Nearing the finish - photo by Yumay Chang
It was Thursday and I had to run anyway so why not sign up for the Evergreen Trail Runs Soaring Eagle event that evening. After running 11+ tough miles on Tuesday at Rattlesnake I decided the 5-mile option was definitely a good choice for distance and with the dry weather and Soaring Eagle not being a mud-hole the Luna Leadvilles would finally be perfect there. In fact, there were three people wearing Luna sandals at the event including Scott from Luna who I had met at the factory.
After registering and watching the plank-off (who can hold a plank the longest) we had the race talk and got lined up to start. I just wanted to do this run as a run, not really competing and didn’t even bring a watch or a handheld along. I was going to focus on the nose breathing rhythm I’d been working on in SoCal and keeping in a very meditative state while running. Down the main trail I got passed by a few quick starters and then on the single track settled in with a group of about six of us that were keeping what seemed like a good pace but not outrageously fast yet there was no one behind us for a long ways. As the 3 mile loop in single track went on about half the group started backing down leaving a smaller group when we got back to the main trail. There I just hit the turn-around, shook hands with Jamey and said “Hi” to Heather and took off back up the hill for the last mile. Keeping my breathing steady with a 3-step in and 3-step out I cruised past a few walkers on the hill and then accelerated for the last half mile. Crossed the finish at 46:03 which was significantly faster than my other 5-mile times this year which have been 59:58, 53:49 and 55:37. In fact, this turned out to be my best 5-mile trail time yet.
It was not, however, my fastest pace for any event. I did a 9:18 for Soaring Eagle but managed an 8:28 pace at the Bridle Trails 10-mile this year and an 8:55 at the Ft. Steilacoom Half Marathon last fall, both of which are easier courses to run on. I also somehow pulled off a 9:02 pace at the Cougar 10 which was a way more challenging course. Why the speed increase now after being pretty slow most of the year so far? I think there are two factors. One – my new 95% vegan diet has helped me drop all the weight I had gained while injured plus a few extra pounds. I’m at around 165-167 now which is the weight I bottomed out at while doing hard weight training a few years ago. Two – I’ve been running a lot of long, steep runs this past three weeks. I ran steep courses at Sun Mountain, ran the Harding Hustle 15k, ran the 11-mile Crystal Canyon perimeter and ran the 11+ mile Rattlesnake trail. All this serious climbing has obviously helped my speed on more normal terrain.
Next up – I’m planning on doing the Grand Ridge Half course on Saturday to see how it feels and whether or not I’ll sign up fro the Grand Ridge even on Aug 4th. I have signed up for the Cougar Half on Aug 11. May need to cut some events unless I find ones with long miles as I try to up mileage to get ready for the Middle Fork 50k in September.