Sitting at the airport now waiting for the plane. Here goes the story of Leadville 50M Silver Rush weekend:
As per Karl's suggestion, I signed up for the 50M race instead of the training program in late June to simulate racing conditions as much as possible. He was bang on! I would not have pushed nearly as much if it wasn't a race setting.
So I got there Friday afternoon after stopping at REI on my way up to buy gels and trekking poles. I got my package and went to bed early. On Sat at 6am I was off to Hope Pass from Twin Lakes (Karl's suggestion as well). I took it easy all the way up and met several people training for the 100M going all the way to Winfield. It took me just about 2hrs on the way up, stayed there a bit but things got chilly so I headed down easy and took me ~1:20hr but took a wrong turn and did another 30-40min going down for a total of 4hrs. The altitude wasn't too bad I just kept the breathing under control trying never to red line and never really got to me. Felt fine after the hike just a bit tired on the legs but nothing much, I rested the remainder of the day.
I really had no expectations for the race, the thought was 10hrs and to practice keeping the breathing under control while eating and drinking regularly. Again as going up to Hope Pass, the altitude didn't really affect me more than anyone else in the race, maybe a bit more by the end but I had no specific issues along the way. I took faster shorter breaths through the mouth and it seemed to work. Not sure if everyone is aware of the profile of the race but its basically the letter M, really no flats just up down up down repeat. Trying to start somewhat conservatively but still pushing just a little I ran (more like an easy jog) about 90% of the first uphill, then ran all the next downhill, then ran just about 30-40% of the next uphill and then ran all of the next downhill for a total of ~4:30hr on the way out. On the way back I power walked most of the uphills about 80-90%, and on the downhills I really made a lot ground and progress. Right until the last downhill (10m to go) I was on schedule for the gels (every 20min) and water (every 10min) felling a tired but ok. At that time I decide to give it a go to see what I had and the push lasted about 5M until I had to slow down considerably. I passed quite a bit of people but during that push I stopped the gels and the water on regular intervals and that affected me, I started getting stomach cramps and I even ran out of water for the last 15min. In any case I ended up with a ~4:46hr on the way back for a total of 9:16hr, which I though was pretty good since its only 16min slower than the first half. At the end I was told this year had about 1.5 more miles than last year so its now 48M. I really wasn't looking for placement I just wanted to feel good and finish in a decent time. I felt pretty good along way, and each uphill crested above 12,000ft, so that was 2 times each way plus Saturday's Hope Pass.
The race is well organized, the aid stations were well stocked for a 50M race and volunteers were very good. The beauty of the scenery was incredible, breathtaking to be exact specially when you are at +12,000ft! The terrain is not technical, done mostly on jeep and dirt roads with some technical rocky portions, however the crox in this race is just the lack of flats and the patience of power walking and the ability to run downhills.
So this race could have had two results: 1) If I had a shitty race then it would not have been very encouraging for next months race 2) If I had a good race, at least I know that I'm capable of running at altitude which gives me a lot motivation and somewhat of a boost, but then again it doesn't mean anything until I cross that finished line in August. I'm encouraged that the training is paying off and that the stomach issues are, at the very least, not getting worse. Fingers crossed and one more month to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment