ALLEGHENY FRONT TRAIL RUN, HUH?

PHILIPSBURG, PA - Alright, and so Gabriel set off with his family for a weekend of hard running and quality family time, post-race. The Allegheny Front Trail Run was a newly founded race, and since Gabriel had already experienced a portion of the trail at the Mile Run Trail Half Marathon and felt it's technical nature would prepare him for TransRockies, it was a sound decision to attempt the Hemlock distance (12.3M).

However, as he learned from this winter's local 50km, new races aren't always the most organized or professionally organized, as there are many growing pains for race directors tackling such monstrocities as trail and ultra trail runs.

Immedialtely upon setting off, Gabriel noted that the course markings were going to be suspect. He took a commanding lead in the offset, but on a three-mile stretch of dirt road, Gabriel was caught by a pretty powerful and smooth runner. Gabriel entered the six-mile checkpoint in the lead by a couple of strides, stopped to take a GU and some water, and then set off again on the singletrack, flying past his opponent and attacking the terrain and trail. Soon, he re-reached a fork in the trail and the volunteer started sending Gabriel into the same loop he had just run. Knowing the course map, Gabriel stated, "this is my second loop!" and so the volunteer stated, "oh, uh, go straight" and Gabriel headed into the darkness of singletrack.

However, this did seem the right trail and soon he found himself on a trail heading back to the start (named Seneca, was this the 30M trail finish?) and his confidence was high as he was hammering hard on the trail. Remembering this was the entrance, Gabriel committed to the pace, but soon enough, he encountered traffic, continued to run hard, found himself in the middle of the forest, and then found himself at the 6M check-point, ugh. Amazingly, within 5-6 minutes, the second place runner also found himself at the 6M check-point. Two lost leaders. A 5 min car ride delivered them to the finish line, but all was well. It was the effort that mattered on this day, and Gabriel got in 85+ min of hard tempo running on technical trails.

The rest of the day was spent racing go-carts and on rides in a great water/ride park in PA. Great day.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

July 8, 2012

MORGANTOWN, PA - This was more like multiple troubles. The Double Trouble 15K/30K Trail race was held in French Creek State Park on a very muggy, humid, and warm morning. The 2.5 hour drive from Ellicott City to the park was quite uneventful, although beautiful. Pennsylvania is a grand state, but amazingly, PA all looks the same with gorgeous rolling countryside and vast farmlands.

Back to the race. Gabriel was not feeling peppy. His left calf/soleus was weak and sore and he had jumped into some pretty good training immediately after Mount Washington. Perhaps he was doing too much climbing. The one workout he had schedule prior to the Double Trouble was a 4 x 1600m in 4:55, with 3:00 rest and he only managed 3 x 1600m in 4:55, 4:58, 5:01 in 97-degree heat. This heat wave was killing him.

The race was amazing, however. The original goal was to run the 30 KM with a 3M warm-up, and a 3M cooldown for a 24-mile day in prep for NYC. However, Gabriel managed to cop an entry to the Glossglockner Berglauf mountain race in Austria on the 15th of July, and this necessitated a training change. The 30 KM could potentially be shelved for the 15 KM, but it depened on how the race played out.

Amazingly, the race played out spectacularly not in Gabriel's favor. The eccentric RD decided to start the 30 KM runners on the singletrack portion of the start, while the 15 KM runners (part of the PA Off-Road Championship) started on a straight road path to the trailhead merge. Immediately, Gabriel fell behind about 5 runners on the singletrack, and when the two races merged, Gabriel was deep in 50-100th place. There was no room to move up. The singletrack was too tight and patience was of utmost importance. Gabriel's first reaction was, "well, no worries about winning the 15K, this is ridiculous." That quickly changed to, "screw this, I am going to win the 15K, or at least try, and if I do, no 30K for me, just the 15K."

However, the lead pack was way out and after 20-minutes there was no one in sight and he was in about 11th place. By 27-minutes, he had moved into 6th place and had 4th place in his sights, with 3rd place not far off. A gradual, steep incline at 30-minutes caused a major cave-in from the front-runners, and Gabriel started gaining ground. A quick road segment gave Gabriel a glimpse of 1-2nd places, and he set off in pursuit. However, once he tucked into 3rd place, he was stuck. Second place was stubborn and would not let Gabriel pass. This was a race. Screw trail etiquette. Even though Gabriel was a 30K runner, the 2nd place runner would not relent. So, after inquiring if the runner ahead was the leader, Gabriel did his best Usain Bolt impersonation and blitzed a turn, immediately opening a 20-30 meter gap and safely into 2nd place.

However, it was now 45+ minutes on the clock and he had to make up ground on first place if he had a chance to win. The race was going to take 1hr, give or take. Finally, after much stumbling on the rockiest terrain on the course, he spotted the leader, and on a nice incline the leader relented. Gabriel assumed the lead, but he proceeded to relax too much (in hindsight). The second place runner smartly tracked Gabriel until Gabriel had to re-tie a shoelace for the home stretch. Gapping Gabriel by close to 200m, Gabriel worked hard to catch back up and soon they entered the final aid station together before the final descent to Hopewell Lake.

