I posted this a while back. So here's an update:
Weekend 6 - Thanksgiving 4 day camp - COMPLETED
Weekend 5 - Dec 3 - Recovery Weekend/Run - COMPLETED
Weekend 4 - Dec 10 - El Sendero 50km - Gauge fitness. COMPLETED
Weekend 3 - Dec 17 - Recovery Weekend/Run - COMPLETED
Weekend 2 - Dec 24- Final hard training weekend and week.
Weekend 1 - Dec 31 - Recovery/Taper weekend
Weekend 0 - Jan 7 - Race day
Last Saturday December 10 was the El Sendero 50km. Just as I wrote there, it was more of a race to gauge fitness and to regain some "race brain" practice as it's been 19 months since my last race.
If you look at the results, you'll think: DAMN! Mike killed it!
And yes, finishing 2nd overall is quite nice. But truth be told, the competition wasn't stellar, then again, you can only race whomever shows up.
But more importantly, race management was truly terrible. The race was two 15.5 mile loops. My personal goal was to try and run under 4.5 hours, or at least under 4 hours 45 mins. Worst case scenario, under 5 hours.
Right from the start 3 of us took the lead, and I kid you not, within 5 minutes of running, Todd, Chris and I probably had a 1 min lead on everyone else. The race would then play out between the 3 of us, and that's where race management went in the toilet. I don't run at the front of races. I have no idea how that works. So long story short, the first loop was fast. WAY fast. At times I would look down at my watch and for long stretches it would hover around 7:20 min/mile. that's FAST on trails.
My personal goal was to go our around 8:40-8:45 pace, to have energy in the last 4 miles to pick up the pace and finish on a high note. But this also was based on the fact that I wouldn't be leading the race. Long story short, the three of us ran the first loop in 2 hrs 10 mins, which translated to a 8:04 pace. (total run time including climbs, water refill stops etc).
By mile 14 I knew the pace would kill me, but when you're up front, you kind of go with what you have.
Hundreds of times I kept thinking, this is too fast, this is going to kill me, i wonder if i let them go if I'll be able to catch them, how will i know how far ahead they got. can i make up 30 seconds per mile over the last 4 miles if i let them go for 10 miles? All questions I didn't know how to answer, so I just decided that I would throw out the initial personal plan out the window and instead, I guess I'd play the game of see who blows up last.
At around mile 19-20ish, we reached the top of the biggest climb, and one then both of the guys stopped to pee, and refill their water bottles at a cooler at the top. (I think) I had plenty of water, so i bombed the down, and kept going. I'd pick up the pace on any long straight away so they wouldn't see me ahead, then would settle back into cruising speed among the trees. Anything to not let them see how far ahead I had gotten. About 10 mins in to this, i let up the pace and went back to cruising speed as I had already raced 20+ miles and didn't need to be going any faster for much longer as I would seriously crash if I did. Chris was running great and caught back up to me by mile 21.5 or so. I guess he also bombed the down and I never took that big a lead.
we proceeded to run together for a while until we hit a long uphill straightaway where my gas pedal wasn't working and I was just moving forward at a slower pace than normal. I had hit my low point in the race, and Chris was feeling good. He kept going, maybe picking up the pace a little, but it was enough to quickly put a 100 yard gap on me over the next 5 mins or so. I just had nothing in the tank, and that's where the "Fitness Gauge" showed me that I was no where near the levels I've been in 2 years prior.
The rest of the 9 miles consisted of moving forward as best as possible. I had no energy to chase, but I also didn't want to get caught by Todd and lose my 2nd place. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the finishline appeared and I crossed the line in 4hrs 41seconds. Chris won in 4:37, and Todd came in third in 4:47. There was then a 4th place guy in 4:54 or so, and then 20-30 mins before 5th place.
Overall, i'm happy with second, but the race plan was not what i meant to do, so i really have no idea what I can do if I run a sensible first half to have energy for the second half.
And I can't complain over improving from a 4:59 to a 4:41 personal best in the distance!
This past week was a recovery week and weekend. I ran Tuesday 6 miles, Wednesday 8, Friday 7, Saturday 14.5 and about 6 on Sunday. Me legs felt fine on Friday and Saturday, but were tired all other days. This coming weekend is my last big weekend, and I think i'll head down to Bandera to train on the course and figure out what 8:30-8:45 pace will feel like out there. The goal for Bandera 50km on Jan 7 is 4:35 or under for the 50K.
Here are the ugly splits: (the loop 1 to loop 2 splits aren't exact as it wasn't a full mile at the turn)
Here's what we looked like at the turn:
.Here's what I looked like at the finish:
(I changed shirts because it was initially very warm and i was sweaty, then a very cold wind picked up and sweaty clothes in cold winds is not fun.)
Here's my 2nd place plant prize:
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