AM - easy 6 miles on the River Trail. Beautiful, chilly morning in Logan. Hopefully it will be like this for TOU next week. I am running the Alta Peruvian Dash later this afternoon. I love PM races. (Hardrock: 69 miles) PM - Alta Peruvian Downhill Dash 8K. This is a rare afternoon race, but they can pull it off because it is up Little Cottonwood Canyon and starts at just over 8700'. It finishes at 6800' ft. For those of you keeping track, that is an average grade of -7.2%. Weather was beautiful, upper 60s with a very slight headwind. I warmed up a couple miles with Bob, Sasha, and Cody, took my final bathroom break, and then warmed up a little bit more to the start line. This is a small race, about 80 people every year, but it is an LDR Circuit race, so it tends to be top-heavy. I was most worried about Sasha and Bob, but in general liked my chances for a good finish. My unofficial goal was to break 22:00. My course PR is 22:55, from 2003. I also ran 23:30 back in 2005.
Here is the race breakdown: | Mile | Split
| Comment
| | 1 | 4:30 | honest pace to start; ran with pack
| | 2 | 4:19 | hit a bigger downhill and made a surge, and soon found myself alone. Legs already regretting the move.
| | 3 | 4:23 | Very painful, but holding pace
| | 4 | 4:25 | Horrible pain. Why did I make a move with 4 miles left??
| | 5 | 4:08 (4:10/mile pace)
| Make it stop. Feet on fire. Trying to slow down, but it's to steep for brakes.
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Final time was 21:46 (4:21/mile average pace), so I made my goal, plus won the race. There are great prizes here, such as free night stays at the Peruvian Lodge during ski season, so I'm all about that. I also won some Wasatch Running Center socks in the raffle, to go along with my three other pairs.
This was definitely one of the most painful races I've ran in a while. The downhill is simply unrelenting, but even though my pain level kept increasing, my speed held. It's intimidating seeing that "9% grade" road sign with a mile to go, and your quads and feet are already burning. But I'm pleased with mentally hanging in there, and with the last mile split (a PR - ha ha). Looking at other peoples' performances here over the years, I'm right on track where I need to be.
I would have like to have waited longer to make my surge, but my body just kind of does its own thing during some races. Seemed to work at least. My garmin measured 4.99. Cody and Sasha had 4.99 and 4.98 as well. An 8K is 4.97 miles, so this is a very close, consistent measurement. I ran tangents pretty well, but there's always room for improvement in that area. The mile markers were all way off, but at least the finish was right. It's funny: starting with Mile 2, the miles got shorter and shorter. For instance, my Garmin read 2.86 at the Mile 3 sign, and then 3.82 at the Mile 4 sign. I was sincerely hoping for the finish to come at 4.80! It was disappointing to have to run for almost another quarter mile, but it's probably best that the finish was honest. A good finish for the Wasatch Running Center: 1, 2, 4, 5. I cooled down by running back up to the Lodge. Did about half of it with Bob, and then the rest on my own. Running up hurt almost as bad as running down! (Burn: 272 miles)
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