Running in the Rockies

Not sure why I decided to run colfax half again this year. I forgot about the 6am start and the 'need to be parked by 4:45am'. Ugh. Left the house at 3:30 am and drove on the very slushy canyon road down to Denver (it snowed 5-6" up at our place on Saturday night). Arrive without too much issue and parked. They changed the set up of the course a bit this year and it is terribly dark at 4:30am in City Park. They didn't have great signage directing runners to the start or to the port-o-potties. I saw lines of people just waiting to use the standard park restrooms, likely because they didn't know where the POP's where. It was a chilly morning, temps probably in the upper 30's, low 40's with some drizzle. I opted for tights, long sleeves mid weight shirt with a light weight t-shirt over it + gloves and running cap. Brought along the hand held amphipod water bottle with First Endurance EFS and a Gu (no caffeine) (only drank 1/2 the EFS and ate less than 1/2 gu).

Ran 5 mins of warm up to get to POP's, then over to start. Stretched a bit on the starting line. Probably could have warmed up a bit more. 

 They used corrals this year and placed runners w.r.t. anticipated finish time. I'd say about only about 1/2 the people in my corral were actually suppose to be there. Many were from slower corrals (supposedly not allowed, but no one was checking). Of course, one of my biggest pet peeves in these larger races is 1) people that run with ear phones (because 9/10 times they have no idea they are cutting people off left and right) and 2) slower runners and/or walkers that start in positions that do not in any way represent where they will finish in the pack or even what their paces are. Anyways, I digress, somewhat... The start was pretty long and it took a while for the pack to thin out enough to even run. As expected, within the first mile people were walking and breathing so heavily that it sounded like they would pass out. It just seems to me that if you are going to walk in the first mile, you should be in one of the last, if not the last starting corral. I have no idea why people do this, it can't be fun or good for motivation. I guess my goal should be to get faster and try to legitimately be located in the first few starting corrals. I bet the faster runners do not have these sorts of difficulties to deal with.

 I didn't have time to really think about a plan for this race. I had intended to do that this past week, but never found the time. So, as usual, I decided to start slow and try to get progressively faster throughout the nice, flat course, with significantly more oxygen than I typically have available.

The breakdown from the garmin:

Mile 1: 9:37- really packed, not able to even run at some points.

Mile 2: 8:58

Mile 3: 8:59

Mile 4: 9:08- slight hill

Mile 5: 8:53

Mile 6: 8:54

Mile 7: 8:45

Mile 8: 8:31

Mile 9: 8:37

Mile 10: 8:31

Mile 11: 8:19

Mile 12: 7:55

Mile 13: 7:51

Forgot to turn off watch after I crossed the finish line, so I have no idea what my ending pace was. I felt strong on the very last stretch and the last few data points from the garmin were 6:55- 6:35 pace and it didn't feel like a sprint, just a strong finish.

Total (from garmin) time: 1:54:04

Ave pace (from garmin): 8:38

Started raining just as I finished and my hands were freezing by that point. I grabbed a banana and some water and headed to the car to change. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, and I'm thinking that for the next race I may wear my watch, but set it into a mode so that I cannot see my pace. I'm thinking maybe I should try to race more by feel and see how that goes. I was running pretty easy (I doubt my heart rate was above 150) until about Mile 10, so I think if I adjust my race strategy and mind set, I'm probably capable of a sub 1:50 right now on a relatively flat course at lower elevation (5,000-6,000').

Ended up meeting an old friend for brunch down town after the race and it was great to catch up with him after ~5 years! ( I am just terrible at staying in touch.. really need to be better at that).

*I just looked back at my stats from this race last year and I ran a ~2:03, so I guess almost a 9 minute better time for this course is a good start to the season. Especially since I've only really been training for the last month after taking care of the IT band/ knee issues this winter.

AM: 5 with pups on trails in ~12:47 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', 800' gain/loss. Legs felt a little heavy this morning, especially on the uphill sections. Probably just some fatigue from the longer day yesterday (I don't deal well with less than 8 hrs of sleep per night). It was a beautiful morning though with the snow melting off the trees in the morning sunlight. In the deeper parts of the forest it felt a little like the trees were crying on us and in the open sunlit sections it was a brilliant display of sparkling gems falling. Really very pretty. There was not a cloud in the sky, so the views of the snow capped mountains against the brilliant blue was also a nice touch to the morning run.

The negative aspect of the run occurred on our way back when we met a gentleman and his rather large australian shepherd and the little one refused to come back when called. My older dog is really very nice and submissive to almost all dogs he meets on the trails. He used to get excited (and he still does somewhat) and go running up to strange dogs and I was always more worried about him than the other dog or person. We finally got him trained so that when we call him, he comes back 99% of the time even if there are other dogs on the trail. The little one is a bit more aggressive though. She barks like crazy with all her hair standing up, it's less of  'yay! another dog for me to play with' and more of 'I am really not happy to see you on this trail and I will protect my person if I need too' .. So this is no good. There is always the possibility of meeting other people and dogs on the trails near our house and her behavior this morning was unacceptable. At any rate, we let the dogs meet (because she was NOT coming back to me anyways) and the other dog was growling at her (I would too- she was being super annoying) and I managed to grab her and put her leash on. I apologized to the man and he seemed to understand that she is just a dumb puppy. I kept her on the leash the entire way back home, which was just as painful for me as it was for her because she is a handful on the leash as well. But, I think it is going to be necessary for the next few months until she learns to come back when called. It is probably a good thing to start getting her used to running with me on the leash anyways.

AM: ~6.5 with pups on trails in 12:14 avg pace. Avg elevation: 8,500', ~930' gain/loss. Avg heart rate: 154, Max heart rate: 169. Goal for this run was 75 mins at ~160 bpm heart rate. It was nearly impossible to get 160 on downhill sections and almost as hard to stay under 160 on the uphill sections. Although it was a nice change of tactics and one that may come in handy for trail running in general. Go very slowly up the hills and maintain a quick leg turn over on the downhill sections. Nice morning run with the pups though. They were relatively better behaved today. Foam rolling for 10 mins after the run. 

* a few people on the blog keep track of miles run with their pups and I think that is pretty cool so am going to be a copycat and do this as well. The older pup (L pup) has probably done about 1/2 of my total mileage since I've joined the blog and I ran with him ~ 1.5 years before joining, so I think 450 is probably an underestimate. The younger pup (B pup) has probably only done 1/3 of the mileage since March, so probably ~50 miles? This will probably also be useful for me to see how much they are running- I worry that sometimes I run them a bit too much.

AM: 5 miles with pups on trails in ~13:14 avg pace. Goal was 60 mins at a heart rate of 145 bpm, but again had problems maintaining 145 on downhills (usually around 120) as well as uphills (~150). IT bands were also a bit tight on both legs, likely from the faster downhills yesterday so I decided to take it very easy today. Avg heart rate: 134, Max heart rate:154. Avg elevation: 8,500', 788 gain/loss. Started out in sleet that became rain towards the end of the run. We ran through the clouds in the upper sections of the trail. Very peaceful morning. Foam rolled and stretched afterwards. 

AM: We got 6-8" of snow last night and was still hanging around this morning. Very slushy/sticky heavy stuff. Decided against running and took the pups for ~hr long snowshoe. They really love the snow. Foam rolled when I got home. Will try for a run in the afternoon in Boulder. 

Afternoon:  6.77 mi in 9:00 avg pace on Boulder Canyon trail. Goal: 60 mins at 150 bpm heart rate. Did pretty well. I feel like it is much easier to run based on heart rate down in Boulder. Avg heart rate: 152, Max heart rate 162. Min elevation: 5,340; Max elevation: 5,754. Rained the entire run. Thoroughly soaked.

 PM: Another 45 min snow shoe with the pups. They have too much energy.

AM: Attempted a road run this morning, but within 3 minutes I had almost fallen twice and decided the roads were just too icy at 5:30am. So, I turned around and went back to grab the pups for a trail run in the snow (~8" this morning). Goal for the run was 75 mins at 160 bpm, but I knew this was going to be really tough to do while post holing up and down moderate sized hills. So, opted for the usual 5 mile run at a  moderate effort. ~5.03 in 15:09 avg pace. Avg heart rate: 150, Max heart rate: 164. Avg elevation: 8,500', 793 gain/loss. It was a tough run and my legs are pretty tired from the post-holing. Beautiful morning though. I do love the snow. Foam rolled, stretched, and hip/glut exercises afterwards.