I planned an ambitious race/workout schedule for myself for this holiday weekend
. First I signed
up for a 5 mile trail race up in Southbridge, MA on Sunday. Then I signed up for the Washington Trail Road Race in Durham which was this morning. And with
the start time for this race at 11:00am and with HealthNet being a little less than a month away I thought that would make it a good opportunity to get an
easy 20 mile bike ride in before the race
.
So here is my double race report:
Slicker 'N' Hog Snot trail race: Sunday May 25
Yes, that is the name of the race. With a name like that I couldn't resist signing up for this one. The location for this was the Westville Lake Recreation Area in Southbridge, MA. The weather couldn't have turned out better
, as the warm temps
finally arrived (I'm ones of those wackos that prefers running in warm weather, and I'm faster, too). I had no idea of what this course was like and
when I asked about it I was pointed to the race director who kindly filled me in on the course:
"Go up the dirt path on one side of the lake, cross the dam, follow the dirt path back down this side of the lake, cut through a field, cross the road and enter the deep woods. Then you follow the path a mile or so and take a right into the deeper woods. Then take another right into the even deeper woods, loop around and follow the path back to the finish."
I'm thinking where the heck is this course taking us, but I'll just figure it out as I go. It turned out to be a cool course. We started on the pavement at the top of a little hill and ran down and around the end of the lake. On the other side of the lake we entered a dirt walking path which consisted of rolling hills with a couple of short steep climbs, the last one being the climb up to the dam. Then we crossed the dam and followed the path on the side of the lake that we started on. The path on this side was totally flat. Then we cut up into the field and trough some tall grass which was a little slick but not muddy. After crossing the road we followed an old railroad bed for a while and then at the right turn ran along some single track which looped around so we followed the railroad bed back to the finish which was up the little hill that we started on.
As I settled into the race, I had a nice steady pace going, working the hills as best as I could, but not pushing too much as it was only the first mile. I ended up pacing along with a couple of other guys for the second mile and once we crossed onto the railroad bed I started pushing my pace. I dropped the two guys I was with and could see a group of a few others a ways down the path. I kept the pace up throughout the single track, which as rooty and rocky....good thing I was used to running the Winding Trials course. Coming back out onto the railroad bed there was one guy a few hundred yards ahead of me, so I started to work on catching him. I knew that, in order to beat him, I had to catch him on the flat section and open up some space between us on a downhill I knew was coming up, because the hill at the finish would slow me down (anyone that has run with me knows uphills slow me down, but I'm a freight train going downhill). Well I executed my plan to perfection and held him off, thanks to the race timer who said over the loudspeaker that it was a sprint to the finish as we were approaching
. I ended up finishing 9th overall and 3rd in my AG in a time of 36:02 on a
5.1 mile course for a 7:04 pace.
Washington Trail Road Race: Monday May 26
Day two of my self-imposed pain started with the bike ride
. My intention was to see how well I could
run the hilly 10k after a 20 mile bike ride, since the HeathNet will be my first Olympic and I hadn't done a 10k in about 15years. So, Toby Kulas (I had
gotten him to commit to the brick) and I road from his house in Middlefield to Coginchaug HS in Durham which is where this race started. He had strategically
parked his car here earlier due to the parade that was about to start on Main Street. We got our race packets and stowed the running gear in the car then
headed out for the rest of our ride. I wanted to preview the race course so we followed the markers on the roads which gave me a good idea of the hills
involved
, since I love running up them so much...NOT! Then we added on the rest of the miles with a
different loop. We got back to high school with 10 minutes to spare...enough time to put the bikes on the car and change into our running gear and find the
bathroom. When the race started I caught up in the pace of the lead pack but I wasn't laboring so I went with it. It turned out I did a 6:23 first mile
which is much faster than I normally start races. The next few miles I maintained the pace as best I could but my times got a bit slower as I knew they would,
especially once I got into the hills: 6:40, 6:57, and 7:50 (the hilliest mile). In mile 5 I was able to pick the pace back up with a couple of downhills and
a couple of relatively flat stretches for a 7:03 split. So far I had managed to get up the hills relatively well for my standards and work the downs and
flats. But midway in mile 6 I hit a hill that almost did me in
...I slowed way down but managed to
trudge up and over...good thing it was a short one. Once I hit the down on the other side I was able to regain my pace and finish strong
. I finished 33rd overall and 7th in my AG with a time of 44:22 for a 7:10 pace.
