Dave's Addiction

I don't know why I did this race. I don't know why I took a welding class in college. But I don't regret either :)

After I registered I found out that this race is on the nationals circuit, so I figured it would be nice if I could get in the top 50. My objective was to have a lot of fun and beat myself to crap. Acheivement unlocked. The race started at the Park City ski resort. The first 0.4 miles or so was on a nice wide dirt road but after that it was almost all narrow single track in the trees, so I know I would have to get out front at the beginning if I didn't want to spend the entire race looking at someone's butt. But that's not a problem for the king rabbit of the universe, and it certainly wasn't a problem today. The pros were probably thrown a little off kilter as I put some decent distance on them for the first two minutes, just long enough to get past the photographers so I could get some pics for Facebook. The world set itself aright again as the steep section tested my poor hill climbing ability past its limits, and I dropped back. 

Once I got to the single track I walked some in the grass on the side and let 25 or 30 guys pass - I knew I wouldn't be seeing their butts ever again. Finally the people that were more my speed started catching up at about the same time I recovered from the fun, and I started the claimb in earnest. To my surprise I was continually passing people on the trail up, ever so gradually, sometimes several times as I would run, then walk a bit, then run some more. I kept seeing the first female about 100 meters back though so I was motivated to keep up the pressure. I knew if I could make it to the top before she did that I would surely get to bottom first as well. 

The trail was very nice, not too steep at all, and the forest was shady and cool. We got to the exposed ridge and I was shocked how steep the final ascent looked! But I was still able to pass two people while being passed by one, and the top appeared without warning much more quickly than I thought it would. Downhill monster was ready to go, but I held back a little because there was still a 200 foot climb to the next peak after the first drop and once I get in downhill mode there is no uphill ability left at all. I kept the guy who passed me at the same distance until Tri County Peak, then I just let it out.

Foom! I passed person after person - the marshmellow shoes made the trail feel like road no matter how hard I stomped, and I passed people like they were standing still. There weren't that many people to pass though, and by the time I had gone  6 miles downhill monster was looking a little haggard. There was one last group that was tightly bunched that I wanted to pass but the juice was gone for the last mile so I just squeaked past the 6th masters dude, beating him by 10 seconds. The guy in front of me refused to be caught, even with a sub 5 run on the final stretch, and he beat me by 4 seconds. The 2+ hours of fast breathing at high altitude gave me a pretty beefy asthma attack, which I slept off for an hour. Fun times!

11:07.10:58,9:53,9:57,12:01,11:19 - up
15:49,10:21 - two peaks
6:53,6:25,6:32,6:13,6:58,6:29,5:46 - wheee

Trudge to the gym and back the long way

EZ run uphill on 21st east in Springville, bomb down other side of it at 4:45 pace

I have to shake this upper respiratorywiredness, kept things to a minimum today

Bike to and from work

Definitely some sort of cold, not avery strong one but I'll be nice to make sure

Nice trail run with the bugout guys in SF reservoir area, great new trail!

Tried for a decent speed workout today, lungs not happy. So once I got to minute 22 of the .1 per minute ramp (11.4) I dropped it back to 8.8 every other minute and increased the fast minutes up to 13.0

Blah easy run on gym route

Crap workout, this cold sucks

Bike + run

Standard pre-race strides

I just couldn't shake the cold for this one. I hoped I might be able to get away with the fist mile 1 opening my lungs, and it did, exposing the next layer of wheeze. Even with a 4:47 mile 1 (4:58 on the watch) I still slowed rapidly, getting passed for the first time at mile 1.5. Lots of miles around 5:35, then at mile 6 my lungs started complaining louder, like a calliope that had been shot a few times, and I decided it would be better to jog it in. Especially after Curtis passed me doing my normal 5:45, while I was stuck at 6:15. I am glad I did, shortly after arrival at the finish line unspeakable things came out of my nose and lungs, and I felt much better. Now I am ready to set some records at the Run Elevated! 10th overall 1:16:36

Not bad for a cold, but not good either. I am resolved to make it up.

Standard gym route, still a little sore from Hobble

15 miles on the bike, 2 on foot looking for the stolen trailer. Got the bastard too. Don't mess with the runners.

Get a halfway decent speed day, ran from High School back to house

EZ run on the reverse gym route

Standard pre-race strides

Today I wanted to find my limits on the 5 and 10 K downhill running, and the Alta Peruvian course seemed like the best place for it! So I put on the Hokas and got ready for some stompin fun. The race started off at the eastern end of the paved segment, and I was instantly in front and cranking. I didn't limit things at all, I was going for a record today! Even with only 220 drop I managed to get 4:46 on the first mile - running a bit warm in the legs, but still middle on the breathing. After mile 1 things really get going downhill so I was limited more by the biomechanical resistance than breathing. Mile 2 was 4:48. When mile 3 went by at 4:55 I knew I had a 5k record in the bag! And I got right under 15 flat, so I am calling it 15:00. I can't imagine how people actually go 13 on the flat. I could barely do it running downhill. Of course I wasn't breathing hard at all but I was definitely pushing the legs.

So now it was time for the 10K record. I had hopes of getting in the 29s because the hill was getting steeper, but already I was starting to feel the strain as my next miles were 4:58, 4:55 and 4:55. Good enough for a 1 minute PR (30:20) but not to break 30. My breathing was still fine, but by mile 7 I was starting to feel like I was going to pull a hammie so I had to back off just a little (5:04, 5:18). It didn't help enough as the moment I hit the first less steep down hill and I had to provide thrust instead of braking my legs turned to rubber. Mile 9 dropped to 5:30, and it turns out that I can in fact maintain a sub 5 pace average for 9 miles. 

Unfortunately this race was 13 miles.

I tried walking through the aid station at mile 9 and this was a terrible mistake, I did get going again, but on absolutely dead legs that felt wobbly and about to collapse at any moment. I figured as long as I could stay under 1:08 at the end I would be OK, and I was still under 1:06 so I could pull out 30 seconds per mile and still get a HM PR. Ha ha. Mile 10 was 6:16, even though it was 100 feet downhill, and things were getting worse rapidly. Mile 11 has a nasty 50 foot vertical climb - I had to walk it. 7:03, destruction accelerating. Then the course went into a park. Flat. Auuugh! I walked on the FLAT. Still well in front, but somebody is going to catch me. Come on Dave, get going again, it's only 2 more miles. Trudging downhill I was passed during mile 12 as I ran a 6:34. Good grief! Well I'm not going to win now and I feel like it's mile 24 or a marathon so I'll walk a little here. and here. and there. Ow ow ow mile 13 went past at 6:32. I still couldn't see the finish, I hope I didn't take awrong turn. That's OK I am going to go in hard and not care how much it hurts. My mighty effort got me a 6:14 pace at the end for the last .17 and third place was only 6 seconds back :)

So now I know what the top end speed is, I think on Nebo I'll do 5:05s and feel much better at the end :)

Bike to and from gym, limp everywhere. Worst soreness ever.

Hey, I can run a little now!

Almost normal gym route, still pretty sore and weak

Tried a tempo run, got about 20 seconds slower than usual. It's coming back!

Still trying to take it easy

Nice easy run on the Eagle Scout trail

Run from the High School to the secret valley and back