Drove to about the 3-mile mark of SGM and ran the course to the finish (except I ran on the trail from Snow Canyon to the church on Bluff Street). First 5 at easy pace, next 12 at MP roughly MP effort, next 3 with goal of 180 bpm or higher, then last 3 at super-easy cooldown pace with my little sister, who was finishing an 18-mile run on the course. It was pitch black for the first 5 or 6 miles and there was a lot of traffic on the roads, presumably due to the Red Rock Relay, the fact that it was a holiday weekend, and the abundance of SGM runners training on the course. I felt pretty good until about mile 14 or so, when my energy started to ebb. I had eaten a banana before the run, then taken Enervitene at mile 5 and mile 10, and I took my last one at mile 15. That seemed to help some, but I still felt pretty wiped out by about mile 18. The ascents and descents on the trail are far more severe than on the actual course, and that undoubtedly affected how I was feeling. The temperature was pretty mild but it was quite humid due to a significant rainstorm the night before. I felt like I was sweating like crazy and that the sweat never evaporated. That may have also contributed to a feeling of greater depletion than I would have expected. Finally, I wonder if the 2000 calorie/day regimen had me toe the line with fewer reserves than normal. I only slept a couple of hours the night before, but I got great sleep two nights earlier. At any rate, here are my splits for the hard miles:
Mile 6: 6:27 (AHR 162) (this started about a mile past Veyo on the climb into Dammeron Valley)
Mile 7: 6:36 (AHR 175)
Mile 8: 6:29 (AHR 173)
Mile 9: 6:06 (AHR 171)
Mile 10: 6:17 (AHR 167)
Mile 11: 5:55 (AHR 167)
Mile 12: 5:53 (AHR 161) (I think this was the mile that headed toward Snow Canyon--it would have been faster, but I caught up with Brooke, my wife, and ran with her for 200 yards or so)
Mile 13: 5:48 (AHR 172)
Mile 14: 6:01 (AHR 171)
Mile 15: 6:31 (AHR 172)
Mile 16: 6:14 (AHR 172)
Mile 17: 6:13 (AHR 169)
Mile 18: 6:03 (AHR 177) (this one had a lot of big clims and steep descents along the trail and really beat me up)
Mile 19: 5:42 (AHR 180)
Mile 20: 6:18 (AHR 177) (for some reason, my Garmin showed the church on Bluff Street as being .65 short of 20 miles, so I continued down into the neighborhood for a while, then ran back up the hill to finish at the church, and the combination of feeling like I was already done and running uphill killed my pace in the last half mile)
I should note that I didn't keep to my 2000-calorie/day commitment during the 3 days of vacation. I didn't eat like a pig, but I allowed myself to enjoy a burger at In-N-Out and some pizza. I must say that I was a lot less grumpy than I had been during the previous week or so!
Later in the day, we took the kids hiking (I carried Eli in the backpack) and spent a couple of hours hanging out at some natural pools outside of Hurricane. We had a great time and my energy levels stayed pretty high until late in the afternoon. Little to no soreness (at least before I pulled out The Stick and found some in my quads) that day or the day after. | 