'll never forget.
This race was...something else, but as I commented a few days ago this was expected. The course conditions warning from the race director while not surprising was appreciated and led me to tee up a few different contingency plans.
I headed out to the course a little early to scout out the worst parts. I hadn't ran here before, but I know enough that have to know where the problem areas likely reside. The 50K and half marathon groups went off before us, so there were already volunteers around the problem areas. I came packing with old road shoes, yaktraks, and hiking boots. I used to have a pair of screw shoes, but they got purged a couple years ago and I never manufactured replacements (derp). I also wasn't adding this to my plate Friday night as we don't have the right screws on hand anyway. I had expectations for what it would actually be and didn't think screw shoes would win anyway.
After discussions with a few people out there they confirmed what I thought would be the most likely scenario. Since our overnight temperatures stayed above 40 most of the flat areas that were covered in frozen snow appeared broken up enough to make them runnable. The problems were primarily the hills and stair cases. And they were major problems. So this made decision making easy - yaktraks.
I then headed down the hill to the start to meet up with friends a little bit before the gun. I chose a bandana, long sleeve tech over tech tank, shorts, gloves, liberal amounts of lube on the nips/ crotch/feet, green compression socks, an extra pair of thick 'dry' socks, a cotton candy dum-dum, with a ? in my pocket for later. And away we go.
Miles 1 and 2 - 7:33 (138 HR), 7:02 (161) - The first 1.7 miles were road miles, straight uphill to the trails. I hoped there would be a few other sub 90 minute half marathoners with more trails experience than me to leash and that wish was granted. I wanted to start off somewhere around 5-7th in line because I did not want to be the lead but I also didn't want to risk getting bottlenecked. I got to the park entrance in this position about 20-30m behind the lead pack. Knowing I only had 0.4 miles before the conditions would deteriorate I surged to get right behind the lead group and did that just as we turned toward the first descent.
Mile 3 - 10:44 (164) - Jesus ####### christ. This hill was only 120' but at a grade > 20% covered in rock hard ice there was only one way I was getting down this thing - plop...and I slid the whole way down on my ###. I kept my hands up as much as possible, so my gloves wouldn't get water logged but I did need to do some steering to make sure I didn't go over the cliff to the right. I didn't slide the whole way down the hill, but the narrow strip to the left was too unstable at that grade so i gave up after about 30' and went the rest of the way down on my butt. After crossing a suspension bridge the next 0.4 miles were runnable - it was exactly what I expected from the outset, it clearly was ice 24 hours ago but was just broken up enough in most places as long as you ran with a wide stance and avoided tight turns/thicker sheets of ice.
Then it got ugly again. The 70' > 20% switchback climb was rough enough, but once on top the conditions weren't any better. This ice had not broken up and was on a narrower trail that zig zagged its way along a cliff. For the most part I stayed on the conservative side, but in the worst sections I tempted faith closer to the cliff and bounded up the hill side off trail through trees and just hoped there weren't any surprises in the snow pack below. My watch buzzed towards the end of this stretch and the moment I got to peak at the result net quite the internal chuckle. Little did I know what was next.
Mile 4 - 10:49 (166) - This picture is scary enough yet it doesn't really give the rest of this descent justice. The worst part is around the bend to the right. As you can see, clearly anything not on the guardrail is an accident waiting to happen - and that wasn't even safe once getting around that turn. On that part I opted to go on my heels (the downside to yaktraks) while holding onto the rail and skidded down this section...but the last 30' were guardrail less. So, plop - and back to my ### again. I wasn't so smart with my hands this time though. I did too much steering down to the next stair case and my gloves got water logged. Grr...I carefully walked down one more ice covered staircase and intended to plot out what to do next, but then was greeted by another staircase back up out of the gorge. This section wasn't quite as slippery as before, but since we came back through this way a mile from now I made a mental note that it probably wouldn't be the case on the way back. Once on top the next 1.3 miles were a runnable loop comparable to what I encountered from miles 2.3-2.7, so it was time to get my bearings back together.
Mile 5 - 10:34 (158) - I realized two things early in this stretch - I had lost touch with the lead pack and my hands were a problem. Running open handed in the water logged gloves was simply too uncomfortably cold - and this was while running. I knew there would be more walking, hiking, sliding, etc later so my body temperature would not remain elevated. So I clenched my fists in tight. They were still cold, but warm enough to curb any fears of hypothermia. Out of curiosity as I completed the loop and made a mental note of my time to that point (7:17 - not that bad for running on partially broken ice I said to myself).
