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Foresthill to Deadwood Cemetery

February 9, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s+, sunny!

Comments:
Slept in, got some good coffee from Heath Ledger's hot younger sister (:-p), then watched BGD's mom kick-ass in her first-ever race, a 10K at Folsom.

The original plan was to do MB to LC and back, with the inbound section "all out" race-mode. However, when we got to FH there was significant snow accumulation (1-2" or more) covering anywhere that was shaded. Based on what Princess told us, I got scared and said we should run from FH, so that's what we did.

Had the jet pack with about 1L water, 3 cookies (330kcal) and 4 gels. Left just before noon.

Pretty easy descent to Bath AS and Volcano. I could already tell by then that BGD's descending skill had improved. A TON. I was exerting effort to keep up, and I knew he was going easy.

The climb out of Volcano was uneventful. It felt like a sustainable effort, so it was just about biding time. I thought a lot about "course management", then remembered back to the "Three C's" (Composure, Confidence, Compete) from the HS coaching days. I thought about those top 5-6 guys from '12 and how, seemingly, they raced each other for such a big part of the day, and how brutal that would be. Ultimately, you have to course manage and stay composed early, be confidence in your fitness and hit splits and position yourself in the middle, and only in the end (last <30mi) can you truly compete.

The gravel road from the Volcano turnoff was some more spirited descent - a perfect surface and grade to practice downhill mechanics. Tried to keep the forward lean and quick turnover. At this point, the L lateral foot started to get sore, despite my good efforts to "be wide" on my L foot contact.

BGD seemed a touch flat on the rollers on Gorman heading to MB. We stopped briefly for water and a snack at MB (:56, including the stop), which was 100% clear of snow, then started the descent.

Wow, did I get BGD'd on that descent - it didn't take long for him to "go over the berm and just take off" ("peeeeew!") and within the first half mile he'd gapped me. "Sheesh!" It was frustrating but I felt like it was really efforted. He finally slowed about a mile down and offered some good advice about "butt-kicking" - a good cue, because it gets the foot up without a ton of hip action AND the reciprocal effect is getting the foot DOWN quicker.

The second half of the descent, he picked it up again and bested me down there by a good :30 (could've been 2:00 if he hadn't slowed). "My GOD!", he's gotten a ton better at descending in just a few weeks! 19:30 split down.

Mentally, it was nice to know we were only going to Cemetery, because that meant only one last climb before heading back. I set the pace going up, and felt pretty strong - again, some effort but very sustainable. Got up to Cemetary and spent about 7min up there, prepping for the hard inbound trip. I spent a lot of time stretching: doing PF ankle stretching so that my foot COULD land whole, and then working the achilles', both of which were barking on the ascent.

I let BGD lead on the descent, and we flew along pretty good. I focused on total relaxation and just keeping the momentum, trying to replicate a sustainable race feel. It actually felt pretty good but, oddly, I felt bonky on the descent! Weird. I hung on pretty good, when, about midway down, BGD had me go ahead. So I did and kept it going pretty OK.

About 3/4 down I scuffed a rock with my L foot. That sent a bit of a shock up into the pelvis, which zapped both sides, so when the R foot came down, that one scuffed! Ouch! Then, only a few strides later, the L REALLY caught and I almost went down. While I avoided a face plant, the cumulative double-scuff sent a tremendous strain into the sacrum. FUCK that hurt. Had to walk it off 30s, then run pretty slow the rest of the way. I wasn't real worried but I wondered what that meant for the hard return...

BGD waited for me at El Dorado, and by the time I got down there (22:xx), the sacrum started to numb out. I told him I was feeling better, and that the ascending felt OK...and then I started pushing...

Before long, I was out of sight. I wasn't really sure how BGD was feeling, but I was committed to a hard, "marathon tempo" effort. So I continued to push.

The effort felt strong and sustainable but the quads felt worn. I had to stop and walk for a couple brief periods, but otherwise pushed strongly out of the canyon. Hit the MB AS at 31:20, which ties my PR, then tried to transition into marathon mode - getting the flat stride going.

That was tough: the flat running out of MB felt like I had bricks on my feet. But I kept forward, worked the "wide" stride, and opening the pelvis (R in particular).

Felt strong until the road climb. On that ascent, I began to feel some quad blips. Uh oh. I took my 4th and last gel at that point, as well as the last sips of water, hoping to stave off trouble. I shuffled my way up, then got on the muddy double track.

By this point, I was getting aggressive. I worried BGD was rebounding and would roll me on the descent, so I gave some Jimothy grunts and pushed the best I could. I thought a lot about how Tim would run that section and pushed aggressively to the bottom of Volcano, excited for the climb out. I ran straight through the creek.

At this point, about 3h30m into the effort, I was feeling race strain: that feeling of wanting to be done with the climb/flat/down and looking forward the change...only to curse the new, within minutes! The uphill transition I so looked forward, burned horribly on the other side of the creek. I walked a bit, then felt significant quad cramping, both legs, come on. Uh-oh. Worked on good flexing and forward momentum, which helped. But it worsened.

I did the Hal mid-run quad stretch, as they clearly "weren't doing so hot", but it didn't help. I knew that I had to keep moving, and that only maximum stride integrity would work. Thankfully on the flats below Bath, the stride felt great and cramp-free. However, the climb up to the AS involved a lot of walking. I worried BGD would appear and gain contact ("Well, here I am!"). I shuffled up to Bath AS, and started my way up the road.

The quads were going NUTS: crazy cramping, like tight, soreness - just short of an all-out seize. More walking, more stretching. "Fuck!" I realized again, walking does NOT help - it only tightens. I leaned way into the hill, worked "The Pattern" (big ab/hip flexion, butt push beneath) and, remarkably, 90% of the cramping went away. I just had to get up that damn hill "and it's all over". I celebrated the sight of the fenced-house on the right, summited, and got onto FH Road and "hammered" - forward stride, "wide", opening up the back/pelvis. I felt SUPS fast, but I'm sure it was scarcely sub 7 (maybe mid 6s).

Hit FH school at.

What a tremendous run! Exactly what I needed:

- Long effort
- Hard effort in the second half
- Having to push out a real stride with max fatigue in the runnable MB to FH section (=very marathon helpful)
- Conquering the cramps!

The splits for the day (all time was accounted for - there was no stopping of the watch):

OUTBOUND:
FH to MB: 56:10 (including stops)
MB to El D: 19:30
El D to Cemetery: 44:20
--2:00:00

--break--: 7:00

INBOUND
Cemetery to El D: 23:03
El D to MB: 31:20
MB to Bath AS: 37:23
Bath AS to FH: 11:02
(MB to FH: 48:25)
--1:49:46

Very thankful to have BGD to push me and be there for this run, which would've been tough to do solo. Though he fell back, his ghost really pushed me on the way back!