I have the WSU 100k this weekend. It will be a good test to see how my fitness is as I'm slowly building up to June's West Highland Way Race.
Keep running!
Scott
15 April 2012
Palouse Brown to Green
The fields are making their turn from brown to green. This is a great time of the year to try to get lost on the back roads.
I have the WSU 100k this weekend. It will be a good test to see how my fitness is as I'm slowly building up to June's West Highland Way Race.
Keep running!
Scott
I have the WSU 100k this weekend. It will be a good test to see how my fitness is as I'm slowly building up to June's West Highland Way Race.
Keep running!
Scott
04 April 2012
Badger Mountain 50k - race report
The Badger Mountain Challenge debuted last year in the Tri-Cities, WA with positive reviews. And since I'm always on the lookout for new races in the region, this seemed like the perfect event to kick off my big training for the big race in June.
The 50k course is basically an out-n-back along the spine of three hills overlooking the Columbia River, so that gives us six nice climbs before the finish-line. It was mostly a mix of single-track, gravel roads, and rocky double-track.
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| 50k profile courtesy of race website. |
I hadn't been on a run longer than 20 miles since January, so I was treating this race as my first long run of the season. I've been trying to be more patient with my miles this year than I was last year. Last year, I ran myself into an injury two weeks before the Atacama Crossing. This year I hope to be a little more conservative with my weekly mileage.
Weather forecasts all week were predicting a lot of cold rain and high winds, so I think most of us felt a little lucky that we only felt a few drops at the start - and the sun even popped out a few times. The high winds were still there, especially on the top of the hills.
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| Pre-race smiles. |
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| Up the street to the trailhead. |
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| Sun rising over the Columbia on the first climb. |
So I ran on my own for about ten miles, enjoyed the views from the hilltops, snapped some photos, focused on keeping a smooth effort, and worked on eating a GU every 40 minutes even if I didn't feel I needed one.
On the third climb (the last one before the turnaround), my power-hike was feeling pretty strong and I passed a couple people at the top. After a short jaunt along the ridge just before the downhill screamer and turnaround, I saw Brendan running back toward the trail. He and another guy had missed the downhill turn to the turnaround and ran along the ridge for another 1/4 mile or so. But he was in good spirits. We fueled up at the aid station and headed back up the hill together.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"This is awesome," he said.
"Yeah," I said.
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| Good day for a run. |
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| From one hill to another. |
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| Looking up climb #3. |
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| Looking east down climb #3. |
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| Some rock thrown in for fun. |
After the turnaround, we passed a few guys, but I don't think either of us had any idea what place we were in. It's usually pretty easy on an out-n-back course to gage what place you're in, but near the turnaround point there were a bunch of non-race hikers, some early starters (or lead guys struggling...I wasn't sure), and even some 100-milers still out on the course, so I didn't try to pay too much attention to what place we might be sitting -- I figured it was probably around 10th place.
Brendan and I had a good time chatting and enjoying the course. When we hit the last climb I told him to run ahead if he had anything left and that I was going to hold back just a little so I can hammer the downhill to the finish (I really enjoy hammering downhills if I have any quads left). He slowly pulled away from me on the climb, and I slowly reeled him in on the downhill.
We crossed the finish-line in 4:14:52. (full results) It wasn't until the next day when results were actually posted that we learned we tied for 5th place overall. Pretty sweet. Also, it was another PR for me. This was my fastest 50k by about two minutes. Fun day on the trails. And huge congrats to Brendan for an impressive 50k #1; I think we may have him hooked on trails. :)
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| Sweet single-track on the top of Badger. |
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| Near the top of Badger just before hammering the last downhill. Brendan is ahead in the white shirt. |
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| Off the hill, waving to Annie, and rounding the cones to the finish-line. |
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| With Brendan after crossing the finish-line. |
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| Brooks Pure Grit rock. |
Next up: WSU 100k on April 22. I have a score to settle with this course after it kicked my butt in 2009.
Keep running!
Scott
21 March 2012
Snake River Canyon Half - Race Report
The Snake River Canyon Half is quickly becoming one of the top Eastern Washington early season events. It's a super-flat, often very windy, out and back along the mighty Snake River about 25 miles outside of Pullman. Even when Pullman may be suffering through dreary March winter weather, the river canyon is generally much more mild due to the significantly lower elevation.
The half-marathon is still a racing distance I'm not very familiar with. Up to this point, I've only run two road half-marathons, and both of those were basically for-fun runs the weekends after a 50k. So I was a bit more rested than usual heading into this race, and I wanted to see what kind of effort I had in me for this distance. I predicted that I was probably fit enough to hit a 1:22, and possibly (if I was feeling particularly strong on race day) challenge 1:20.
