I did my first, and hopefully not last, trail run this past Sunday, April 17th. I used this as more a training run than a hard race. I'd been having some back and hip issues the previous two weeks and just wanted to finish this and feel good when I got done.
Sunday turned out to be a cool and windy day for the race, but much better than Saturday. Saturday had winds and rain most of the morning. Sunday was sunny, but only the low 30's and still blowing a brisk northeast breeze. I got up and kind of experimented with my breakfast. I know, not a good idea. But, like I mentioned, it wasn't an "A" race so a little tinkering was in order. I added some protein, in the form of a couple of scrambled eggs. I've heard that the protein seems to help with the fueling. Can't remember exactly why, need to check on that. I figured it couldn't hurt, right?
Tammy and I headed out to the race and I was surprised when we came over the last hill before Iola Winter Sports Center and saw the field full of cars. I figured the cold and blustery day might keep the turnout low, but that didn't seem to be the case. We parked, headed in to pick up my bib and went back to the car to get things set for the start.
I did a very short warm up and headed to the start area. I felt a little cold but knew I'd warm up once the race began. I lined up towards the middle of the pack and when the horn went off I took off with the rest of the group.
The race was a combined 5K/15K and both started together. I settled into a comfortable pace and got ready for the hills I knew were coming up. I'm fairly familiar with the course at Iola. I've skied here before and done WORS mtn. bike races here for years. I knew that after we passed the lodge that we would hit some pretty good climbs. Okay, nothing mountainous, but pretty good climbs for central Wisconsin. I didn't want to be sucking air right away so I took it pretty easy and even did some walking. I didn't seem to lose much ground doing a power walk up the climbs and stayed in a nice small pack.
The 5K/15K was the same for the first loop. I was a little worried that when the 5K runners finished and we 15K runners went out for our second loop that I'd be running solo. Not too worry. The group I was running with turned out to be all 15Kers.
I got ready for the hills again and kept my steady pace. I wasn't exactly lighting the course on fire, but I wasn't getting passed much either. I'd fallen in with one of the female runners that was running a similar pace. We talked a little which helped the miles go by a little quicker. I guess if I was talking and not gasping for breath I wasn't running that hard!
After the initial climbs on one side of the lodge the course settled down a bit. Some nice wide open running with a few little climbs. Mostly ski trail with some of the Ice Age Scenic Trail tossed in. Nice flowing sections of singletrack broke up the ski trail sections. The course was in nice shape but amazingly, or not, if you know what the weather has been like here lately, there was still snow on a good amount of the course. Nothing deep, definitely runnable, but it did make the footing a little tricky at times. All in all, an excellent course. Well marked, lots of up and down with enough flat to catch your breath.
I didn't wear my HRM so I don't really know how hard I was working. I felt good the entire run. Never gasping for breath. In control. No aches or pains. I would say maybe a 7 out of 10 for effort.
After the race I relaxed a bit and got my results and then headed home. For the race I was 26th out of 71 males. 5/17 in 50-59. Nothing exceptional. Could I have run harder/faster? Yeah, probably. But I always think that. Full results-http://www.superiortiming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IOLA_TRAIL_RUN_15KM_OVERALL_RESULTS.htm
Now I have two weeks to the first WORS race of the year. Interestingly, it also at Iola. Will it help? Probably not. Then another week to the Door County Half Marathon. I plan on running that one a little harder, with a goal time planned.
My hip/back issues seem to have resolved themselves but now I'm battling one heck of a sinus infection. Knocked me on my butt the Monday after the race. Enough to send me to the clinic. If you know me at all, it takes quite a bit before I head to the doctor's office. Hopefully this will clear up quickly.
As I write this, we've gotten another 3"-4" of snow in central Wisconsin. Apparently Mother Nature can't figure out what the hell she wants. Maybe this will give me a couple more days to get the herd of bikes ready.
More later this week. Hoping I can say I'm finally almost back to 100%
Thanks for checking this out. Comments and suggestions are appreciated-good or bad.
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