Race: Turnagain Arm 8-miler
Where: Turnagain Arm Trail, Potter to Rainbow, Anchorage, AK
When: May 17, 2005; 6:30pm
Distance: 8 miles / 1130 ft according to guidebook (or 4 miles / 300 or
so ft)
Number of runners: about 85-90 in the 8 miler
Sponsored by: UAA (U. of Alaska Anchorage) Ski Team for scholarships
Pictures: http://home.att.net/~akrunning/Turnagain2005/index.html
Most pictures (except last one) are from running or hiking the trail 3
yr ago since I didn't stop for pictures this time.
Summary picture: http://tinyurl.com/akyva
gives some better depth perception than mine.
Goal: to just do it and have fun
For those of you that were here 3 yr ago when I did my first trail race
- and all the usual newbie mistakes - this is its big brother - the one
that has haunted me for 3 yr.
Background:
3 yr ago I was even more clueless than I am now and terrified of the
trail description for the 4-8 mile section (included words like "falling
to your death" - hey, that's the description in the guide, not *my*
hyperbole - but it had a significant negative psychological effect). I
kinda had a feeling that 8-9 mile long run on roads that I had back then
didn't really relate to 8 miles on trails, but didn't have any
experience to back it up - that level of ignorance where you don't know
how clueless you really are. So I decided to do the 4 miler then build
to the 8 miler in the future. In the meantime, an assortment of things
happened including having to be out of town in 2003, and the race being
cancelled because of bears in 2004. It's slowly changed from just a
race to an obsession.
This year they moved the race about 2 wks earlier - before the moose
start dropping calves, which is a frequent meal for bears. Bears feeding
on carcasses may tend to make a meal of a runner - or anyone - that
happens to surprise it. By this time, I definitely had the mileage with
elevation gain, although my runs were more on rolling hills and a lot of
winter running was stop / go around ice spots, foot/hoof prints, etc.
rather than continuous running or even power hiking. Then I couldn't
find anyone to shuttle with this year (race is point-to-point with no
official shuttle). I e-mailed RD, apologetically since I knew they were
busy, offered to help cleanup since I'd be one of last if I could bum a
ride back. He said somebody could provide a ride back. Just go run
and don't worry about it. The whole atmosphere of this race seemed
friendlier than 3 yr ago.
The race:
Somehow I actually made it to the starting line, where I'm finding I
know - or at least recognize - more people than I did 3 yr ago
(recognized exactly 1 then). I assumed my usual position of trailing the
pack and maintaining an effort that should last for a couple hours. My
legs seemed tired most of the way - perhaps not recovered from the 12
miles (about 3 miles longer than my longest long run) 10 days earlier (I
usually allow 2 wks). I seemed to arrive at the 4-mi cutoff slightly
slower than when I ran the 4-miler 3 yr ago, but that would be expected
- but mentally, I was surprised to see it so soon. Roots weren't nearly
as big now as 3 yr ago - or as dense 😉 I was going slow enough and was
considering opting for the 4 mile rather than keep volunteers waiting at
the finish. However, given the problems I've had even getting to the
starting line of this race, the lack of bears (only scat), etc, I
decided to continue on and get this monkey off my back. There was also a
sweep, and as I found out later, they had some runners from the ski team
be bear bait, er, I mean run the trail checking for bears before the race.
After winding through the picnic area by the 4-mi cutoff, the fun began
with the rockier trail with the larger hills in the 2nd half. The part
with the "falling to your death" description. I had hiked this 2nd
section 3 yr ago in anticipation of running it sometime, so I had an
idea of what to expect - except my recollection was in terms of hiking
from the half-way picnic area, not running 4 miles beforehand. I
traversed the land-slide section with no problems - remembering to keep
my eye on the trail and not look down (see pictures). What I hadn't
realized before is that this steep, exposed hill is *not* the big hill.
It was waiting for me another mile or so down the line, so I kinda blew
my energy management. That last hill burned, even though I've hiked
hills twice that big in training - although with precarious snow
conditions so probably wasn't at same effort level.
I eventually got to the downhill - about 700ft @ 15% slope - and
negotiated that just fine - running the whole way, including the flat
part to the finish. Didn't face plant on the few remaining roots and no
sore quads or knees either that night or several days later. At least my
downhill training paid some benefits. I was DFL at 2:12:08, a couple
minutes slower than my slowest estimate this year, but I got the monkey
off my back, and finished it, and that was my primary goal.
One thing that was kinda funny in the 2nd half. I had my long-sleeve
powerdry on. While I was sweating, I didn't feel like I wanted to be in
short sleeves, esp. since nose was dripping and it was windy in some of
the exposed areas. When I arrived at finish, many people were dressed in
insulated jackets, winter hats, etc. Hmm, that would explain why my body
was reacting like winter. There's actually about a 20 mph wind coming
off Turnagain Arm, which probably made for a substantial chilling factor
with an overcast sky. Temperatures were probably about 55 or so,
according to weather, but maybe in different part of town.
For those that remember my fluid / fuel issues from 2002, this time I
*did* remember to drink in the race (camel bak, not a bottle, this
time), and I had reasonable amount of food in car - plus ate more after
I got home. This time I did not wake up hungry in the middle of the
night and not be able to get back to sleep, like I did 3 yr ago. Also
DOMS was negligible this time, which surprised me considering how tired
I was getting going up that last hill. Legs were tired, but not stiff,
for a few days. But I was still glad I didn't have a duathlon in 2.5
days like I did in 2002.
Things to do differently:
Aside from possibly inadequate recovery from the 10k (20k total), I may
not have gotten the fueling just right before the race. Because of
Anchorage rush-hour traffic, I usually leave my house about 3pm for a
5:30 meet / 6:30pm race start. I either need to eat a bigger, later
lunch or take pre-race food with me (more than what I took this time).
If I do any of the Tues night series in the fall, I'll get to practice
this more, although those races are less than 10k.
In retrospect, with regard to training, I wish I'd bought the snowshoe
poles earlier in the winter so I could've had higher quality workouts on
the larger hills. While I usually have close to 1000 ft elev change in
an 8-mi long run, it's distributed differently than this race and my
smaller hills are under 100 ft tall while the big one in this was about
500 ft (not big compared to mountains). And my hikes up bigger hills
went up at least 1500 ft in one pitch (and a 2nd part up about half
that) - but I've had to pick my way through footing issues, so intensity
was low. I'm toying between either adding some higher intensity hills
(let effort go above LT rather than trying to keep below that) or doing
bigger hills to get more efficient and stronger - both issues are more
readily resolved in summer.
The positive side of this is that this became a really good training run
to get experience on tired legs. It was a good confidence builder in
terms of being able to keep moving. (keep in mind, these races have no
sag wagon and usually no road intersections - definitely no curb to sit on)
While still largely clueless about many things, at least now I'm getting
a handle on my level of cluelessness 😉 Thanks for reading.
Dot
--
"So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste
away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog