More often than not I find myself using each race to constantly evaluate how I felt, how I executed, what my fitness level is and what I can do better next time. While I am competitive, my placing and time is often secondary or more fallout from the former. I can have a great race, personally, but come in 3th 4th 5th DFL whatever. Today was kind of the opposite. I did not have "it" today physically. I am not too hung up on it because I think it was mostly due to summiting mount Adams last week as well as just overall training fatigue from all the mountain running I have been doing. So, oddly this race has me kind of wanting to go back and give it more of a physical effort that I think I am capable of.


The RD told us the portion leading up to the creek crossing was tight single track and that we had better start out in the correct spot as passing would be nearly impossible.

I let a few of the younger guys line up in front of me but took position as first woman. I pulled from some learnings from my last race http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... and again implemented the "run scared" approach.

As I was standing there I was already sweating like a pig. It was hot and not even 10 am! I went ahead and took my shirt off as I didn't want to shed it and have to go back up the mountain to retrieve it after the race.

They did the countdown and we were off!

We were immediately twisting our way through the single track. It was very rocky and rooty so despite the fast pace you had to be very careful of your footing. The sun was also very bright so the contrasting shadows made the trail hard to read.

I think everyone was trying to justify their positioning and the pace was very fast. A pack of about 10 of us seemed to separate quite a bit from the rest of the racers.

Before I knew it we were already as the creek crossing. I didn't even have time to think, I just went straight in and didn't slow at all. It was about knee deep. As we came out of the water I stepped aside and let one of the younger guys pass me before ascending the hill.

While the elevation gain for this mountain was less than some of the other (about 1,000') it all happened at once. I went to work but tried to hold a conservative yet steady pace up the hill.

I was suffering. I did NOT have that usual pop and strength. I was really, really hot and sweating like crazy. We were hardly a mile in and I thought I was going to blow up. I dialed the pace back a bit and just picked my way through the roots and the rocks, up the hill. I tried not to look too far ahead (as the mountain seemed endless) I just kept thinking that once I made it to the top it would be all downhill. And tried to use that as motivation.

Lucky for me that I think that speedy first mile or so paired with my gift for running up hill put some serious distance between me and the second place woman. I never saw her once. As the person in second place, if you don't see the person in first it is pretty hard to get the motivation to chase them down. I think had she been able to see me, and see how I was suffering I would have been an easy target.

As I got to the crest of the hill the trail opened up to double track and I was able to overtake some of the younger guys who had gone out a little too hard. I relaxed a bit and let myself recover as the course gently went downhill. We passed the aid station and I didn't stop. I was worried I might not be able to start again!

I slowly reeled in another guy and we traded on and off. I was very thankful to have someone to push me. We descended a very steep downhill on tough, rocky terrain. I put some distance between us and then solidified my placing on the uphill.

Then, unfortunately, my shoe came untied. I weighed the pros and cons of stopping but with about half the race still to go, a lot of which was technical downhill, I decided to stop. The guy was able to pass me.

I looked over my shoulder while trying and saw no one. I was really happy with the work I did early on and the fact I just didn't think I had the energy to fight off someone coming up on me.

Shortly, we entered back into the woods and made the technical descent.

I was oddly feeling really defeated. Here is where I would have loved to use my fitness to fly over the terrain but I was really just doing survival running. I was having a hard time recovering and felt exhausted. It was all I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not face planting. I had a side stitch and was having a hard time breathing. Everything was hurting. This felt like a 50-miler not a 5-miler.

I reeled in another young man just as we hit the valley floor. I accelerated as much as I could and shot out of the woods and to the finish.

I ended up finishing 4:28 ahead of the next female and beat the female course record by 2+ minutes. I am having a hard time gauging what this means for me and how my fitness actually translated (ie if it was as bad as it felt.) Who showed up and who has shown up in the past could very well be soft. I see Joe who runs for my club and has won Mountain Runner of the year multiple times did the course in 32:39 so a little over 10 minutes fast than me. I still am having a hard time interpreting that data.

It probably seems really....I don't know, rude and bratty? But I just didn't feel great about the win. I just like finishing feeling like I really ran well but didn't have that. I do hope this is just fallout from everything I have been doing lately.

I headed over to Tiger Mountain for some more running. I needed to get a little mileage under my belt despite feeling like crap.

I took it nice and slow (like realllllllllllyyyyy slow) and actually quite enjoyed myself. I was so glad to not be racing.


Overall fatigue, Summiting Mount Adams, lots of uphill running.