But now it was back to Kevin McAllister's funhouse. And unlike Harry and Marv I was tasked with going back through it. only this time I also had to dodge the other HM's who hadn't gotten to the loop. Woof. The first stair case down was unpleasant as I expected, but sustaining hyper focus kept me upright. To my surprise, I only almost fell once. But then the behemoth linked earlier awaited my arrival. I expected the HM'er to be hogging the guardrail and they didn't disappoint. I made it maybe 10' before falling and sliding back to the bottom. How the hell am I going to get up this thing. Then I got passed. And a lightbulb went off. I grabbed onto the leash and followed. Their chosen path was different than mine and didn't result in my falling and sliding back down the hill. I just hoped it continued because as long as we sustained momentum our chances of getting to the top enhanced. My blocker bit it just before getting to the final turn (but didn't slide down the hill). At that moment I remembered what the terrain around the turn was then looked to my left (look at the link before) and made the decision to trudge through there. I wasn't going to dare look to my left heading up that side hill but it was also heavy wet slush snow and there were enough tress to grab onto if I felt like I was losing my balance. I got to the last big one and vaulted myself through the split then I was on my way again.
But not. I was then quickly reminded that there was still a long ways to go. The next 0.2 miles were on that single track built into the cliff only now also with runners coming towards me. So I was even more aggressive bounding along the conservative side through trees along the hill side. I didn't have any issues with these the first time through, so hopefully the rest of them are just as stable. Maybe. But the last thing I wanted was to have an encounter with someone coming the other way losing their balance, so this seemed like the lesser of two evils. As I reached the next descent my watched buzzed and I was genuinely shocked to see such a 'fast' time through this section. Then I remember I did the first 0.6 miles at 7:17 pace - and laughed.
Mile 6 - 11:05 (152) - I was exhausted when I reached this descent. More mentally than physically, but definitely both. And the switch back nature of this path only added to the challenge. It's one thing trying to bound down hill on this stuff in a straight line, but changing direction? Well, that's impossible. I'd get about halfway to a switchback then start to slide then ease my way down to my ###, using my hands to stop at the edge of the switch back before going over a cliff. I'd compose myself then do the same thing going the other way. It worked, but there were five of these in total and it took me longer to get back up after each one. Towards the bottom I was passed by the same person that did on the stairs earlier, which was a welcomed relief as the next 0.3 miles were runnable and I needed to shut my brain off for a couple minutes. A 140' incline awaited on the other side, but with less of a grade than the ones prior it wasn't coated in ice and was still just steep enough to make running it a waste of energy. So for the first time in this 50 minute journey I really had a chance to breathe - it was still a power hike, but it was just nice to engage a different muscle group and not need to worry so much about every single step. Once on top I was passed by someone else, so I grabbed onto that leash then shut my brain off again for a bit.
Mile 7 and 8 - 8:48 (159), 8:11 (160) - We'll call this part of the race the eye of the hurricane. A sense of calm came over me as I only needed to be aware of clear thick icy sections, but I also knew a grand finale awaited. So I took this opportunity to get my bearings back together and let my two leashes ahead guide the way. Which ended up being a good thing as there is one particular turn in which I know I would have bit it (hard) had I not had those rabbits. Both of them were very steady over this section, but I noted they had some issues on a corner about 30m ahead. As I approached I saw the hazard and had I not seen them struggle would not have thought anything of it - what was probably multiple feet of ice had partially melted and was now about 6" of standing water with still another foot of ice underneath. Good grief. I generally always make turns wide, but I went especially wide on this one and still had trouble staying vertical.
Towards the end of mile 8 is when things get interesting again. One more descent back into a river valley...which would be solid ice. The trek down was treacherous enough, but thankfully it was in a straight line so I didn't need to do anymore of the butt technique with now soaked gloves. I needed to balance myself with trees along the side a couple of times, but those stops were just brief. The next 0.5 miles back to the suspension bridge mentioned mile 3 was a different story.
