Testing the Tricks of the Trail

After studying trail running techniques and purchasing trail shoes, it was time to seriously practice trail running.  Sue and I had thought this through and signed up for the Shootout at Blackridge 5K last Saturday, May 21.  But we both had brand new never-been-worn trail shoes, and as all runners know, you don’t break in new shoes on race day.  So on the Monday before race day, we laced up the shoes and drove ourselves all the way out to Herriman so we could practice the actual race trail.

It was a good thing we did.  The trail was much different than what we expected from the race description.  While there were sections where the trail was “two-track,” for the most part it was a single, mildly steep, narrow lane.  The good news was (drum roll, please) – it all worked!

My new trail shoes, Altra Lone Peaks, are marvelous.  They feel great and they really do hold the trail – both uphill and down.  The technique of taking smaller steps and using the upper body for balance was a huge success.  I laughed at myself as “little tiny steps – dance with the mountain” became my mantra on the downhill.  I smiled as I realized that I was going a lot faster than I had allowed myself to go before.

Then it was race day.  And instead of the sunny weather and dusty trail we had experienced before, we found ourselves – along with 111 other crazies – running in the wind and rain on muddy trails.  Once again the news was good.  The new shoes held the mud well – a little too well.  I felt like my feet weighed 20 pounds as the mud caked on the shoes.  But I did not slip.  Not even once.

This was not my fastest 5K.  In fact, I’m pretty sure it was my slowest.  But I felt really good about the practice, and am feeling more confident in my trail running ability.  My advanced age also contributed to this slowest-ever time still resulting in a 2^nd place finish in my age division.  Sue and I were in the same age division in this race, so it didn’t bode well for the home team.  Sue finished a good 5 minutes ahead of me.  We both held our own against our much-younger competition. 

As we warmed up in the car after the race, taking care not to get too much mud on the floor mats, we commented that now there was nothing the Yellowstone Half could dish out that we couldn’t take.  And our shoes are now, well, a little more trail-worthy.

T-minus 16 days and counting down to the Yellowstone Half Marathon.  Bring it!!!

A Hot Time at Red Rock Relay

Team Girls’ Day Out, the coolest team that has ever run the Red Rock Relay, arrived in Moab late in the afternoon of May 13.  This year our captain and official housing arranger, Dawn, secured a beautiful condo for the entire team, including Helen and her very brave husband, Bill.

Helen made the decision last year to transition to alumna status on the team, so Dawn’s niece, Merissa, took her place in the lineup. We showed up at 5:30 AM – in the dark – wearing our new team shirts with this year’s logo, and sent Lyndsay, our first runner, on her way.

The temperature was pleasant – until the sun came out.  And then it started to warm up.  And then it started to really warm up.  We knew that hot weather was in the forecast, but we didn’t think we’d be affected by it until the last few runners of the afternoon.

We were wrong.  Once we started the heavy climbs, everyone started to feel the effects of the heat.  We started dumping water on ourselves.  We ran in our sport bras – yes, even those of us who are old enough that we probably shouldn’t run in our sport bras.  But the heat still took its toll.

Even with the heat, the race was a lot of fun.  We bantered back and forth with several other teams, including a team that came all the way from North Carolina, a bachelorette party, a really fun team that had brought a large spray bottle and used it liberally, and an ultra-running team, 3 men that were all veterans.  We picked the team we had to beat – the girls in the blue tanks.  Why?  Because they changed clothes in the porta-potties.  Note to all relay teams:  never do this.  Porta-potties have one purpose and one purpose only.  To use them for any other purpose is just sick and wrong.  And yes – we beat them.  By about 5 minutes.

My personal experience was that I really couldn’t run more slowly, so I found myself running a while, walking a while, drinking/dumping water, and doing it again.  I felt so sluggish, and felt that I’d let the team down, until we realized that we really had done quite well.  Our finish time was 10 hours and 18 minutes – only 2 minutes slower than last year – for a 10:06 pace.  I finished leg 7 – that horrible uphill with the switchbacks – in the same time that Lyndsay had done the previous year, and I finished leg 12 in 58 minutes – only two minutes slower than my projected time.

As we debriefed, we realized that this was the first time the Red Rock Relay had been hot.  We decided that if it’s hot again next year, we’ll split the late afternoon legs so nobody has to do six to eight miles in 90 degree weather.  And we’ll bring our very own very large spray bottle.  Oh, yes, we’ll be back next year – only we’ll change our title to “Hottest Team Ever.”

Role Models

Helen, Cheri and Sue - the first half of team Girl's Day Out

Shortly after I retired I learned that two women I had known for years – Sue and Helen – were also runners.  Why I didn’t find out until after retirement still astounds me, but the good news is, I did find out.  And we started running together.  And we started doing races together.  And we started doing travel races together.  And we became half of the well-known relay team, Girls’ Day Out.  What?  What do you mean you’ve never heard of us?

I find it so much more fun running with people than running by myself.  I train harder, and I go out to run with them no matter what conditions are like.  Because Helen and Sue are going to be there, and they’re not going to wimp out because of a little rain or snow.  We talk while we’re running.  We talk about our families.  We talk about our plans.  We talk about the races we’ve run and the races we’re planning to run.  Sometimes we even whine about our running injuries – but not often.  We encourage one another.  We cheer for each other’s accomplishments – both on and off the pavement. 

Ida Keeling

Helen and Sue are both older than I am.  They are role models to me.  I hope to still be running when I am their age.  Actually, I hope to be still running with them when I am the age that they are now.  I hope to someday have Sue’s speed and strength.  I hope to someday have Helen’s peaceful determination.  I hope to one day watch as Helen or Sue beats Ida Keeling’s record for the fastest

100-year-old.

At the last 10K we ran together, we chatted with some younger women who had just finished the race.  They commented on how much fun it must be to have friends that you’ve been running with for years.  And while we’ve been running together for a much shorter time than our respective chronological ages might indicate, we all encouraged them to keep running, and to keep running together.

 I guess that makes me a role model, too.  I am hopeful that I, like Helen, Sue, and Ida, can encourage women of all ages to be runners for life.

Salt Lake City Half Marathon

I have to admit that I was lukewarm about running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this year.  I had run it once before, and while it was a great race, it was in my hometown.  I’ve lived in the Salt Lake City area for almost 40 years.  Where’s the adventure?  Where’s the excitement?  But the timing was right, and the SL Half would be a good training run in preparation for the Red Rock Relay in May and the Yellowstone Half in June.  As the race date approached, I started to realize what a great race this was going to be.

The race expo was held at the Fairgrounds.  As we rode the local light rail, Sue and I reminisced about the last time we’d run the Salt Lake Half.  We’d stayed together the entire race.  I’d set a PR.  It had been warm enough to have beer after the race – not always possible with Utah’s fickle weather.   It was my first time actually attending the race expo, which was well staffed and quite fun.  There were lots of vendors, a few good deals, and the opportunity to see some of the latest and greatest in running gear and nutrition.  Lots of people milled around.  Everyone was excited about the upcoming race.  Walking away from the expo, we overheard two gentlemen speaking French.  They were a father and son who had come all the way from Montreal to run the Half Marathon.  Wow – this race is a bigger deal than I thought.

The Marathon organizers had partnered with the Utah Transit Authority to offer free rides on Trax (the light rail) to the start line.  We took them up on it, and got to the start line just in time to check gear and get to our corral.  Then we were off. 

The course is truly beautiful.  It begins at the University of Utah, climbs into the Avenues where it runs through some historic neighborhoods and past an old cemetery, then descends through Memory Grove and into the city.  It runs up South Temple to 9^th East, up 8^th South to 11^th east and into the Sugarhouse area.  We turned east before I got to my first apartment in Salt Lake City, but we ran past the little house where my husband and I lived when we were first married.  At 21^st South the marathon runners turn east; the half runners go west to 6^th east, then through Liberty Park, then down to 2^nd east with the finish line at Library Square. 

