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

2012 Race Schedule

Well, the offseason has been enjoyable, skiing, mountain biking, and running.  It looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a ton (literally) of mountain biking and running.  I have a 24 hour mountain bike race and a century road ride follow by the Leadville Leadman Race Series .

Date                  Race                                  Type/Cutoff Times
June 8th            Erock                                 24 Hour Mtn Bike   
June 16th          Denver Century                 100 Mile Road Bike   
June 30th          Leadville Marathon           Marathon / 8.5 hours
July 14th           Leadville Silver Rush 50  50 Mile Mtn Bike / 8 hours
July 15th           Leadville Silver Rush 50  50 Mile Trail Run / 14 hours
August 11th      Leadville Trail 100            100 Mile Mtn Bike / 12 hours (9 for gold belt buckle)
August 12th      Leadville 10k                     10 Kilometer Run   
August 18/19th Leadville Trail 100            100 Mile Trail Run / 30 hours (25 for big gold belt buckle)

So that last one is the one that scares the crap out of me.  To put it in perspective, Ironman cutoff is 17 hours, this one is 30 hours.  100 miles of running, all above 10,000 feet with I believe around 13,000 feet of climbing on mountain trails half through the dark of night.  This is the race that Dean Karnazes (aka Ultramarathon Man, 50 marathons in 50 states 50 days in a row) DNF'd his first 2 times.  So scared and excited indeed!!!  But somewhere deeply immersed in that fear I know I will find clarity and meaning. 

As for fundraising the hope is to have a Sustainable Endurance fundraising campaign and help the planet.  The fundraising will be directed to CORE http://www.corecolorado.org/ which is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting sustainable business practices and a more responsible economy.  I need to iron out the details on this, but I am confident this can be done relatively painlessly.

Happy Training!

Leadman (0.65) Race Report

I am little (ok a lot) delayed writing this.  Been slacking off some since the event ended but also enjoying the weather, mountain biking and working on the yard and garden.  I digress, this race was kind of a last minute idea.  I started to see the advertisements in Triathlete magazine.  I had signed up for the full, but somehow managed to injure my hip (I am not one to get injured so this was new).  I spent 6 weeks in physical therapy, dry needling, and acupuncture.  My time on the bike and running was limited to shorter efforts.  I made a decision the week of the race to drop down to what they called the Half Leadman.  This would be a 1.55 mile swim (vs 3.1), a 74 mile bike (vs 140) and the same 14 mile run as the Full Leadman.  Hence my 0.65 in the title.

I convinced my buddy Scott to do this with me.  He would still be doing the full Leadman event.  We decided we would drive to Vegas and save on flight and rental car.  It would be a 12 hour drive.  We took off Thursday at 7am for a long drive of chatting and listening to music.  We arrived at the Paris Hotel and Casino around 7pm that night, where I had a free suite hooked up, keeping the cost of the race quite low.  Friday we checked into the race and went over to the transition area for a short swim, bike and run at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Race time would begin at 6:30am so we got to bed early for the 3:45 wakeup call.  I ate a banana, 2 protein bars upon waking along with 2 cups of coffee.  We headed over to the race venue and started to setup.  The race was very well organized with only 44 or so competitors (6 relay teams, 8 people in the half, and 30 for the full).  It was a small field to say the least.  We had changing tents for T1 and T2 with our own seats in each tent.  I placed all my stuff in various bags including the finish bag, as the run was a point to point and would end a shuttle ride away from the start.  Time to head down to the water for a group start, all competitors at once.  This would be quite enjoyable, as 44 people or so would be far less than the 2500+ at an Ironman swim.

Swim 1.55 miles in 1:02 exactly.

Well not entirely pleased with my swim, but I was very relaxed, maybe too relaxed.  The water was calm and clear as was my mind.  I exited the water figuring I still had about another 6 or so hours to work, so stay calm and focused.

T1 1:36 - wow enough said for me, but I do think they must have stripped my wetsuit pre timing chip pad.

Bike 74 miles 5 hours 20 minutes

Argh!  This was supposed to be 69 miles and trust me by the end the additional miles were more than enough.  The race director said based on the logistics they could move the turnaround out 2 miles or in 2 miles, they went longer.  This ride was horrific.  60mph gusts and all hills.  The slight wind at my back turned into a frontal onslaught coming back.  The temperature start pushing up into the 90s, peaking at 97 degrees.  I imagined that I was riding uphill on the way out.  I figured I'd pick up speed on the way back, with the wind no way.  I had almost an exactly even split.  So just to note a 60 mph gust will slow you down to 4mph going friggin downhill.  It will also push you out into the road when it hits you cross ways.  Hard to stay tucked in aero.  3400 feet of climbing in those 74 miles.  So thankful I was only doing the "half."

Anyway about 10 miles from being done, I just start laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.  I really wanted to quit, accept my first DNF and move on.  I decided I didn't have any other plans for the day so I would just chip away at the run and eat and drink at the aid stations.  I arrived at T2 with lots of cheers and encouragement, which made my decision to move on a little easier.

T2 3:37 not bad considering I took my time and had some fuel.

Run 14 miles 3 hours 2 minutes

Holy crap!  I knew I had a slight uphill to get out of the first mile of tranisition.  Yeah, the point to point run had 12 miles uphill and 2 miles slightly flat to down.  1800 feet of climbing with the final 5 miles at 10% grades up a friggin mountain for all intents and purposes.  It was insane and hot and my legs hurt.  I would run, walk, run, walk.  It was more like shuffle, shuffle slower.  Take in aid at the aid stations, laugh with the volunteers about the insanity of it all.  There were more volunteers than racers and they were so friendly.  I figured this was my adventure, be mindful, enjoy the pain.  The finish was set up beautifully after that long ass hill.  I cruised in, pumped my fists and promptly looked for food and water.  9 hours 29 minutes later I was done, a bit off of my 7 hour expectation, but good enough for 3rd place of the 7 men who started (4 finished) the half and my first and probably last mention in a Slowtwitch or any endurance sport news article.  Sometimes persistence beats speed.  Or as my wife said well you just needed to do something crazy enough that nobody else would do it.  Per Chuckie V an apt description.

I talked to the timing folks who said Scott had not started the run.  So I got a shuttle back to the start.  It looked like a war zone.  The Leadman had blown up the field.  Bodies lying around the start covered in ice bags, some stuck with IVs for fluid.  I found Scott who had puked and cramped on the full bike (140 miles of the hell I previously described, actually got hillier in the Valley of Fire).  His arrival to T2 was not the cheering encouragement that I received, but more of the it's OK, call it a day variety.  That seems psychologically unfair, I wonder what happened to the mood.  He was bummed but very happy for me.  He's a great friend!  We loaded up our stuff and headed back to the Paris.  It would be a nice buffet meal and early bed to get up for our 12 hour drive back to CO.  At the end of the day I'll probably remember talking on those long drives as much as any of what happened at the race.

Happy Training!