Two years ago I had planned on going back to Iowa to run the Hawkeye 25k and then SIBO hit me hard making it impossible. Finally this year I was able to go for it and I was very interested to see if my new Primal Endurance training regime was going to pay off during the run. I had done a half marathon last month at the Redmond Watershed and since then had been running fairly low mileage only up to a 7 mile distance on a weekend run but always kept my heart rate in the aerobic phase below 125bpm and sticking to nose breathing through my runs. My plan was to do this keeping my breathing steady through my nose and not push my heart rate up. I wasn’t competing like I did at the Redmond half but I sort of hoped I’d set a new 25k PR just because I was dealing with about 1100′ of elevation gain instead of 3000′. This was going to be the longest distance I’d run since getting sick 2.5 years ago.
What I hadn’t anticipated was the cold. We landed in Chicago the Monday before the run to snow and cold temps. The entire week was miserable, I don’t think the wind-chill temp ever got above freezing and we endured more snow, rain and high winds all week with temps ranging from the 20s to the mid-40s. As the week went on it became clear that race day was going to be COLD. When I showed up at the Solon Recreation Area it was 24 degrees in the car with a wind chill temp of 16. The good news is that it was clear and the wind was settling down some from the 30-45mph gusts the day before. I got registered, put on pretty much everything I had in terms of running clothes with me and then had to decide on footwear. I had planned to wear my Lunas but the ground was so cold that I opted at the last minute to switch into my Altra Lone Peaks which turned out to be a good decision in the end.
The 50k runners took off at 8:00 a.m. and the 25k runners all huddled in the Timber Dome Lodge trying to keep warm before our start at 8:30. The run started out on a packed trail that ran around Lake McBride with a few short stretches of paved road thrown in there. By the time we got to the Beach to Dam trail it had at least warmed up a bit and I was able to take my gloves off and unzip my outer jacket. The dam crossing was a fun but led to the infamous spillway crossing where you had to wind your way across the outflow of the lake hoping to not get too wet. The upper route was too deep and fast so everyone was opting for the lower route. I managed to rock hop my way across without even getting wet, this is where the Altras really paid off with their 1″ thick sole, my Lunas would have been wet and I would have had to have stopped and taken my socks off or changed socks afterwards. The trail through the McBride Nature Recreation Area was really fun, lots of twisty turny single track with ups and downs, the closest thing to home that I had on the course except through hardwoods instead of pines. This finally gave way to another trail and then a road that followed the lake to the bridge where we got on the actual road for the last 3 miles back to Solon. The road stretch pretty much sucked, we were wide open to the wind and the entire 3 miles was pretty much uphill on a shoulder. I stuck to the gravel at the edge of the paved shoulder since I did not want to be pounding pavement at all if possible. The turn into Solon was a welcome sight and I knew I had this thing. Finished in 2:36:32, a whopping 28 minutes faster than my previous 25k best time! Overall 62 out of 150 runners and 14 out of 67 in the old guys division. Not too shabby for my first 25k in four years.
The exciting part to me was the fact that I did this entire run breathing through my nose, keeping my heart rate low and without needing to put in any calories in 15.5 miles. I carried one bottle of water, one bottle of Vega electrolyte drink and two emergency Vega gels just in case but never felt the need to crack a gel. No bonk what-so-ever during the run and really I wasn’t even that hungry when I finished the run but did end up eating a real lunch with some old friends from Des Moines about 30 minutes after finishing. Before I would never have dreamed of running a half or 25k without putting down calories every hour. To me this means that my new training regime is working and I am indeed burning fat instead of glucose when running now. It would be one thing to do this during really slow training runs but I’m also doing it during events and setting PRs while doing it, this kind of amazes me. I’m hooked and now I’m curious as to how far I can take this. Can one do a marathon or 50k without any calories during the event? I honestly think it is possible and I’m going to find out.
The other thing I found is that I recovered very quickly. After the event I had to drive back to the Quad Cities but once there I rolled my legs out with a couple of lacrosse balls, sat in a cold bath for about 10 minutes then took a hot shower. After that I put on compression socks and my thin CW-X compression tights and wore them the rest of the day and through the night. On the venture home I wore the tights driving to Chicago and flying home. Woke up this morning and I could go for a run already. This is the quickest I’ve ever recovered from a very long run. I’m sold on all the benefits of Primal Endurance training after this.
What’s next? The Tiger Mountain Half is this coming Saturday, followed by Soaring Eagle at the end of the month and then the Sun Mountain 25k next month. I am already planning a trip back to Iowa for the Wildcat 50k in late October, this will be a good test since it is more real trail with elevation gain in 10k loops so I can choose to go for 20-50k depending on how I’m feeling.