Equinox Half Marathon

This morning I woke up at 4:45 to get my act together and drive over to Poudre High School, where I caught the bus to the start of the inaugural Equinox Half Marathon down Poudre Canyon.

I texted Jen and we met up by the portapotties near the busses. She introduced me to several other runners, including Althea, that's Althea, Jen, and me from left to right in the picture. Jen and I shared the front seat behind the driver of the school bus, both of us trying not to have motion sickness on the way up the curves in the canyon.

When we got to Mishawaka, where the race started, we jumped off the bus into the porta-potty line, which was moving pretty quickly. Must have been a young crowd. Got that done. Then we ran into my friend Morgan and we went inside where it was warmer, inside the bar until it was time to drop off our bags and for me to warm up before the start.

It wasn't cold at 8 am when the race started, I brought layers and my sleeves but ended up not needing anything extra. I also had planned on carrying my pack with one water bottle in it, but decided against it, since there were 3 aid stations along the course, and it didn't seem like it would get very warm.

My plan for the run was two-fold: to use it as a tempo run, in which I was hoping to be able to average 8 minute miles, which would have had me finishing in 1:44-1:45. The other purpose was to give myself an idea of my current fitness level as a guideline for pacing myself in next month's 12 hour race in Oklahoma City.

I had no idea what would happen in 13 miles but I got up fairly close to the front, maybe 8 deep, and when the gun went off I went out at what felt like a relaxed pace, on a slight downhill grade that lasts a good portion of the race, with a few exceptions.

At the one mile mark I was at 7:23. That surprised me because 7:23 usually feels harder than that. It must have been the downhill. I backed off and made it to 2 miles in 15 flat. That felt a little easier, but I felt 7:30 average pace was still too ambitious for me at this point. I decided to walk through each water stop, that would make it feel like a training run and not a race. I didn't want to be totally spent after this run, and I know my fastest paced tempo run of 10 or 11 miles has been about 8:10 average pace recently.

As the run went on, I stayed consistent and comfortable, most of my mile splits falling into the 7:40 to 7:50 range. My slowest mile was 8:02, and nothing else was over 8 minutes. It never got warm enough to be uncomfortable, and the aid stations seemed to have plenty of drinks and volunteers and were well-placed. If it was a warmer day, another aid station would have been a good idea.

As we approached the finish line in the last 2 miles I was able to pick up the pace and I felt strong, definitely still had something left in my legs. I crossed the finish line in 1:42:11 on my watch, and that is a 7:48 average pace per mile. Mission accomplished.

As far as 12 hour race strategy, I'll have to see what pace feels comfortable on my long run next weekend on the flats at altitude but I'm projecting that I'll need to plan a pace that's a good bit slower than my PR at 12 hours. I think I can get within 5 miles of it, though. I still have a few good weeks of training ahead, too.

For a first-time event this was incredibly smooth and well-organized. Lisa Sinclair is the race director, and a local runner, and she did a fantastic job putting it together and getting enough volunteers. I highly recommend this run. The course is overall downhill, with a few little rises and a few flat areas. I can't say whether it's a PR course because I'm almost a minute and a half per mile off my PR pace at this point in my life! But I know quite a few people who did PR today.

I didn't hang out much to socialize after the race, there was beer and food and an awards program but I have had enough of everything this week, all I wanted to do was go home, finish out my 20 miles for the day, and relax.

I went home and did another 7 miles and didn't feel bad at all, and here I am, contemplating a nap. I got 67 miles in this week, with plenty of quality miles, and two 20 mile days. Next week a long run is in order, but no racing. I see a couple more 5Ks on the horizon after that, though!

Loaded Rocket!

It's recovery week, and things are going well. I still have some residual soreness in my left hip and the inner side of my right knee, which I presume are from the track curves. Each day they've gotten better. Today I hardly notice the hip. It's the knee that I can still feel.

The swelling is gone and I can see tendons in my feet again, my ankles and knees are back to normal size, and my appetite has settled down some, after a major sushi binge Tuesday night.

I've been taking naps and getting some good sleep and I feel like I'm mostly recovered already. I'll find out the truth as soon as I try to run fast again, that should be interesting.

Having these few days off with nothing urgent to do has been great, it's given me a chance to kick back and think about what I want to do the rest of the year with my running. I'm full of ideas today, but I have a plan that should work well.

I took Rocket for a run this afternoon, my first run since the race. I only ran about a mile with it, in the heat of the afternoon, 83 degrees or so. I put a big cooler in with tons of full water bottles in there, and it was heavy. It's comfortable and it feels fine, both pushing and pulling. Dennis ordered a bigger wheel for the front, so we're waiting on that to make the adjustment, and then Ed and I will have to take it for a test run. I'll do a few miles each day and build up slowly, I think getting about 20 miles max with that thing is all I need.

The other thing I need to add to my training now is heat. I'm going to add a couple of visits to the sauna each week from now until Double Mick, and continue some of that all the way to Lean Horse. If we have a hot summer I won't have to spend much time in the sauna, I'd rather be out running in the heat. But it's there if I need it.

I rode the Surly 10 miles yesterday and 20 miles today, easy, and I feel pretty good. My butt got sore from the seat, since I haven't been riding the bike. I'll have to get used to that again. It feels good to ride, I'm going to do a lot more of that this summer than in the past.

I go back to work tomorrow, just for one day, which is an extra shift I picked up for someone. If I didn't, it would have been a full 2 weeks off, but this just means less vacation time I have to use, which is fine with me. I feel like I got enough of a break from work that I am ready to go back. I have this weekend off, then I have a weird schedule for the next two weeks, work a day, have 2 off, work another day, 2 more off, etc. As of Memorial Day weekend I'll be back on my normal schedule, just in time to go away in mid-June for the Double Mick.

This weekend is Nick's Quad Rock 25 & 50 mile race, unless I find some other pressing thing to do, I will go up to the park and cheer for the people I know who are running. I hope the race goes well and becomes a popular one. It's a great course, and I'm hoping it gets some media coverage too. If it doesn't get local coverage, I'll put it in my running column at the end of the month.

I just found out about a new race, the Equinox Half Marathon, this fall in Fort Collins. I'm going to sign up. It's September 23rd and it runs down the Poudre Canyon, like the Colorado Marathon, but from Mishawaka to Ted's Place. Lisa Sinclair is organizing it and she's got her act together. I don't run too many local races these days but I think this one will be good, even in the first year.

I need to find a few short races this summer, anything from about 20K to 30K, to use as fast training runs. That will be one of them. I'll have to find something in July, August, and October too. Maybe a marathon in early October. As soon as I get my August schedule and am sure I have the time off in the end of August, I'm signing up for the Lean Horse Hundred. And the same with the race in Oklahoma, 24 The Hard Way, I'm going to do a 12 hour there.

And I saw on Nick's blog that he made it up Longs Peak last week, so that's on my list soon- I want to at least run to the Boulderfield. Most of the trail isn't too rocky until you get up higher. I can test out my ankle up there with a good high altitude run. I'll try to do that before Memorial Day- when the crowds come back. I used to run a double Boulderfield or a triple Twin Sisters once a week years ago, it was a staple of my training when I used to run Leadville.

I don't enjoy the drive to Estes Park so much anymore, but I'd like to get back to doing those trails, at least once in a while. I don't spend enough time in the mountains anymore, since I spent so much time doing heat and road training the past several years. Now that trails are an option again, I can look forward to more variety this summer.