Mile 9 - 9:02 (158) - The river flooded earlier this week. And in most areas it flooded completely over the trail. I couldn't devote the mental energy to contemplate how thick that ice had to have been a day before, but thinking back as I'm writing I'd compare it to the tight turn I mentioned earlier. A large percentage of this section was in 6" of standing water on top of a block of ice. Changing direction was impossible, but stopping would have been worse. Should you do that then restarting would be an adventure without something to grab onto. And 100% hyper focus was necessary to get through this upright. I was able to make it the whole way with only one slip (and no fall), but realizing I couldn't stop as I approached the suspension bridge I slid into it like I was trying to beat a throw home. And now the hardest part
of this race awaited.Mile 10 - 9:45 (153) - That first descent into the park? Well, to exit it you have to go back up it. Only now my feet and hands are soaked and the rest of my body is screaming uncle. So I popped in dum dum #2 (yeah, red!) and gave this giant beast hell. To refresh, this was a sheet of ice across the path and a cliff to the left with a narrow crevice to the right the only way up (how did we get down this thing!!!). Most sections allowed for power hiking, but there were several nooks and crannies in which it wasn't - whether it was a 5' vertical rock covered hump or a water/mud hole of unknown depth. I can't recall all the different maneuvers around these obstacles as in that moment I was only concerned about conquering it and moving onto the next one. The next thing I recall is seeing the turn towards flatter ground and laughing at my watch when I saw my pace was 21:25. The final 0.6 miles of the park were a lot like mile 7 - broken up ice covered but runnable. So i took this opportunity to start thinking about what's next.
My two leashes were still about 30m ahead, hands were freezing, and I recalled my yaktraks really bothering me on the original road ascent that seemed like hours ago. I contemplated dumping my long sleeve and going to the tank only, but with cold hands I opted not to. So I put my eyes on their backs with a goal of catching them by the end of the park where I intended to unload my gloves and yaktraks. I was surprised how much juice remained in my legs and that i was able to sustain 16X HR's as I closed the gap on them. It encouraged me about what i could do once back to the road. As we approached the shelter at the end of the park I sat on a bench and quickly ripped off my yaktraks then dumped my gloves. I only lost about 20m on them so I must've been fast - I'm surprised my cold hands were able to work with those yaktraks as quickly as I did.
Mile 11 - 6:44 (158) - Pavement. Oooh, sweet pavement. Never have I been so happy to feel you again. While I was mentally exhausted and my back was not happy I still had some juice left in my legs. So I set out to catch those leashes again before the bottom. I opened the stride and could tell my back wasn't happy about it, but it didn't worsen and as long as that was the case I pressed on. I passed leash one rather quickly and #2 towards the end of this mile, about 0.5 miles before the road stretch ended.
Mile 12 - 8:15 (157) - I didn't let up off the gas after I passed them. It was obvious I'm a better road runner than they are, but they are clearly better on winter trails. And the last mile and a half were on the latter. I needed to kill their will now, so they didn't think about coming after me again in the woods. In so doing, I came upon one of the early packers that clearly ran out of gas. I barreled by him on the final road descent as we entered the final park. The hills and grades were much less severe, but the ice was...siiiigh, worse. Without gloves nor yaktraks on anymore I decided not to use anymore of the butt technique, so it was time to surf. I'd try to be assertive towards the beginning of a descent, but then do a little jump and plant my feet then just glide to the bottom. Without yaktraks I really had to balance myself on the edge of the trail on any ascents and I absolutely could not stop my power hike or I'd just slide back down. Thankfully the rest of the trail was fairly runnable, but those ascents and descents had me at my mental breaking point.
Mile 13 - 10:01 (157) - And then I reached my physical breaking point. Given the state of my back on the road descent i wasn't surprised, but along this stretch my hips said no mas - then the rest of my body followed suit one after another. With my stabilizers fried I didn't feel like I had any control over movement nor balance. The only thing that kept me going at any sorta clip was another potential kill that surfaced. In the races spirit, this was all grit with doses of surfing when the terrain called. I had closed the gap to about 10m as I approached the final 0.25 mile but then i met my maker. Another ####### stair case. I saw he was bouncing up them, so to give myself a chance I needed to do the same and I knew 2 strides in it wasn't happening. So I stopped, composed myself, then power hiked up the rest. I'm 99% sure had I kept going and maintained balance I wouldn't have cleared one step at some point and would have had a knee on stairs meeting I wanted no part of. One less kill will have to suffice.
