2012 Castlewood Cup 15k: Race Report

It seems like it has been awhile since I wrote a race report. So this might be terrible. Not that you have come to expect literary greatness from my writing, but don't judge me.

So it has officially been 1 year since I started running on trails. I signed up for the 2011 Castlewood Cup not having run on a trail before. Sure I had run on some gravelly type stuff, but not single track, rocky, rooty, stumpy, stuff. It was an eye opening experience and a complete blast. Last year, I didn't own a pair of trail shoes. Now I own 3. I used to be worried about water crossings. This year I passed a guy in a creek. Its been a great year looking back from what I have done from 2011 until now. Oh and I just checked my time for last year's race:

Castlewood Cup 2011 Results
Time: 1:24:33
Pace: 9:05/mile
Overall Finish: 99th

The day started out cold. Not necessarily when you looked at the temp (32F), but there was a 10 - 15mph wind that really sucked. It was clear and sunny though. So I had some trouble figuring out my attire. The goofy part about this race was the starting time, 10am. Its kind of wonky to have the start that late because I completely second guessed myself as to what I was putting in my body. Especially since I have had some recent exercise induced bathroom issues. However, the weird start time allowed me to get there with plenty of time for a Daily Mile meet up before the race. I should write a post on Daily Mile and the benefits of it, but for now I will just leave it stating that its great to have a social network of runner people. You can always bounce ideas off of them and it gives you a great baseline to start a friendship. No more sappy stuff.

I hadn't trained as much as I would have liked for this but kids, family, life, motivation, have all gotten in the way. I was shooting for a top 50 and to beat an 8:30 pace. So I went into the race not expecting either since its kind of a hilly bastard in the first 5 miles and I tend to go out fast and try to hold on at the end of races.

A thing of beauty isn't it?

Ok race time... This year they did a wave start in an effort to control the flow and get the faster people out front and eliminate some of the clogging on the trails. I think it seemed to work better this year. I was in the 2nd wave and I was happy with that. As usual with my race starts, I went out fast. Too fast? Not sure. However, I never ever want to look back on a race and say that I could have gone harder at some point. So, we started out on some flat grass for about a mile and then get saddled with 1 of 3 significant hills on the course. I backed off on the pace just before I got to the hill so my HR wasn't sky high going up it. It worked out and I hit the hill with minimal problems going up it. I followed this strategy when I was approaching all the other "major" hills on the course (which are all in the first 5 miles or so). I went into these hills with the thought of just keeping an eye on my HR and paying attention to my body. This strategy worked well. I did however walk for about 20-30 seconds about half-way up the last major hill. Whatever the break, I was able to pretty much take off at the top of the hill and get past some people. So now, I was past the hardest part of the race. There were just some minor roller coaster type hills left. I checked my watch and saw I was doing pretty decent on time and was trying to calculate my finish time. DUMB!!! As I am day dreaming about my finish, it hit me. "It" being the ground. I wasn't paying attention and I was heading down on to the rocky trail. I have never fallen running before. Ever. I was able to somehow barrel roll out of the fall leaving only my right knee and left forearm a little achy but felt like an idiot.

I knew the next 10 min would probably make or break me in the race. I was constantly evaluating the injuries and reminding myself to pick up my feet so my dumb arse didn't fall again. Knowing I would be in some pain at the end of the race, I decided to suck it up and go. There was less than a 5K left and I had to make it off the hill anyway. Soon, the pain subsided and I was back to running down the hill like an idiot. I popped out of the woods with less than 2 miles to go and knew there was only one more obstacle in my way, the dreaded creek crossing. Last year I had a revelation while crossing the thing: "There's no way you are going to stay dry, so F it and go." I carried this same mentality with me this year and blew through the water. Some guy in front of me was tip-toeing over the rocks and I passed him while going through the creek. I probably splashed the crap out of him and pissed him off , but oh well I didn't see him again.

