Pikes Peak Race Recap

Quick Synopsis:

Longer version:

Well, that sucked. Laid a big turd out there. 3:24 and change.

Since I broke my leg 2.5 years ago, I’ve done about 70% of my miles on dirt roads, 10% on a treadmill, 10% on asphalt, 5% on trails, and 5% on trails. I used to run nearly half of my miles on trails, but since I had that fall, I just avoid anything technical. 

Well, I had forgotten how many “step ups” and rocks there were on this trail up to Pikes. Leading up to this race, I did most of my training on high-altitude dirt roads. That’s fine for building the aerobic engine, but it doesn’t do anything to get you to accustomed to the physical challenge of stepping up on rocks 1000 times over 13 miles. And so I wasn’t ready for it on Saturday.

Executed the plan fine to Barr Camp. 52 to No name and 1:28 to BC while keep the HR below 160, which is generally a sub-tempo effort. Nobody passed me between No Name and Barr Camp, and I passed quite a few. But mechanically, above BC, it all went bad. Kicked a few rocks and slipped a couple of times. About 5 to go my quads started cramping and seizing up from all the step ups. By 4 to go, my legs were just shot. Last 4 miles were all slower than 20-minute miles. I just couldn’t push off worth a damn. My HR was in the low 140s.  

I just wasn't anywhere near prepared for this race. I vastly overestimated my specific fitness for this challenge and vastly underestimated the scope of the challenge. And I paid for it with a 4-mile death march in some nasty weather up top. Was in total survival mode above A-Frame.

Other than the death march at the end, I had fun racing again. Fun seeing some folks out there I hadn’t seen in a while. 

I’ll see if I can find another race this fall to get the stink off me from that one.