this race turned out well, but not as expected.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/420905810
40 degrees, but snow on the trails in Albion, IN this morning. The course is a 2x15mi. loop with a little bit of road running, one water crossing, but about 80% of the trails were non-technical/manageable. Partly due to the Saloman Speedcross 3's, I think - they get an A+ rating for trail running from me BTW.
Very good pacing hleped me today. It all worked out - went out at right about what I thought was manageable, given recent low mileage in training. Think the splits from 2 laps were almost identicle: 1:55:xx for the first lap, 1:55:xx for second.
Lap 1: 8:03, 7:39, 43, 34, 29, 31, 38, 33, 34, 38, 45, 53, 8:16, 7:44, 7:34
Lap2: 7:59, 32, 46, 42, 50, 51, 50, 32, 8:02, 7:47, 7:26, 8:04, 8:09, 7:55, 4:31 for 0.62mi. ? Second lap I moved up about 10 places, and was literally blowing past people - again the correct pace was planned and dialed in from the beginning (I'm very proud and surprised with myself :) )
Yeah, I don't know what was going with this course, but, it was likely that my Garmin was just losing signal. I also stopped to use bathroom twice and a couple times required stopping at aid stations. Much different from road races - less aid stations, and they almost require you to stop at them... at least in this trail race :(. I hit every one - mostly just pounding about 3 gatorade cups and a water since the aid stations were at about every 4-5 miles and I carried 5 GUs with me. Nonetheless, it worked out for my GI system for some reason, and I managed to not really ever crash. Prob also attributed to running a manageable pace (especially in the beginning of the race)
Good race - well organized and decent enough swag/food/aid stations and directions. The 3 hour drive wasn't too bad either. Might do this one again if I can get some company next year.
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