Portland Trail Series Race #1
Wednesday night started the first of a five race series that happens every other week in Forest Park. The Portland Trail Series (http://www.portlandtrailseries.com/). There's a spring series and a fall series and this year a summer series just got added. The summer series will be every week for five weeks.
They're all shorter distances, about 4.5-6.0 miles but with some really nice climbing and singletrack. And a different course every week. My only complaint is it's always on a downhill finish so all those guys I pass on the climbs. about half of them get me on the downhills.
The course this week featured a climb that I do in my training runs that we've never used as an "up" before. Only as a "down." It's pretty intense but since it was so far from the finish it didn't do me much good. Most of the people I dropped on the climb managed to get me on the downhills.
For myself, these aren't so much races as they are training sessions. I rarely ever run this short of miles (except my work commute) and I NEVER do any sort of sprints or speedwork. Having the competition and the pack enthusiasm really gets me motivated and once Todd, the race director starts the clock, I'm pretty much swallowed up in it. And like my ultras, there's guys (and girls) who seem to have a similar pace as myself and for the last couple years at these series we get to know each other a little bit and have a good rivalry to work with.
I've been kind of up and down, somewhat inconsistent with my training and diet the last few months, and of course it shows. I don't mind losing some of my speed and hill strength from time to time. That stuff is pretty easy to get back with a little focus. It's more the little aches, pains and injuries that really shake up my confidence. I knew I wouldn't quite be the agile jungle kitty on the climbs that I usually feel I am so I just went all out from the start. Basically making a five mile trail race into a speed interval workout. For once, I actually cut loose on the downhills with long strides clearing big sections of roots and rocks in one or two steps instead of rapid short steps in between these obstacles. It kept me ahead of the few people right on my tail but definitely paid for it by exacerbating my back issues the next morning along with some plantar/ heel pain that I'll have to work out the next couple days.
One guy stayed on my ass the whole time until the last 1/4 mile. We got to the open gravel area heading into the finish and I let him know this was going down. Normally I would just let someone go like this. I'm not a sprinter and not really into possibly injuring myself for one spot higher in the results for a mid-pack finish but this guy really suffered on the big climb and fought back really well to get this close. especially after how hard I went out of my zone on the downhill. He deserved a better fight to the finish than me just handing it to him. In the end he ended up taking it anyway, Which I knew he would but it was a cool final fight putting me in 39th out of around 100 with about an 8:50 pace. By the end of the summer series I expect to be finishing in the low 20's but this wasn't too bad for where I've been in my training lately. Or in my head, for that matter. Nothing like a good sprint finish to knock the dust off. And...I scored some free socks in the raffle.
They're all shorter distances, about 4.5-6.0 miles but with some really nice climbing and singletrack. And a different course every week. My only complaint is it's always on a downhill finish so all those guys I pass on the climbs. about half of them get me on the downhills.
The course this week featured a climb that I do in my training runs that we've never used as an "up" before. Only as a "down." It's pretty intense but since it was so far from the finish it didn't do me much good. Most of the people I dropped on the climb managed to get me on the downhills.
For myself, these aren't so much races as they are training sessions. I rarely ever run this short of miles (except my work commute) and I NEVER do any sort of sprints or speedwork. Having the competition and the pack enthusiasm really gets me motivated and once Todd, the race director starts the clock, I'm pretty much swallowed up in it. And like my ultras, there's guys (and girls) who seem to have a similar pace as myself and for the last couple years at these series we get to know each other a little bit and have a good rivalry to work with.
I've been kind of up and down, somewhat inconsistent with my training and diet the last few months, and of course it shows. I don't mind losing some of my speed and hill strength from time to time. That stuff is pretty easy to get back with a little focus. It's more the little aches, pains and injuries that really shake up my confidence. I knew I wouldn't quite be the agile jungle kitty on the climbs that I usually feel I am so I just went all out from the start. Basically making a five mile trail race into a speed interval workout. For once, I actually cut loose on the downhills with long strides clearing big sections of roots and rocks in one or two steps instead of rapid short steps in between these obstacles. It kept me ahead of the few people right on my tail but definitely paid for it by exacerbating my back issues the next morning along with some plantar/ heel pain that I'll have to work out the next couple days.
One guy stayed on my ass the whole time until the last 1/4 mile. We got to the open gravel area heading into the finish and I let him know this was going down. Normally I would just let someone go like this. I'm not a sprinter and not really into possibly injuring myself for one spot higher in the results for a mid-pack finish but this guy really suffered on the big climb and fought back really well to get this close. especially after how hard I went out of my zone on the downhill. He deserved a better fight to the finish than me just handing it to him. In the end he ended up taking it anyway, Which I knew he would but it was a cool final fight putting me in 39th out of around 100 with about an 8:50 pace. By the end of the summer series I expect to be finishing in the low 20's but this wasn't too bad for where I've been in my training lately. Or in my head, for that matter. Nothing like a good sprint finish to knock the dust off. And...I scored some free socks in the raffle.