Wind is always a worry when running down in the canyon. Sustained winds over 25mph isn't uncommon (and not very fun to run in). The weekend before the race, we were seeing gusts over 50mph. So I bet everyone with a time goal in mind was crossing their fingers in the days leading up to the race. Forecasts called for chance of showers and 10-15mph winds.Well, we didn't get the showers, but the forecast was about right on the winds. Could have been a lot worse.
The gun went off three or four guys sprinted out in front of everyone. Even though this feels like a local race to me, this race attracts a few sub-1:10 guys and a bunch of sub-1:20 folks, so I had no illusions of running with the front of the pack.
I stuck with my friend and masters stud, Doug, for the first couple miles into the headwind. We tried sticking with a large group (15+ strong) to have some protection from the headwind, but when we hit mile two around 12:05 we both knew that that was just a bit faster than we wanted to be running, so we slowed a little bit to play it conservatively. I'm not sure if that was the right move or not, because we very well may have been using more energy battling the wind.
About that time another friend, Knut, caught up with us and another guy from the pack fell back to our pace, so for about half a mile it was four of us working as a team against the wind. But quickly my stomach started turning to knots (pretty bad, actually), I had dropped back about 20 meters, I was fighting the wind by myself, and I even started contemplating dropping way back to a very easy pace so I could just run the rest of it for fun. I was carrying a single GU so I thought I'd suck it down just in case it would help. It did. I'm not sure what was going on with my stomach, but whatever it was, the GU fixed it almost immediately.
I was still off the pace of Doug and Knut (the fourth guy had dropped behind me by now) and had no immediate intention of pushing it to catch up with them. Doug and Knut were taking turns leading into the wind about 30 or 40 meters ahead of me when Doug turned around and yelled to me, "C'mon! We need some help!" So I pushed it to catch up with them (it was around mile five at this point). We knifed through the wind as a team the next 1.5 miles to the turnaround, where the wind flung us around an orange cone in 41:04, just about dead on for a 1:22 finish time. I felt pretty good about that because I figured we'd get a nice stiff tailwind for most of the way back.
I was feeling pretty good and upbeat, and I started pushing the pace a little. In my mind I was thinking that if I ran a 41:04 into the wind, then maybe it wasn't so unreasonable to run a 38:56 with the wind to hit the 1:20 goal. So for the first three miles back I pushed it and saw the overall pace on my Garmin dropping a couple seconds with each new mile. Doug and Knut had dropped back a bit by this point, and I was slowly picking off a couple runners.
Around mile 10, the wind had shifted and was now in our faces again. Not strong, but the tailwind was noticeably gone now. I did some quick math and figured I had to run an 18-min 5k to get the 1:20 goal - possible, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. I focused on trying to keep an even effort and, more importantly, making sure I didn't implode.
About a mile and a half from the finish, we were hit with heavy gusts to our faces. Not sure where they came from, but for about a quarter mile if felt like I was reduced to a near walk. It felt like quicksand. (After the race, a couple runners ahead of me said their Garmin's current pace feature shot up nearly two minutes per mile in this short section). Then all of the sudden no wind. It was weird.
I made the turn around the last bend and saw the clock just passing 1:20. I pushed it hard that last quarter of a mile or so and attempted to sneak in under 1:21, but the seconds were moving faster than I was. I crossed the finish line in 1:21:09. Not surprisingly, a big PR. Also, 15th overall and 3rd AG. (Full results.) Doug and Knut came in just after me.
The half-marathon is no joke. It's an interesting distance -- long enough to require some fitness, and short enough to force a much quicker pace than I'm use to running. And as always, it was great to see all my running friends. I always get good vibes when I'm around a large group of runners. It always seems to refill my motivation cup.
Keep running!
Scott
The half-marathon is still a racing distance I'm not very familiar with. Up to this point, I've only run two road half-marathons, and both of those were basically for-fun runs the weekends after a 50k. So I was a bit more rested than usual heading into this race, and I wanted to see what kind of effort I had in me for this distance. I predicted that I was probably fit enough to hit a 1:22, and possibly (if I was feeling particularly strong on race day) challenge 1:20.
Wind is always a worry when running down in the canyon. Sustained winds over 25mph isn't uncommon (and not very fun to run in). The weekend before the race, we were seeing gusts over 50mph. So I bet everyone with a time goal in mind was crossing their fingers in the days leading up to the race. Forecasts called for chance of showers and 10-15mph winds.Well, we didn't get the showers, but the forecast was about right on the winds. Could have been a lot worse.
