5 Peaks - Glenbow Ranch

[Dstew]

The subtitle should be: Ignorance is BLISS!

I had never run the less then 3 year old provincial park, the Glenbow Ranch trails but it did interest me. So when I saw the 5 Peaks Series take over this race and it was enough time after the 50 K race in June so I signed up. With work and golf getting in the way, the best laid plans of speed work were tossed aside. In six weeks I have made it to the track twice but I have been doing a ton of hills - some repeats but a lot just because of where I live there is virtually no flat area of any distance.

I had zero expectations going into this race. I do not travel well and so three hours in the Vancouver airport on Thursday after 18 holes the day before and a long business meeting that day meant I was stiff and sore. I did manage to do around 3 K yesterday but the low back started to act up and so some Voltaren. I had run part of the park but it turns out not where the race was held. It was a "trail" race in name only with paved bike paths and compacted dirt/gravel. There was one small hill so I figured with my lack of speed work and general fatigue, on a flat course I would not do well.

In any event, the course starts up a nice steep 500 meter paved bike path hill. The field spreads out very quickly and I seem to be at the end of the front of the pack. There is a Calgary Roadrunner racer with grey hair and so decide he is my main competition. I figure if I can beat him, a top 3 may be in the cards. At the top of the hill, there is another dirt path hill. What started off as muggy is slowly becoming full sun and baking. Through the trees and down a very steep and winding hill, the extra weight and gravity has me flying and passing people. Another hill of moderate length and another downhill where my competitor passes me. So push hard up yet another hill that has a very short flat section and then another force 90% of the field to walk hill. I may have missed a hill as the heat is starting to get to me and most definitely not use to this pace. A very, very long downhill and I have lost my competitor. There is a guy who looks like a real runner but the hills and heat are getting to him but he looks 40-49 so no big deal. We are leap frogging each other. This is about 4 K into a 7 K race. As with most races, everyone is basically settled into where they are going to finish and I am with two lovely enduro running women. Some rolling hills but I wish she would stop saying who damn hot the sun is as that is a tad disturbing but her pacing and taking turns in front is worth the distraction. Come around the corner and when you see about 7 or so switch backs in what looks like might be 500 m on a straight line, this is not good. My friend taps me on the shoulder as I am slowing to walk and she says, we have to jog this hill together. The other woman joins us and misery does love company.

Top of the hill and then a massive downhill and about a kilometer to go. No one of my tail and I am not making up much ground on the top in front of me so I am running hard but not full out.

I cross the line and feel very good about the race. I notice that there are not a ton of runners around. Relax, hydrate, etc, etc. I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that I finished 11th overall and 1st out of 17 50-59 year old males. This is the second time in two years where I am not feeling it before the race but put a timing bib on me and my body can do things my mind would never think it could do. The one interesting thing is that if I knew about the hills - number, steepness, etc there is no way I would have pushed as hard as I did. I finished in around 38 minutes and the second and third place finishers were about a minute behind but there is no doubt I would have been much slower had I know what was in store for me. Could get into a discussion about the central governor and how clearly one might be able to fool it.

Both second and third place finishers are doing the third race in this series and so once I push submit here, off to register for the next race in about 3 weeks. No need to rush out to the track when hills and weights it getting the job done.

[Ken B]

Wow! Great race and report! Congratulations on your placement!!

[grimskot]

Nicely done! Congrats

[purdy65]

Congrats! Good report

[Mark.AU]

Great report, I like reports that put me in the thought process.

[Dstew]

The bigger picture from the race:

As noted, finished 1 out of 17 in my age category and 11th out of 199 so I do believe I can take some lessons from this race. At one time, 5 Peaks would have very limited fields and so one could win their age category and finish 11th but it might be first out or 4 or 5 runners and 11th in a field of 70. The larger the number of more representative the sample and thus I do believe that whatever I am doing, I just need to continue to do that. As a older and "wiser" runner, my experience allows me to run faster in races with less training.

I was thinking back to when I was running the best plus injury free and golf was always an important hobby I did during those periods. And not coincidentally enough, when I was also playing my best golf. For me it seems that golf and running has a certain symmetry and are mutually beneficial. My guess is running and hiking or anything that involves low impact time on my feet is good for my running.

I can still race and run very hard but I am not obsessed with the results. I can train "hard" but not at the exclusion of everything else and in a relatively "safe", as in injury free manner and still perform well. So at one time, there would not have been any beer in the days leading up to this race and I would have had to have one of my pre race pasta dinners but this time: a couple of beers in the days leading up and lemon chicken the night before. When the gun sounded, the race was the most important thing in the world and I was not there to just participate or have fun as that is not in my nature but strangely enough, by running the best I could that day and under the circumstances, it was sort of fun. As I noted, my right buttock was stiff and sore as I was walking down to the bib pick up tent and so ran to loosen it up. On the course, there were times I thought of Pre's quote, "“The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.” Now I was not quite there but I was running very hard and it was getting very hot so I thought there is a lot worse things that could happen then me running out of gas before the finish line and having to slow the pace down so this race was also a test of my will, determination and level of fitness. This was tempered by the best race advice I ever received and from my dad who told me no matter the race or distance, make sure you always have a little something in the tank near the end.

What was also good about the race was that there is no doubt in my mind that the resistance training also had a huge role in how well I did. The nice thing about trail races of the shorter variety is that there is no typical body type. A Clydesdale [200 + pound] man finished 10th. The top 3 or so overall do tend to be more of the typical runner's body but not always and one can carry some extra and "unnecessary" muscle and so do well. For me, I could grind up the hills and even when forced to walk, was passing people and I could take the pounding and run under control on the downhills.

For me, the question is can I repeat this. There just happens to be another trail race on August 9. By this time I really should be focusing on the marathon training but then again, my taper plan is three rounds of golf in the three days leading up to the marathon so conventional is not a word that will apply to this training cycle. I can justify it by using that as a hard "tempo" run and again it is a test of my level of fitness and mental toughness that day. And I was "challenged" by the second place finisher as we walked back to the cars parked about a kilometer away. We mostly talked about running route in Calgary but we both thought this race was so good, why not do another one.

Some old bad habits are swirling around in my head. I started to look at series leaders, etc. At one time, they used the best 4 out of 5 races with a win worth 15 points, second 14, etc. I missed the first two races and when went as far as to look and noticed at least two gentlemen have run all three races in my age group. Smaller fields so even if I were to run and actually win the last two races, too far behind to catch them but I was weak and actually did the math. And then I thought I should focus on trail training as I will now have a target on my back. One of my Vancouver friends told me I do not look like a runner nor do I even look fast but when I get going, I am. But I do have the marathon, the lack of specific training did not hurt me on any level so today I did a 1:45 minute run. Decided to go by time today instead of distance or pace.

[Robinandamelia]

Congrats on the AG placement! I like the 5 Peaks races, haven't been able to run any this year because of scheduling conflicts though.