For the last mile or so, I could tell I had some hot spots on my feet and they were much more prevalent after the creek. So I tried to kick in as much as I had for the remainder. I swear the last 3 tenths of a mile of this race seems like an eternity. You have to run by the finish area (which was serving pulled pork and I love me some pork). My aches and pains all started to feel much worse and I just wanted to be done. Then I saw the finish... So I sacked up whatever I had left and bolted. Done....

At the finish line: Sweet Jesus am I really this ugly?

While I didn't realize how hideous I looked, I was really happy with the finish. I blew out my time from the previous year by almost 7 minutes and my pace was under 8:30 like I had wanted. Top 50 was not in the cards this year but oh well.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to stay around and taste the pork or beer because I had a pretty busy Saturday planned, but Big River Running knows how to cater an event. So I am sure it was awesome.

Here's some fun crap that I get joy out of analyzing:

complements of www.bazusports.com 

 Other stuff per my Garmin

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:17:56.9	9.36	8:20
1	8:24.9	1.00	8:25
2	8:22.4	1.00	8:22
3	8:12.3	1.00	8:12
4	9:10.7	1.00	9:11
5	7:54.3	1.00	7:54
6	9:20.6	1.00	9:21
7	8:26.1	1.00	8:26
8	7:43.4	1.00	7:43
9	7:41.5	1.00	7:42
10	2:40.9	0.36	7:28

Timing

Time:	1:17:57
Moving Time:	1:17:22
Elapsed Time:	1:17:57

Avg Pace:	8:20 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	8:16 min/mi
Best Pace:	5:49 min/mi

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	677 ft
Elevation Loss:	676 ft
MinElevation:	407 ft
MaxElevation:	640 ft

Heart Rate

Avg HR:	165 bpm
Max HR:	197 bpm

Race Report: The Skippo

This past weekend I participated in only my second official trail race. It was the Skippo put on by Big River Running. This year there were 3 options available, a 10k, 20k, & 30k option. Fresh off my finish at the Rock n Roll St. Louis Half I figured I would keep my distance about the same. So I opted for the 20k. The race was just a 10k loop that was repeated 1, 2 or 3 times.

A week prior Big River put on a course preview run of the 10k loop. I had run it prior to the preview and knew what I was up against, but a lot of the people at the preview didn't. From what I heard during that run is that a lot of people that were doing the 20k dropped to the 10k. Which I think worked out in my advantage for how well I finished/placed.

So the race was limited to only 400 people and from the results, it looks like there were only 354 finishers. Not sure on the factors of why 11.5% of the field didn't show or finish, but I bet one of them was the weather. When I got up, I knew it had rained the night before and that it was going to be a bit sloppy, but I wasn't ready for the temp. My temperature gauge on my cell phone registered 52 degrees. I was pumped. Overcast and 50s are my favorite for running. Well it turns out that my phone hadn't refreshed and it was 39. Luckily I packed enough clothes for 5 runners in my bag and I threw on a long sleeve 1/2 zip pullover (Nike and its awesome). I was good to go.

We arrived at the race a little earlier than we should have. We were expecting to have traffic issues since parking is somewhat limited at the park and it can be a hassle parking far away and having to walk up to the start. Luckily Big River really planned ahead (they know how to put on a race) and set up a shuttle system at a local school parking lot and it offloaded a lot of the traffic congestion. We had to stand around a bit but there were propane heaters around which helped out tremendously. Again, good planning on Big River's part.

This isn't even half of them

Ok enough about that. Lets get to the race. The gun sounded at 8am and we were off. My plan was to start out fast so I could create as much separation from the folks who might be going slower than me on the trail. My plan worked. We set off at a crazy 7:30 pace, but it worked out well for me. The first trail you hit once you get off the road is pretty wide and runners could jockey fairly easily for position. I kept it at a 7:45 - 8:15 pace as much as I could on the wide trail to start. The first 2 something miles are flatter as flat can be. And other than some sandy spots rather uneventful. Then you hit the Stairs. From what I can find on the internets, there are about 200 of them and an elevation gain of about 211 ft. Since I was doing the 20k, I would have to do these twice. As much as I hate walking, this is one spot on the course that I would have been dumb for me to run. Especially since there's a hill about .2 away that is nothing to be scoffed at either. The other place on the course I walked was what we had named in training the OFH (Oh F**k Hill). This one you get a nice 170ft climb in about .25 miles. I was able to run about half of it the first time and about 1/4 of it the second. I decided overall it was better to conserve on this part of the course than to go all our and have my legs dead for the remainder which is pretty technical running. At the end is a pretty satellite view. Until you reach that, here is a pretty view of me.

 However after all the hills and steps were completed, it was a pretty easy (Read: Flat) run back to the finish. They only real issue was the course gets to be really rough in spots with rocks, roots, and other mother naturey things. I almost bit it once and I had to remind myself to pick my feet up. Other than that momentary brain fart, I was feeling good.

As I came out of the woods it was like a slap in the face with a ton of excitement. I was on grass and I could hear the dude on the loudspeaker talking about someone who had lost their keys. I was in the home stretch and I was not feeling terrible. I kicked it into whatever gear I had left and busted it to the finish line. Finishing with a 1:50:39. the two min you see on the garmin readout are my dumb arse forgetting to shut off my watch.

The post race activities were the bomb. A reoccurring theme in this post is how Big River knows how to put on a race and they didn't slack for the post race fiesta either. There was some Beer, food, and a metric ton of pulled pork. I love pork.

So here's the other stuff I forgot to put above.

Shoes: New Balance MT101's. These shoes are the balls.
Race Goodies: Nike Long Sleeve Shirt & Skippo Coffee Mug (not available yet)

Temp: 39 Degrees
Elevation: 1036 ft

The shoe that did it

This is going to be my first review on here. So I thought I would make it be about the most influential piece of equipment I've used over the last 5 years. Since this is about running, it is going to be about shoes. In the last 6 months or so, I have been very interested in the minimalist shoe movement that has been going on. My opinion on these shoes was extremely negative. I felt shoes needed structured and support the type of foot that goes in them. Well on a whim I bought some New Balance MT101s because I needed some trail shoes and well they were the cheapest option I could find. I started wearing them and almost instantly my form changed and I was running up on my forefoot and no longer heel striking. It was an interesting experience to say the least and I haven't really looked back. I am still a work in progress with the new form and my calves hate me at times, but I have notice that my legs  feel amazing when I go out to run and they are stronger than ever. So here's my review of the shoes that changed my entire running life.

Oh so pretty.

The New Balance MT101 is marketed as an "ultra-lightweight trail racer" but it is so much more. As I am transitioning from a structured support shoe to more minimal shoes, I have found the shoes to be ideal for all of my running needs. I started using them as they were intended, as trail shoes, but quickly found that I was running faster & more efficiently when I put them on. So, not being one for following the rules, I took them out on the pavement. I was pleasantly surprised with how cushioned my feet felt even with so much LESS shoe under them. They are so lightweight (7.8 oz listed at  NB website) I've even used them as a racing flat for 10k through the city streets. The shoes can do it all.

The fit of these shoes is wonderful. I have a tricky 14 EE size shoe. Even though these shoes are said to be a D width, there is plenty of room in the toe box allowing my feet to spread out unrestricted. This ample space coupled with the minimal heel-toe drop have really helped take my running biomechcanics to the next level.The one fit issue I have had with them is the EVA foam collar around the ankle. It is very abrasive and I have found it promotes blisters rather easily. This is simply remedied by wearing socks that come up over the ankle collar. The other issue I have had with them is that the traction on the soles has worn out a bit quicker than expected. This is probably due to the amount of road miles I have put on them.

Finally (and possibly most importantly) the cost of these shoes is a real bargain. While they are listed at $74.99 at www.newbalance.com, I have found these shoes much cheaper with a simple online search. My first pair I bought for $65 and recently I purchased my second pair of these shoes for $55. The great news about this is that prices will most likely continue to go down as this shoe will be replaced in early 2012 with the MT110. Check out an early review of the MT110 HERE (HT: Runblogger)

These shoes are a triple threat as a trail, training, and racing shoe for a terrific price and I highly recommend them.