Winter Series 3 - 10 Miler RR

donskiman · Feb 10, 2008

Monument, Colorado 2/9/08 Winter Series 3 - 10 Miler 
Weather: Sunny, temps in the low 30s, rising to the low 40s. A brisk wind made it feel a bit colder. 
For the 5 mile, the course was in decent shape. For the 10 mile, there was lots of snow on the trail on the northern end. Ray Allard attempted to plow things, but the blade broke on his ATV so he was unable to plow the north couple of miles on the 10 mile course. 
Course: A true out-and-back course on the New Sante Fe trail. The race starts and finishes at the Baptist Road trailhead. The course goes north towards Palmer Lake, and gradually gains altitude going north. Starting elevation is about 6800 feet. The elevation at the 5M turn around is about 7000 feet, and about 7200 feet at the 10M turn around. So runners need to huff and puff a bit on the way out, but get to enjoy the fruits of their labors on the way back. About Mile 8 <img alt="" src="http://www.pprrun.org/photos/2008/2008WinterSeriesIIIDewane/pix/IMG_5978.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"> It was a fairly nice day except for the wind. The first couple miles is pretty much straight to the north and completely in the open. The wind was from the WSW at around 15-20 with gusts to 30+. It was a bit difficult to get up to speed with the wind trying to blow everyone sideways. The trail is only about 10 feet wide and that made it tight at the start. I was about mid-pack. I was consistently passing people for the first mile or so, then settled in a bit because the 5 mile racers were on the return making it difficult to pass. At just over 2 miles the course makes a slight turn to the west, then north again. At about this point the course started becoming completely snow covered. At about 3 miles the course turns to the northwest and is more sheltered so the wind was no longer a factor, but the snow made it tough going. I was still passing people, but they were more strung out. The entire out is a gradual incline and between the wind and snow it just wears a person down. As the temps started to warm the snow started get wetter and this made the footing slightly better - except for the shady areas. Finally the turnaround and downhill on the way back. A guy passed me shortly after the turn and surged ahead. After I got a slight breather I started working on passing people again. I was picking up speed again due to the better traction in the wetter snow and the slight downhill. That allowed me to keep moving up, picking people off about every 5 minutes. At around 7.5 miles I passed the one guy who had passed me. Once the course got out of the snow I was able to pick up the pace and work on people a long way in front of me. With about a mile to go I had chased down one guy who had been about a quarter mile ahead. There was another guy about a quarter mile ahead to chase and I worked it hard, but he ended up beating me across the finish by a couple yards. The last couple miles the wind was a factor again, but I just blocked it out and went for it. I measured 10.11 miles on the Garmin - exactly the same as a guy I talked to after the race. My time was 1:23:43. That's about 10 minutes faster than I've ever run on this course and about 8 minutes faster than my 10 mile PR. A new PR! Miles splits: Mile 1 - 8:24 Mile 2 - 8:13 Mile 3 - 8:25 Mile 4 - 9:00 Mile 5 - 9:15 Mile 6 - 8:41 Mile 7 - 8:03 Mile 8 - 8:19 Mile 9 - 7:22 Mile 10- 7:21 .11 (GPS) - :40 - 6.28 pace The next race is in 2 weeks, a 20K on a hilly course. Mostly on dirt roads, maybe a mile or so of pavement. I ended the week with 72.74 miles. If we have some decent weather this week I'll try to get in an 18 miler. It would be great if I could do a long run without battling wind for half of it.

hobey · Feb 10, 2008

Fookin' nut! <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> 
Seriously, good job in the snow. Looked like a nice day out there.

kylemcm · Feb 10, 2008

Great job to keeping going with the wind like it was. 30+ gusts - wow! 
And a new PR to boot, awesome! 
Do you always run with your right thumb sticking up? The reason I ask is cause in my running pictures my left thumb is up. I never notice it when I'm actually running.

donskiman · Feb 11, 2008

Thanks. Fortunately the wind was mostly a crosswind, but it still would blow me sideways a bit when a gust hit me. 
I think I do run with my thumb up, but I never notice it either.

Dougie Fresh · Feb 11, 2008

Don, great race. You really stomped it those last two miles going well sub-8:00. It looks like in your photo you've got your concrete stare on (though I guess that'd be dirt stare). Well done. Sounds like a fun race.

donskiman · Feb 11, 2008

Thanks. I had my head down a bit to keep my hat from blowing off. I would have turned it around, but the sun would have been in my eyes.

LeftRightRepeat · Feb 11, 2008

Nice run and report! Congrats on the PR!

Thor · Feb 11, 2008

Great job on what sounds like a very, very, very tough course and an equally tougher day. Shows your build-in strength.

wyrillco · Feb 11, 2008

awesome! 
Another coloradoan? Are you doing the Cherry Creek 10/20 miler in two weeks? Or is it a different race?

donskiman · Feb 11, 2008

Thanks. I don't think I would say the course was that difficult. It was certainly much easier than the first race in this series. Even though the course gains about 400 feet in elevation to the turnaround, it's very gradual as this was a railroad line at one time. The only difficulties were the snow covered section and the strong crosswind. In past years conditions have been much worse, one time the snow on the trail was about a foot or so deep. Last year the far north end of the trail was closed due to huge drifts blocking it and we only ran 7 miles. One year the race was cancelled due to extremely high winds preventing the setup of the start/finish area. My previous course best was done on the best conditions - just wet and kinda muddy, no snow or strong wind. 
However, even with the difficulties the fast guys still run fast. The winner ran 1:04. Take away the snow and he would easily go under an hour though. 
Hopefully we'll have decent weather for the next race. Last year it was cancelled due to a blizzard. If conditions are decent I'd like to run it in the 1:40-1:45 range. Because it's on roads the snow isn't usually a factor as it's plowed off the road for the most part. The course does feature some fairly steep hills and the elevation is slightly higher.

wyrillco · Feb 11, 2008

what the hell is with the wind around here, lately?

donskiman · Feb 12, 2008

The race I'm doing is a 20K. It's the last race of the Pikes Peak Road Runners winter series. I live just south of Colorado Springs so I don't do any of the Denver area races for the most part.

donskiman · Feb 12, 2008

Tell me about it! Today I was doing a 12 miler. The route was an out and back mostly running north/south. The temps when I started around 11 were around 50, light breeze from the south. I was able to run in shorts and a long sleeved shirt. About 4 miles into the run the light breeze turned into a strong headwind. I figured I'd only have to deal with for another couple miles then it would be at my back when I turned around. That went well for a couple miles on the return, then the wind changes directions 180 degrees and is now a strong, cold headwind from the north. Temps dropped about 10 degrees. Between the dropping temps, the wind, and the sweat from running, I was starting to get chilled. Fortunately the last mile turns toward the east and is mostly sheltered so I made it home just fine. We may get some snow in a few hours. 
Because it's windy so much this time of year and I've been running 60+ miles per week, I've been working on mentally blocking out the wind and focusing on just moving forward at a steady pace. It's a challenge, but I think it's making me stronger.

Winter Series 3 - 10 Miler RR

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