Me and Sue after the race

At 59 years, 11 months and 17 days, if I wasn’t the oldest in my age group I was pretty close to it.  I had no chance whatsoever of placing in my age group, so I made the decision to just give it my best.  Race day adrenalin kicked in and I was able to keep up with Sue for the first six miles (no easy feat).  I slowed down on the first major hill.  Sue didn’t.  I didn’t see her again until the finish line.  She finished in less than two hours, set a PR, and took first place in her age group.  Sue is a rock star.  But between keeping up with her and accelerating my own pace on the downhills, I was able to set a new PR as well.  OK, it was only 7 seconds faster, but hey – it still counts! I checked the stats after the race.  If I had been 60 I’d have taken 3^rd place in my age group.  Oh, well.

The finish line was festive and family friendly.  There was a good assortment of post-race snacks for the runners.  Disney princesses and Marvel superheroes entertained the kids at the playground area.  While we made a beeline for the beer tent, we did pass several other vendors on our way.  Live music played, and the racers and their families reveled in the sunshine and the joy of achievement.

I read the results this morning in the Salt Lake Tribune.  Of the top 5 male finishers, all were local.  Of the top 5 female finishers, 4 were local.  Yes, this is a hometown race.  And now I proudly claim it as my hometown race.  Want a great race?  Come to Salt Lake City next year!  I’ll see you there.

Champions

The race invitation sounded fun.  The Recycle Run was pitched as a 5K where you get a random medal and a random t-shirt at the end of the race.  Even better, it was a fundraiser to support Addict to Athlete (AIIA), and an opportunity to donate gently-used running shoes to the program.  My running buddies and I were in.

We were familiar with AIIA – a good friend and fellow Girls’ Day Out teammate is a strong supporter of the program – but since not everyone has heard of it, here are the details:

Addict to Athlete is a community support program available to anyone touched by addiction.  The organization’s mission is “to establish and maintain sobriety by promoting lifestyle changes through erasing addiction and replacing it with something of greater value.”  The organization is local, with chapters in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis Counties.  They run strictly on volunteers and donations, and everyone is welcome to participate.

We signed up.  And we waited for more information on a critical detail – the location of the race, which wasn’t emailed to the participant list until the morning of race day.  And then, early afternoon of race day, another email came – the location had changed.   Yet another email came later that afternoon – the location AND the time had changed.  Did we really want to participate in such a disorganized event?

We arrived at the final location about 20 minutes prior to race start.  Several runners were already there, including a few handicapped racers in strollers from Team Kid Courage.  The race director kicked off the race in what we learned is the usual beginning of all AIIA gatherings – a moment of silence for the addicts who are still suffering.  The silence was broken by a shout, “Athletes, who are we?”  The crowd responded, “Champions!!”  And at that moment, the confusion and disorganization on the location was forgiven and forgotten.

The race began.  Some ran, some walked, and some took turns pushing the beautiful children in the strollers.  Everyone encouraged one another.  There were no awards for being fastest, and nobody cared how many laps around the course anyone made.  Everyone was a winner.

I came away inspired by the courage and tenacity of the AIIA members.  While I cannot even begin to imagine the suffering that addiction can bring, I am a first-hand witness to the joy that running brought to these athletes.  Who are they? Champions!

Tricks of the Trail

One of the easier sections of the Wall Lake Trail

Sue and I are planning to run the Yellowstone Half Marathon in June.  The Yellowstone Half is sponsored by Vacation Races, a fabulous racing company – and it’s a trail run.  13.1 miles of dirt road and trail.  Running on trails is different from running on roads, and I find it quite challenging.

My first trail run was Patia’s Race, a 10K trail run in Eureka, Utah.  The race was great –except for a steep downhill stretch where I found myself walking – no, stumbling – as the rest of the racers blew by me.  Why?  Fear of falling.