Gabriel assumed the lead down the trail, and they were flying. Mimicking Killian Jornet, the leaders leaped boulders, tree limbs, and every rock and root possible, taking turns at dangerous, ankle breaking speeds. Gabriel searched for any flat or uphill ground to make a move and create a gap. Finally, there was a 100-200m flat section and Gabriel got the gap he needed. However, an ill-advised comment from a volunteer stated they were 1/4 mile from the finish and Gabriel launched into his kick, only to find that they still had over a half mile to go! Gabriel was devastated, but he recovered for one final launch, but he was being caught.

Finally, he spotted the lake, emerged from the trail in the lead, and proceeded to drop a great final 200-300m uphill finish to take the win and course record. He was absolutely destroyed, but it was a great effort. If there was a heart-rate monitor, he work rate would have been in the 180's the whole race. Not bad for working his way through the entire field. This was great preparation for Austria, and gave him the confidence necessary to descend recklessly and compliment his uphill skills.

Onto London, Munich, and Heiliglenblut...

MOUNT WASHINGTON ROAD RACE

USATF Mountain Championship - Mt. Washington Road Race 7.6M in 1:06:18* NEW State of Maryland Record (1:10:37 - 1990);
18th in USATF Mountain Championship; 19th Overall
SPLITS - 6:35, 14:55 (8:20), 23:41 (8:45), Halfway - 31:53, 32:44 (9:03), 1:00:41

Alright, so where do I begin? Obviously, I had researched the Maryland Record and that was goal #1, 1:10:37. I noted on some Northeasterner blogs certain splits to be able to hit that time and while laying in bed the night before the race, I settled on 9:00 miles - simple math: 9', 18', 27', 36', 45', 54', 63' would get me the record. Of course, I was still feeling quite sore from Dr. Bross' treatment and my legs were still trash from my 12 x 400m workout, but I got to bed by 7:30PM feeling very motivated and pumped. I would wake up at 6AM, not eat a single thing, and be ready to race.

On race morning, I was not feeling peppy. There was a lot of waiting around, as I had to coordinate a ride down from the mountain top. Got in a sporadic warm-up, and then headed up the first 400m of the climb. I was feeling so confident driving around NH because I felt their "8% grade" was less steep than MD 8% grade, but those first 400m I knew it was going to be a long day. Thankfully, I lined up next to Dave Dunham and took a peek at his wrist calculator. It looked like he was gunning for a 67' minute run so I said, "hmm, I've got to hang with this 47-year old legend, he knows what he's doing on this course." So, the cannon boomed and I got out relaxed behind at least 30-40 guys and right behind Dave and Nate Jenkins (2:14 Marathon). Once we started climbing, my natural rhythm took me past Dave and I was a bit confident. However, before the 1M mark, I was in trouble. Although my watch read 6:35 (wanted closer to 6:45-6:50) and I was comfortable, I was running on one leg (right) and was not smooth or powerful whatsoever. I didn't want to make any moves, but I started to get too aggressive and immediately got into a hole, oxygen-debt wise. On a pretty steep section before 2M, I actually walked two strides because my left quad was just failing on me. But I got going and never looked back. I was running pretty roughly to 3M, but then the canopy pulled back and I was re-vitalized. It was great seeing the sun and sky. I was full of life, but man, the climb was on! This was crazy. I approached halfway and saw sub-32:00!!! I couldn't drop out now. I had a legitimiate shot at doing something great. I just had to keep plugging away. I was literally just throwing myself up this hill, no true running form, just powering up.

I think I saw another 8:45 mile from 4-5 miles but by then my mind was playing tricks on me: "how much higher is this damn mountain!" Come on... Mile 5-6 was by far the steepest and most difficult, but by this point I was aiming on reeling in both Nate Jenkins and Kevin Tilton, who had worked past me at Mile 2. I was inching up on them with every step. However, mile 5-6, on a dirt covered road, was so steep and never-ending. It was dreadful, but it was beautiful. I kept looking up to spy the finish somewhere and then I saw it, it almost looked like it was on another mountain peak! At this point, I passed Jarred Freeman, a mountain skier/runner and kept going. Mile 6 split 9:14 and I was stoked. I was running very, very well. Now, I had to get back to work on some steep climbs for mile 7 to show up and thankfully this was taken up by focusing on catching Nate Jenkins and how impressive that would sound to my coach (turns out it did not impress him much at all, ha). My left calf started a mini cramp at this point, but I put it aside and stormed by Nate at 7M, almost putting myself into debt too soon. Shortly after the catch, the final stretch came into sight and I finished up quite well, seeing 1:06:15 on the clock! I had to smile. Not in my wildest dreams did I think about 1:06, because 1:06 was a traditional Top 5-10 on this course, but today, I felt I was behind a legit pack of 12-15 studs that I never saw on the mountain. They were just gone.

This was single-handedly the most difficult thing I have done. I had to dig to a pain-cave I had not visited in quite some time, if ever. But it was all worth it. I out-climbed some great runners, all 2:20-2:25 marathon guys and mountain guys that own the Northeast and trails. I did not have a practice run-up, I did not have a more than 25 min continuous run uphill on a treadmill at 8% grade. I really think my climbing skills are strong. However, I am not sure I could run much faster than 1:03 on this course, and mentally, it will take a year to get over the pain associated with this run. Man, that was fun.