The gun went off three or four guys sprinted out in front of everyone. Even though this feels like a local race to me, this race attracts a few sub-1:10 guys and a bunch of sub-1:20 folks, so I had no illusions of running with the front of the pack.
I stuck with my friend and masters stud, Doug, for the first couple miles into the headwind. We tried sticking with a large group (15+ strong) to have some protection from the headwind, but when we hit mile two around 12:05 we both knew that that was just a bit faster than we wanted to be running, so we slowed a little bit to play it conservatively. I'm not sure if that was the right move or not, because we very well may have been using more energy battling the wind.
About that time another friend, Knut, caught up with us and another guy from the pack fell back to our pace, so for about half a mile it was four of us working as a team against the wind. But quickly my stomach started turning to knots (pretty bad, actually), I had dropped back about 20 meters, I was fighting the wind by myself, and I even started contemplating dropping way back to a very easy pace so I could just run the rest of it for fun. I was carrying a single GU so I thought I'd suck it down just in case it would help. It did. I'm not sure what was going on with my stomach, but whatever it was, the GU fixed it almost immediately.
I was still off the pace of Doug and Knut (the fourth guy had dropped behind me by now) and had no immediate intention of pushing it to catch up with them. Doug and Knut were taking turns leading into the wind about 30 or 40 meters ahead of me when Doug turned around and yelled to me, "C'mon! We need some help!" So I pushed it to catch up with them (it was around mile five at this point). We knifed through the wind as a team the next 1.5 miles to the turnaround, where the wind flung us around an orange cone in 41:04, just about dead on for a 1:22 finish time. I felt pretty good about that because I figured we'd get a nice stiff tailwind for most of the way back.
I was feeling pretty good and upbeat, and I started pushing the pace a little. In my mind I was thinking that if I ran a 41:04 into the wind, then maybe it wasn't so unreasonable to run a 38:56 with the wind to hit the 1:20 goal. So for the first three miles back I pushed it and saw the overall pace on my Garmin dropping a couple seconds with each new mile. Doug and Knut had dropped back a bit by this point, and I was slowly picking off a couple runners.
Around mile 10, the wind had shifted and was now in our faces again. Not strong, but the tailwind was noticeably gone now. I did some quick math and figured I had to run an 18-min 5k to get the 1:20 goal - possible, but I wasn't getting my hopes up. I focused on trying to keep an even effort and, more importantly, making sure I didn't implode.
About a mile and a half from the finish, we were hit with heavy gusts to our faces. Not sure where they came from, but for about a quarter mile if felt like I was reduced to a near walk. It felt like quicksand. (After the race, a couple runners ahead of me said their Garmin's current pace feature shot up nearly two minutes per mile in this short section). Then all of the sudden no wind. It was weird.
I made the turn around the last bend and saw the clock just passing 1:20. I pushed it hard that last quarter of a mile or so and attempted to sneak in under 1:21, but the seconds were moving faster than I was. I crossed the finish line in 1:21:09. Not surprisingly, a big PR. Also, 15th overall and 3rd AG. (Full results.) Doug and Knut came in just after me.
The half-marathon is no joke. It's an interesting distance -- long enough to require some fitness, and short enough to force a much quicker pace than I'm use to running. And as always, it was great to see all my running friends. I always get good vibes when I'm around a large group of runners. It always seems to refill my motivation cup.
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Scott
20 February 2012
Hells Gate State Park: A Little Piece of Heaven
I took it easy for a couple weeks after the January 50k -- a couple 15-20 very easy miles weeks. I needed a little battery recharge for the legs.
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| "But my leg doesn't hurt that bad. I can still run." |
And Sadie needed a break too. Since December, she's been dealing with an achy joint above her paw on her front left leg. I gave her three weeks off from running in hopes that she just needed some rest. After a couple easy runs after her rest, she was favoring her leg again, so I took her to the vet. She has some inflammation in the joint due to (I'll give you my translation of all the vet jargon) the specific way her joint bends -- basically it bends (think hyper-extends) more than her other joints. No injury, just an anatomical thing. But it cause extra stress on her joint, especially when she has increased impact on her front legs, like when she runs down stairs or trails, or jumps out of the car, or lands after catching frisbees. Anyway, I have some anti-inflammatory pills to give her from here on out. So far, so good; she ran 35 miles with me this week with no limp in sight.
