Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Tunnel Hill 50 Mile Pre Pace

The last couple months have been full of racing, training, and moving. I seem embrace change and handle it well, but I would definitely say there has been a lot going on.

The plan was to come to Las Vegas and spend my last four weeks heading into the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 7. I had a few different sea level options, but Vegas was the best deal. After a summer of training at 10,200ft, I really just felt like my leg speed was a little behind where it needs to be for Indianapolis. The idea of warm weather and endless training options was nice. I really enjoyed the week I spent here earlier this year -- training in Valley of Fire, Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, Bootleg Canyon, and Death Valley. After being here for a few weeks, I have decided that I am going to stay until May, before returning to CO. This opens up quite a few racing opportunities for the earlier months in the year. CA, AZ, and UT are all a short drive, and have many great races.

So, here we are a couple days after Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, and I was a DNS. I really wanted to race, but I just did not feel my leg speed was where it needed to be. I felt stuck. But, the good news is I am racing the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile this weekend. I didn’t have the gears I needed for the marathon, but the strength and fitness is there to use it on a flat/fast 50 miler. I am pretty excited to be racing this weekend. They are offering $500 for a new course record, so I am going for it. The current record is 6:20.

Here is what I will be using for this race this weekend.

Hydration/Nutrition
-Raspberry Buzz Tailwind
-Water
-Coke 
-Salt Tab
-Maple Bacon VFuel

Gear
-Ultraspire 1L Hydration Pack
-Colorado Buff
-Sunglasses
-Brooks t7, and possibly Hoka Clifton
-Darn Tough UltraLite
-Light Gloves
        -Hand warmers (maybe)
-KT Tape
-Garmin 310XT
-ColoRundies and Leadville Outdoors Singlet

Drop bags
-Candy (Snickers, peach rings, and Skittles)
-extra socks
-A shot of Fireball
-KT Tape
-probably a beer of some sort

Pace
-Be aggressive the first 25, but controlled
-Miles 26-39 are a slight uphill. Pay attention to hydration/nutrition during this stretch
-Open it up the last 11 miles. If feeling good, pick up pace — If not, just get it done

This is only my second attempt at racing 50 miles, so I still have plenty to learn. I really am not sure how my body is going to react while racing a flat, sea level 50 miler. Racing a flat even is quite a bit different than Silver Rush (10,200 ft up to 12,000ft, with 7,000ft of elevation gain). In the mountains, you can get away with power hiking some of the steeper uphill sections. On flat races like this, it’s all running, and it’s just you against the clock.

I can’t wait.

Thanks for reading!

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