Friday, March 29, 2019

Sawmill Ultra Race Report and other stuff...

Haven't posted in a long time blah,blah, blah..... promise to post more often blah, blah, blah.... yeah right......

Well, if memory serves the only race I’ve done since the Pikes Peak Ascent fiasco was the Sawmill Trail Run at White Ranch in December. This is a Human Performance Running Series event with a 27k or 55k(ish) option. I ran the 55k. I had been feeling particularly good going into this race and having easy access to White Ranch definitely helped me confidence going in. I ran a 7:33, good for 20th. As always with an HPRS race, a well organized, simple, old school race put on by Sherpa John. If you want to get back to the basics of trail and ultra running, HPRS is the place to go.

I am not going into a full race report, too much time has passed, but I was particularly happy with my finish. My previous two HPRS races at White Ranch, both times the Tommyknocker 12 Hour, my finish had been a pitiful hobble. Despite covering a similar distance in less time at Sawmill, I actually finished in quite good shape running pretty much all of the last few miles. Not gonna lie, it felt good to be able to bomb at the end and actually catch and pass a couple people. I have definitely learned a little about how to roll with the highs and lows of an ultra distance. After a particularly brutal climb to start the second loop at Sawmill, I easily could have said “well my actual running is pretty much over!” But I knew that I could recover and that was just a low spot in the race. This shit is so mental!



Cooper also ran this race, his first ultra distance, and performed great. I saw him once durinG the race (both figure eight’s go in opposite directions at Sawmill) and he happened to be on the aforementioned climb at that time.  I am taking full credit for him rallying from that point and passing a couple guys to finish second in 5:52! No doubt in my mind it was mostly due to my expert fatherly advice. Or it may just be because he is an awesome, determined runner and he trained hard. You make the call. I’m going with the former.



Well, I continued to feel really good ofter Sawmill. That was until a recent series of calf injuries that started with me running in some sloppy snow, conditions that have never agreed with my body for some reason. I haven’t had to take any long stretches off, but it has been a serious disruption and running any kind of elevation with a calf strain just doesn’t work out that well. I have been fortunate since we moved close to Standley Lake, which has miles of dirt trails and gravel roads and is reasonable flat. I’ve been getting some decent miles in there and I really love the place. The last couple weeks I’ve been getting out into the foothills on the weekend and getting some elevation in so things are looking up.



The calf injuries have thrown my plans into neutral. I originally planned to return to The Palmer Lake Death Race and go for 100. It’s next month so that obviously isn’t going to happen. I could still jump into it if there are spots open and just put a long day on the feet in, but I doubt I will do that. The Tommyknocker 12 Hour is in mid-May and I think there are still spots open,  plus a half marathon option if I want to go that route. I am seriously considering going “ultra-free” in 2019 and doing some shorter, steep mountain and trail races. Stay tuned!

I also have some non-race projects I am considering. First and foremost is to summit Pikes Peak. Since the Ascent debacle robbed me of a summit (and I’m surely never entering that
race again in this lifetime), it’s on me now to do it. I definitely want to “run” it, not just hike it. I’m not sure whether I actually want to go up and down, or just up. Transportation down could be an issue though. I’ll have to work that out but that is going to happen this year.

Other routes I am hoping to do are The Boulder Skyline Traverse, an out-and-back of The Beaver Brook Trail (Coop and I ran there from the south side this winter. Amazing!), and perhaps the Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop. I would also like to do some less-popular 13ers and 14 ers, possibly with some off trail linkups but we will see. Only so many summer weekends between cross country and track season!



Speaking of that, I am still assisting with Arvada West Distance in the fall and spring. I would label myself a “professional encourager” and deal mostly with the JV. My goal is to get as many of them to train year round (unless they are in another sport season of course) and feed our varsity. Great kids that work hard. It’s been super rewarding.




Claire is in the midst of her first collegiate outdoor track season right now. She finished 8th in the indoor 3k in the super tough and big RMAC! She has her sites set on scoring again in outdoor in the 10k and already posted a converted time 38:11 (or pretty close, my memory is getting foggy due to advanced age) so she is doing great! It is certainly nice to have her close enough I can go to the majority of her meets. Gina and I just went down to Pueblo for a Thursday meet! Couldn’t do that when Coop was in Monmouth!

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