I have a rational fear of falling.  Along with Blythe Danner, Sally Field, and thousands of other post-menopausal women, I have osteoporosis.  If I fall I could break something – and that would seriously interfere with my running.  So imagine my chagrin when one of the articles I find on downhill trail technique includes this sentence: “Some call downhill running “controlled chaos.” I call it ‘falling in control,’ because that’s more of what it looks like. Falling.”

The author, Doug, goes on to refer to downhill trail running as “dancing with the mountain.”  OK, I can get behind this. Here are his five key components to proper downhill technique.  I am pleasantly surprised at the strong ties to the Chi Running technique I’ve been working on.

1.  Quick foot and leg turnover.  (There’s that cadence again).

2.  Lean forward, not back. (Lean for speed, but apparently also to prevent stress on your legs and quads.)

3.   Look straight ahead – not down.  Keep your gaze about 5 – 7 feet ahead of your steps.  Trust that your brain will process the information and put your feet in the right places. (The concept of Y Chi – focusing on a distant point to channel your running in the direction you’re going.)

4.  Use the upper body for balance.  (Another Chi Running concept – amplified in trail running by allowing the upper body to float as needed to balance your footsteps.  Dancing with the mountain…)

5.  Descend with confidence.  (I think Doug was looking directly at me when he wrote this sentence.  I have all the confidence in the world going uphill; I need to reach out for that confidence on the downhills.)

You can read Doug’s full article at:  http://www.rockcreekrunner.com/2015/08/27/downhill-trail-running-technique/.

He closes the article by reminding his readers that they need to practice.  A lot.  And to dedicate time to strictly practice running downhill.  Queue the music - it’s time to start dancing with the mountain.

Running Faster

I am a very consistent runner.  I pretty much run the same pace no matter what distance I’m running.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact in many ways it’s a good thing.  But somehow deep down inside I’m feeling like I should be able to run a shorter distance faster.  Running faster is a goal of most serious runners.  We runners measure improvement in increased distances and faster paces. 

Last fall, after I returned from three months in the mountains, running at 10,000 feet, I should have been a running superhero down at a mere 4200 feet.  But I wasn’t.  I found myself running about the same paces as I had at altitude.  Why wasn’t I faster?

My answer came in an old email from Brian Corbett, an RRCA-certified running coach and my former coach at the Wasatch Training Group.  In his email dated 5/31/2013, Brian advised the group, “… many of us would like to run faster than we have before or do currently.  In almost every case, this is a goal that can be reached with an appropriate WILLINGNESS to train and the understanding of HOW to train. 

The first component involves a willingness to run at a pace that is somewhat uncomfortable, at least some of the time.  In other words, in order to run faster, you have to run faster.  It seems a bit obvious in plain English, but it always amazes me how many runners epitomize the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.  While a beginning runner will improve dramatically without intentionally altering their training pace, the point of diminishing returns for this type of training comes quickly for the more experienced runner.  The key is a willingness to ‘step outside the comfort zone’ (I hate that cliché) and push ourselves harder.”

To run faster, you have to run faster.  Who knew?  Oh, wait.  Brian knew.  So I tried it.  I set out from the trailer park with the intention of pushing myself as fast as I could go for about a minute, then scaling back for a couple of minutes, then doing it again.  I felt my heart rate go much faster than in my normal training pace, and came back from that run totally spent.  What was I doing wrong?

This time the answer came from Danny Dreyer, the author of Chi Running.  In the Chi Running technique, you control your speed though your lean and your cadence.  Leaning into your run will lengthen your stride, and as long as you take just as many steps per minute as when you’re running upright, you will go faster.  And with a lot less effort.

I’ve been practicing this a little, and it does seem to work, but nothing beats the adrenalin that comes at the starting line of a half-marathon.  Salt Lake City Half Marathon – April 16 – here I come!