2012 in Focus, Greenland 50k Race Report

2012 racing (though it more resembles adventure to me) is now underway.  I have not written much since Ironman Wisconsin and my Livestrong fundraising campaign in 2011.  Last year ended on two nice positive notes, my company presented me its Volunteer Service Award for my various fundraising efforts, with a gift of $5,000 to the charity of my choice.  I directed it to Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver.  They will be building a house for the Dulla-Robe family.  I also received a promotion, which I was very pleased with.

So with 2011 "in the bag," I decided to try something a little harder, the Leadville Leadman Race Series.  More details are in my last post.  But, I was also trying to decide where to direct my fundraising efforts.  I decided to team up with Team Sweat Equity.  They work to benefit 10 children's charities through endurance racing.  My goal is to raise $5,000 and to date I am just under 40% of the way there.

Onto the Greenland Trail 50k a race I decided would be a good first step in the process of building up to the Leadville 100 mile trail run.  The race was in a familiar area down near the eRock 24 hour mountain bike race (coming up June 1).  Turns out the course was the same place exactly.  So I was looking at 4 laps of the 8ish mile loop.  The race gun kicked things off a few minutes past 7am.  It was 41 degrees, and I felt nice and comfortable starting out.  The first 2 laps were pretty comfortable.   Around the end of lap 3 I was going pretty strong but starting to feel the heat, as it was now about 82 degrees.  I started out on the final 8 miles of my 31 mile adventure.  Now the wind was picking up and I was running the five mile slow uphill.

Side bar: the course was a 5 mile out and over, with 610 feet of climbing followed by a 3 mile down hill with a quick descent.  Repeat 4 times = 2450 feet of climbing slow into the wind and 2450 of descending fast, tough on the legs and the heat on lap 4 didn't help at all.

Suffice to say lap 4 started, I thought 5:10 was reachable (breaking the 10:00 minute mile barrier).  Anyway, I hit 26.2 miles (the marathon warm up to my 5 miler), in 4:32.  Note I am in better running shape than I was at Ironman Wisconsin, where I ran the marathon in about 4:16 after swimming 2.4 miles and cycling 112 miles.  Hills, wind,  heat, and 7,000 feet of elevation take a heck of a toll.  The final 5 miles was ok but a bit of slog.  I finished in 5:27 or a 10:32 pace.  My laps were 1:11, 1:15, 1:22, and 1:34.  That's called positive splitting, not really the "recommended approach" but whatever, it is what it is.

The journey was pretty fun out there, beautiful scenery, a fun little wandering mind meditation for me.  I just need to slow my pace and do a little over triple the distance with more climbing at higher altitude and I will be all set come August 18.

Kudos to the race organizers, well done aid stations, lots of food and beverages at the finish.  Even bigger kudos to my partner in crime, Super Stud Scott Swaney, who got 9th overall in 4:14.  We're doing the same race schedule this year, albeit at slightly different paces.  If you're in the area and want to try something different, give the Greenland 50k a go, it's good times.

Happy Training