My running goal #1 for 2012 is the West Highland Way Race at the end of June. Goal #2 is to fight the urge - and my enthusiasm for this race - by over-training and hurting myself (see my over-excited and just two weeks before Atacama Crossing 2011 result). The plan is to wait to start ratcheting up my mileage until mid-March or so.
In the meantime, as the snow still covers the trails on the Palouse I've found myself heading down to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley (an hour drive and a couple thousand feet lower in elevation) to get my trail fix at some sweet winter-free single-track at Hells Gate State Park.
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| This is what winter near the bottom of a Pacific NW canyon looks like. |
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| My buddy, Aaron, joining me on his bike. |
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| After a green light from the vet (and some pills), Sadie's back where she's most comfortable. |
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| Overlooking the Snake River. |
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| Looking toward the norther tip of Hells Canyon (the deepest canyon in the USA.) |
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| Cool formations on the canyon walls. |
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| Rainy-day single-track above the Snake. |
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| Sadie. |
To further help my winter trail-running blues, there was an 8-mile trail race at the park on Saturday, called the Edge of Hell. I've skipped this race the last couple years -- why, I'm not sure.
This race has an interesting format. There's a 4-mile and 8-mile option. The 4-milers run a loop, then the 8-milers turnaround and run the loop in reverse. Thing is, you don't know who's running the 4 or the 8 until the 4-mile mark when you either shoot down through the finish line or announce you're doing the 8 (someone marks your race tag as such) then turn around.
My legs were feeling light and fresh at the start and I planned on pushing it hard, but I wanted to be careful not to get caught up with the fast 4-mile crowd. But as we crested the first climb about a half-mile in I got the sense that I was likely the fastest one to show up on this particular day. I played it conservatively for the first couple miles and followed a short distance behind the only guy out in front (who ended up being the 4-mile winner). By a rocky descent near mile 2 I decided to push the pace some more and jump into the lead, and I never really looked back after that. I was the first one to hit mile 4, and turned back to run the loop in reverse (the tougher of the two directions) with my legs still feeling good. I finished in first place with a time of 52:54. (results)
A few race photos:
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| Great shot of runners along the Snake River cliffs. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Man, I get a bit teary-eyed when I see sweet single-track and blue skies like this. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Enjoying a little descent. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Running happy. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Snaking up and over and around the canyon-side. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Still feeling good nearly six miles in. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Steep descent. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| Pumping those legs on the steep climb. (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
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| (photo courtesy of Aaron Whiteman) |
This running thing is pretty good to me. I hope I'm giving back as much as I'm taking.
Half marathon in two weeks. Maybe a little rest? Nah, I'll keep running. :)
Scott
20 January 2012
Pullman Winter Ultra #2
We had a great time at this winter's second Pullman Winter Ultra event. The weather was again very spring-like with temps in the 40's and no snow or ice to be seen for miles.
I gave Sadie the day off as she's been showing a little bit of pain in her front left leg. This is the second time in the past three months I've had to give her some time off. Hopefully an extra-extended rest will be all she needs. I don't think a trip to the vet is necessary quite yet, but if she's hurting any after this break than I'll probably bring her in. :(
The course is four 7.75 mile loops on a paved bike path that loops around Pullman. I had a nice run and was holding on to a 4-hr pace (my hey-why-not-give-it-a-shot goal) through three loops. The last loop was tough and I slowed quite a bit for a finish time of 4:16:38, which was still good enough for a 50k PR. (results)
On the schedule now are some light weeks and a few local for-fun races before I start upping the miles to get ready for Scotland.
Oh, and in the last few days winter has finally arrived in Pullman.
I gave Sadie the day off as she's been showing a little bit of pain in her front left leg. This is the second time in the past three months I've had to give her some time off. Hopefully an extra-extended rest will be all she needs. I don't think a trip to the vet is necessary quite yet, but if she's hurting any after this break than I'll probably bring her in. :(
The course is four 7.75 mile loops on a paved bike path that loops around Pullman. I had a nice run and was holding on to a 4-hr pace (my hey-why-not-give-it-a-shot goal) through three loops. The last loop was tough and I slowed quite a bit for a finish time of 4:16:38, which was still good enough for a 50k PR. (results)
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| On my third loop. |
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| Post-race hydration at Palouse Falls Brewing Co. |
On the schedule now are some light weeks and a few local for-fun races before I start upping the miles to get ready for Scotland.
Oh, and in the last few days winter has finally arrived in Pullman.
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| (click here for pano w/ sound) |
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