2009 Collegiate Peaks 5/2/09

I was not going to write up a report on this race but due to JT being a pain in the ass about it here it is.

Leading up to Race Day:

The week leading up to the race I was under a lot of stress causing me to loss all kinds of sleep. I think the longest that I slept that whole week was 4 hours a time. I also was not eating well due to the stress. I seem to control my diet better when I am running regularly and everything is in line. I was sure that Friday before the race I was going to get laid off from work. I even went as far as to clean out my cube so that when it happened I could just walk out. Looking back at it now, it seems that I have sucked all the fun out of the week leading up to the race. It should have been a stress reliever but instead it was a stress creator. I was just mentally fried.

Race Day:

Link to the race site: http://www.collegiatepeakstrailrun.org/

As I woke up on Saturday morning at 5:15 am for the 6:30 am start I walked down to the breakfast bar at the hotel to toast the bagel that I brought with me. I ate that with peanut butter and honey that I brought from home. I was not going to depend on the hotel breakfast bar for food like I did in Moab.

At 6:30 am as the sun was finally starting to warm the earth up a little a large group of us runners headed out of Buena Vista east into the mountains. The first 3 miles or so was mostly on roads that were rolling mostly in an upwards direction. I started in the back and took my time. It seemed like my legs did not want to run this morning. My plan was just to take my time and get to the 25 mile turn around without any time in mind.

The first 10 miles is mostly all uphill with a gain of about 1300-1400 feet. These 10 miles were for the most part very uneventful for me as I just jogged along about a 6.5 mph average trying my hardest not to hammer the beginning like I always do. I made sure that I was drinking lots of water and a little bit of HEED along with eating a little something at every aid station. I wanted to make sure that I try and keep my energy levels up since it was going to be a long day out on the trails.

Here is a picture of the elevation profile. The first 25 miles you read it from left to right. The second lap or 25 miles you read it from right to left.




At about mile 10 the course takes a big downward direction with a few short climbs for the next four miles. I decided that on these down hills at about mile 12 that I was going to just let gravity take me and build me a little bit of a time buffer for the cutoff. Basically I just ran at a comfortable pace but I was bored and had no real desire to even be out there after the week I had. Basically I just did not care.

Mile 14 to 18 was the next big climb of about 1000-1100 feet. This climb was not too bad, I was able to keep a pretty good jog up the hill except few mins my legs would tire a bit and I would walk for about a minute or two so they could recover. All I could think about during this time was how much I would rather be at home with my girl. You see not only was I worried about being laid off earlier in the week but we just moved into a house and my girl just took a new job with Manitou Fire as thier new paramedic. Just so much going on! All in one week!

From mile 21 to 25 which is mostly rolling downhill I had already decided to drop. So I cranked up the pace a little on the flats in order to get done a little sooner. When I hit the final big downhill into town I was forced to slow down due to the line of people all heading down the single track.

As I was coming up on the turn around I caught JT and told him what was going on. Of course JT being JT called me a puss and tried to get me to head back out with him. When I came in I was mentally done, I was just having an off day and did not want to be there. I told the guy working the race that I was switching over to the 25 miler. I collected my finishers metal for the 25 miler and was told my time was 4 hours and 12 minutes. 2 minutes slower than last year. Not to bad considering that I was holding back to run another 25 miles. When I dropped from the 50 I was in about 16th or 17th place (yes I was counting as I was coming in) and was feeing good energy wise but not so much mentally. I just wanted to go home and spend time with my family, so that is what we did. We went back home to Littleton and caught an afternoon movie and went out for a nice dinner. Oh well maybe some day I will get this 50 miler completed.

Quick Reflections of the Race:

Looking back now at earlier in the month and how I was feeling about everything has prompted some interesting thoughts.

1) Stress from work and life changes are huge in how they affect everything.

2) Sometimes it is better to just take a step back to see the whole picture

3) My stomach felt a lot better as compared to past races, getting better with my calorie intake

Thank you for reading and have a great upcoming holiday week.

Shad