OFFICIAL TIME - 1:59:11, 5th place, age group win
Despite post race libations I was sore last night. Knew i'd be more sore today. And boy is that true. I am happy that my greatest source of discomfort right now is my ###. That tells me I did all this right. My back isn't happy, my calves get mad at me going upstairs, my quads going down, and I can't move without making audible noises but the butt muscles scream loudest. But I wouldn't change a thing. That was one hell of an adventure I'll never forget.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
I need to find this course and go run it in May. This may be my only opportunity to say I beat @MAC_32!
Seriously, great job gutting out a tough course in brutal conditions. It makes you realize how conditions (weather, terrain, etc) significantly impact our performance.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
lumpy19
Footballguy
OK so my gut tells me I'd want (2) 6 oz over the 11oz because in my head it seems the 11oz would really be bouncing. Which one do you use?
gianmarco
Footballguy
Zasada
Footballguy
Dude, I'm from a city that has snow on the trails from Oct-May and just reading this was too much for me. Sub 2hr half on trails. In these conditions? Epic. True #BMF.
lumpy19
Footballguy
gianmarco
Footballguy
MAC_32
Footballguy
-OZ-
Footballguy
-OZ-
Footballguy
Nothing stellar to report on my end. But I have decided the goal for 2021. 1 hour of training / exercise daily, on average every month. So far 31 hours in January, 28 hours in February. I didn't even hit 100 run miles either month.
With the oak barrel half April 3, and the goose pond island HIM in late May, I'll probably shift a bit from swim to run but not too much.
With the oak barrel half April 3, and the goose pond island HIM in late May, I'll probably shift a bit from swim to run but not too much.
The Iguana
Footballguy
hmmm. Ran a 5k on Saturday. It was rather muddy and flooded up to near knee high in a couple places with a little bit of snow/ice in a short wooded section but nothing like you endured. I wasn't quite "feeling it" but put in a halfway decent effort given the conditions. Worst part was coming :thisclose: to losing my right shoe half a dozen times in the mud and muck. Officially finished with a not very exciting 25:56 time. 2nd in my AG but that's not saying much - there were only 7 of us in it. Was 42 out of 117 overall with a bunch of HS XC runners out setting the pace.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
Timely! Registered last night for the Fox Valley 20 miler on 9/19 (final pace test for Boston, though this on a flat course), and just finished using miles to book flights to/from Boston. Flying in on Friday so I can hit the expo on Saturday and actually rest my legs on Sunday. [Already had booked an AirBnB near the Southborough train station where they run shuttles to the Hopkinton start line.]
Patiently increasing my mileage every few weeks with a plan to be at 50/week with SOS workouts in April; 55/week and SOS in May. And then start marathon training.
Zasada
Footballguy
Went out on Saturday hoping to PR my 30K. Not a huge effort, but I figured at a comfortable pace, I should be able to do it. Given all the miles I've run in 2020.
Nope. Still didn't beat the first 30K of my Houston Marathon over two years ago. I crashed and burned in the last 10K of that race, but man, I had a pretty good 30K (for me)! 2:37:05.
Nope. Still didn't beat the first 30K of my Houston Marathon over two years ago. I crashed and burned in the last 10K of that race, but man, I had a pretty good 30K (for me)! 2:37:05.
The Iguana
Footballguy
being 3/1, feeling I'm still in a pretty good spot. Kind of bummed I didn't get out yesterday and run a couple miles or so to actually hit 100 miles for February but that's ok. Went on a hike with my wife and dog instead as well as ran a bunch of errands.
- Jan: 112.9
- Feb: 98.5
lumpy19
Footballguy
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
tri-man 47
Footballguy
@SteelCurtain, I see in the race calendar you list Boston as a 3:30 'fun run.' First of all, :finger: 
Second, and seriously, might you have any interest in running that a few minutes faster and playing pacer, if it works out ....training and corral-wise?
Second, and seriously, might you have any interest in running that a few minutes faster and playing pacer, if it works out ....training and corral-wise?
The Iguana
Footballguy
@SteelCurtain, I see in the race calendar you list Boston as a 3:30 'fun run.' First of all, :finger:
I had very similar thoughts when I saw "fun run, 3:30ish".
MAC_32
Footballguy
I thought he was injured?@SteelCurtain, I see in the race calendar you list Boston as a 3:30 'fun run.' First of all, :finger:
Similar threads