What a good weekend of racing it turned out to be!!!
David
. First I signed
up for a 5 mile trail race up in Southbridge, MA on Sunday. Then I signed up for the Washington Trail Road Race in Durham which was this morning. And with
the start time for this race at 11:00am and with HealthNet being a little less than a month away I thought that would make it a good opportunity to get an
easy 20 mile bike ride in before the race.
So here is my double race report:
Slicker 'N' Hog Snot trail race: Sunday May 25
Yes, that is the name of the race. With a name like that I couldn't resist signing up for this one. The location for this was the Westville Lake Recreation Area in Southbridge, MA. The weather couldn't have turned out better
, as the warm temps
finally arrived (I'm ones of those wackos that prefers running in warm weather, and I'm faster, too). I had no idea of what this course was like and
when I asked about it I was pointed to the race director who kindly filled me in on the course:
"Go up the dirt path on one side of the lake, cross the dam, follow the dirt path back down this side of the lake, cut through a field, cross the road and enter the deep woods. Then you follow the path a mile or so and take a right into the deeper woods. Then take another right into the even deeper woods, loop around and follow the path back to the finish."
I'm thinking where the heck is this course taking us, but I'll just figure it out as I go. It turned out to be a cool course. We started on the pavement at the top of a little hill and ran down and around the end of the lake. On the other side of the lake we entered a dirt walking path which consisted of rolling hills with a couple of short steep climbs, the last one being the climb up to the dam. Then we crossed the dam and followed the path on the side of the lake that we started on. The path on this side was totally flat. Then we cut up into the field and trough some tall grass which was a little slick but not muddy. After crossing the road we followed an old railroad bed for a while and then at the right turn ran along some single track which looped around so we followed the railroad bed back to the finish which was up the little hill that we started on.
As I settled into the race, I had a nice steady pace going, working the hills as best as I could, but not pushing too much as it was only the first mile. I ended up pacing along with a couple of other guys for the second mile and once we crossed onto the railroad bed I started pushing my pace. I dropped the two guys I was with and could see a group of a few others a ways down the path. I kept the pace up throughout the single track, which as rooty and rocky....good thing I was used to running the Winding Trials course. Coming back out onto the railroad bed there was one guy a few hundred yards ahead of me, so I started to work on catching him. I knew that, in order to beat him, I had to catch him on the flat section and open up some space between us on a downhill I knew was coming up, because the hill at the finish would slow me down (anyone that has run with me knows uphills slow me down, but I'm a freight train going downhill). Well I executed my plan to perfection and held him off, thanks to the race timer who said over the loudspeaker that it was a sprint to the finish as we were approaching
. I ended up finishing 9th overall and 3rd in my AG in a time of 36:02 on a
5.1 mile course for a 7:04 pace.
Washington Trail Road Race: Monday May 26
Day two of my self-imposed pain started with the bike ride
. My intention was to see how well I could
run the hilly 10k after a 20 mile bike ride, since the HeathNet will be my first Olympic and I hadn't done a 10k in about 15years. So, Toby Kulas (I had
gotten him to commit to the brick) and I road from his house in Middlefield to Coginchaug HS in Durham which is where this race started. He had strategically
parked his car here earlier due to the parade that was about to start on Main Street. We got our race packets and stowed the running gear in the car then
headed out for the rest of our ride. I wanted to preview the race course so we followed the markers on the roads which gave me a good idea of the hills
involved, since I love running up them so much...NOT! Then we added on the rest of the miles with a
different loop. We got back to high school with 10 minutes to spare...enough time to put the bikes on the car and change into our running gear and find the
bathroom. When the race started I caught up in the pace of the lead pack but I wasn't laboring so I went with it. It turned out I did a 6:23 first mile
which is much faster than I normally start races. The next few miles I maintained the pace as best I could but my times got a bit slower as I knew they would,
especially once I got into the hills: 6:40, 6:57, and 7:50 (the hilliest mile). In mile 5 I was able to pick the pace back up with a couple of downhills and
a couple of relatively flat stretches for a 7:03 split. So far I had managed to get up the hills relatively well for my standards and work the downs and
flats. But midway in mile 6 I hit a hill that almost did me in...I slowed way down but managed to
trudge up and over...good thing it was a short one. Once I hit the down on the other side I was able to regain my pace and finish strong. I finished 33rd overall and 7th in my AG with a time of 44:22 for a 7:10 pace.
What a good weekend of racing it turned out to be!!!
David
