Weeks Ending Sept. 25 and Oct. 2

Catching up on a couple of weeks.  One was decent, the other not so much.  Nothing I can do about that now.  I spent last week in Virginia with my parents visiting my little sister and brother-in-law.  While it was nice to get out of Laramie for a bit, and great to hang with the fam, I did jack for training and came home with a pretty nasty cold that has managed to hang on for nearly a week (I hypothesize some super-Virginia virus for which I have little to no immunity).  So, I am going into Silent Trails either doomed for disaster or extremely well-tapered.  Can one really taper off a few 50 mile weeks?  I guess I will find out.

Tues. Sept. 20 - 8.6 miles in 62 min (7:12 pace).  I ran an old West Laramie loop that Jason and I used to include in a larger, all-of-Laramie loop we did for weekend long runs back in college.  I was out between 7 and 8 in the morning, and the traffic over on that side of town was a little ridiculous.  And apparently West Laramie residents believe not in sharing the road.  Or slowing down whatsoever for pedestrians.  Saw my life flash before my eyes a couple of times.

Wed. Sept. 21 - 9 miles in 57 min (6:19 pace).  TEMPO RUN!  Warm-up from my place to the UW track, form drills and 4x100m strides, then into a three-mile tempo at six-minute pace.  I actually hit the mile splits in 5:51, 5:59, and 5:56 for a total of 17:46/3-miles tempo.  Felt decent, pretty smooth and relaxed.  Followed it up with 6x100m barefoot strides on the infield and a cool-down jog home.  Last "workout" before Jelm.

Thurs. Sept. 22 - 5 miles in 38 min (7:35 pace).  As if I haven't figured it out yet, I again waited until after work to run, and once again, I felt completely awful.  I wanted to get in 8-9 miles, but after making a quick loop out in Cottonwood Estates, I bagged it and went home.  Ragan, you NEED to get your runs done in the morning, bonehead!

Fri. Sept. 23 - 6 miles in 42 min (7:00 pace).  My house to the UW track, 8x100m barefoot strides, UW track back to my house.  Quick and easy pre-race workout.

Sat. Sept. 24 - 13 miles in 97 min (7:37 pace).  JELM MOUNTAIN RUN.  Went to the race with my dad and Mr. Vogel.  Did a quick ten-minute warm-up to get some blood flowing into my lungs.  Chris Schabron and I worked together on the first couple of miles while Sam Malmberg opened a gap on us.  When we started the first of the real climbing about 1.5 miles in, I thought, "Oh no, I feel terrible, nothing is flowing and it's going to be a bad day."  Chris put a few meters on me before my legs woke-up and started getting down to business.

Chris and me enjoying our Saturday morning.  Perfect weather.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

I started churning up the mountain, eventually dropping Chris and continuing up.  I felt really good on the climb, the best I have ever felt on that mountain.  I thought, for a brief period of time, that I was making up time on Sam.  I think this was an illusion; Sam beat me to the top by exactly three minutes, 43:10 to my 46:10.

When I began the descent, I had a choice to make: do I bomb down this mountain as fast and haphazardly as I can and try to catch Sam, or do I take it easy and make sure I have the ability to walk the next few days?  I had almost two minutes on Ted, who was in third, at the top.  I figured if Ted could make up those two minutes on the descent, I could deal and just out kick him at the finish (sorry Ted, I mean no offense).  I decided to relax, figuring I wasn't going to make up three minutes on Sam, a much more skilled trail runner than I, on a descent.  I chose to sit and defend my second place.

Feeling good.  Floating over the ground.  Photo by Guy Driver.

Cruising into the finish.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

My plan worked, I was in great shape after the race and had no issues with my plane travel to Virginia the next day.  I descended in 30:55 compared to Sam's 28:19, putting me 5:36 behind his winning time of 1:11:29 with a time of 1:17:05.  Talking to Sam after the race, he was concerned that I would catch him on the way down, claiming that he was not a great descender.  That got me wondering if maybe I shouldn't have pushed harder coming down.  However, looking at my previous times on Jelm, I seriously doubt I would have done it. 

I like this picture of Patrick, Mr. Race Director, and me.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

When I won Jelm in 2008, I ascended in 46:44, and descended in 28:29, for an overall time of 1:15:13.  I did climb faster and more comfortably this year, but had I descended in a similar time this year, I still wouldn't have made up those three minutes on Sam.  I would have merely remained even with him.  What I need to do is figure out how in the hell to get up the mountain faster.  I am confident in my ability to descend with just about anyone, and if things were to come down to a kick, I'm pretty confident I could summon up enough of my old track speed to get by the trail guys.  What kills me is the time I lose to them on the climb.  I can't make that up coming down.  I think next year will see a few more forays up Jelm.

Totals:
Week's Mileage: 42
Running Time: 4:56
Year to Date: 1164

As for my week in Virginia...I ran twice on Virginia Beach, felt terrible on both, couldn't breathe in all that thick, humid air, and continued my legacy of being the only human alive that functions at a disadvantage when going down from elevation to run at sea level.  Seriously, a look at my personal bests is pretty indicative of this fact.

800m - 1:59.9 in Fort Collins, CO (5,003ft.)
1500m - 4:08 in Fort Collins, CO
Mile - 4:23 indoors at Black Hills State in Spearfish, SD (3,648ft.)
3000m - 8:41 indoors at Nebraska in Lincoln (1,176ft.).  However, I ran a 9:02 indoors at Air Force (~7,000ft.) that converts to ~8:42.  Basically the same time.
5000m - 14:56 outdoors in Albuquerque, NM (5,312ft.).  I ran 15:07 indoors at Iowa State (Ames is 942ft.) one year.  And felt twice as bad doing it.
8K XC - 25:35 in Fort Collins, CO.  My best low-elevation time was 26:01 at Notre Dame (South Bend is 692ft.).
10,000m - 31:41 at Stanford.  Again, I ran a 31:42 at BYU later that year (Provo, UT is 4,551 ft.).

Now, some of these times have certain extenuating circumstances impacting them.  For one, since I live in the Rocky Mountain region, and Wyoming is part of the Mountain West Conference consisting of schools in similar geographic locations, most of my running and racing is done at elevation.  Also, most of my pr's are from races run at the end of the season, meaning I a) had a whole season worth of conditioning under my belt and b) I was peaked/tapered for most of those races.  My 5,000m pr was run two weeks before the MWC outdoor championships, my 8K pr was at the MWC XC championships, and the 3,000m and 10,000m times I ran at elevation were both at conference meets.  Most of the lower elevation races were early in the season when I was perhaps less ready to run well.  However, I still feel that I have never come close to seeing all the physiological benefits of going down to sea level to race that I heard so much about my entire life.

Mon. Sept. 26 - 4.5 miles in 32 min (7:06 pace).  I ran down the straight, boring street that ran along Virginia Beach.  I turned around and hopped on the beach coming back.  The sand there was so soft that I felt like I was running in peanut butter.  After about ten minutes, I retreated back to the pavement.

Wed. Sept. 28 - 4 miles in 30 min (7:30 pace).  Again, just wasn't feeling it.  It was particularly humid this day (94%).  We don't have such things in Wyoming.

After that, I caught a cold from my sister and brought it home with me.

Week's Mileage: 9
Running Time: 1:02
Year to Date: 1175

Gear: Asics Speedstar 5 (162 miles)