Apple Hill Blossom Trail Run 9 Miler

Camino, CA
Garmin time (doesn't include stops for shoelace tying) - 1:13:54
Pace - 8:15 min/mi
4th overall female (according to results posted at race), 2nd 20-29 age group

So second place again in the 10 year age group. And the 1st place woman had to be above 25 since she said she was a lawyer. Regardless, this was a tough race. It was a trail run through the orchards and vineyards of Apple Hill, mostly on soft packed dirt (due to the rain) and grass. There were a couple sections of pavement but nothing to write home about. The majority was steep up, gradual up, or down and total climbing somewhere around 1000 feet. Oh, and to add to all that, Camino is located at about 2800 feet so the run takes place between 2400 and 3000 feet of elevation.

I did another race here at Apple Hill last November. That was a well-known, very popular road race that went down for about the first 5-6 miles, then up for the remaining portion of the 8.5 miles. That's the first time I realized how much just a change of 2500 feet affects the breathing, so I wasn't surprised this time when the race started and I started wheezing. I never start running races well, either logistically or pace-wise. Somehow a lot of people started in front of me and so I had to get through them all to get to run my normal pace. And since I messed up at the race in the fall and didn't start out fast enough, I decided to try running hard from the beginning and try to hold on. That turned out to be a poor idea. Either there hadn't been a published course elevation map or I hadn't bothered to look for one, but had I known what I was in for, I would have paced myself a lot smarter.

So the race goes off, I'm busy trying to get in front of everyone while trying not to overly wheeze. Make it to the front-ish of the large pack (there's some guys and 1 woman who I don't know about who have taken off really fast in the front) and just try to run as hard as possible. There's a bunch of steep hills and down hills, I can get up okay but my legs seem to be missing that snap. Hmm... maybe it's the Crossfit I've started doing this week. Not only did I learn the snatch yesterday, the main workout was 3x10 back squats at 60% of max (plus some warm up sets) and then the WOD was sledgehammer swings into a tire, an agility ladder, 100m sprint, and 20 wall balls all done 5 times. I would like to point out the sledgehammer was 8 pounds. And somehow I was squatting 73 lbs. I also did a WOD on Tuesday that was 4 sets of 8 overhead squats and 400m sprint. Luckily only squatting a 15 lb bar. And then of course the Davis Wheelworks Putah Creek 10-mile TT was on Wednesday. AND I'm not recovering as well lately (or running and biking as fast). So, it's probably an understatement to say legs were a bit fried.

Back to the race... so due to the uphills and my poor pacing I manage to pass and stay ahead of the 2 other girls who are with me somewhere within the first 1.5 miles or so. I stay in that position until somewhere around 4.5 miles where I need to fix my shoelace. That actually means I was in 2nd place overall for the women for 3 miles. Anyways, so I fix to stop my shoe and both girls fly by me. I am also starting to wish I had another gel at this point since I could feel my energy levels dropping. Once my shoelace is fixed I try to catch the girl that looked a lot like Kelly. I think this is when she began to pick up the pace because for awhile I was able to run side-by-side with her but then slowly she began getting farther ahead and I couldn't keep up. Eventually she went on to pass the other woman who had been with us earlier.

At this point I'm just trying to hang on. I'm half wondering if I'm going to pass out and throw up. And I'm also starting to talk negatively to myself. I am starting to realize when the going gets tough, instead of trying to positively encourage myself to go, I tend to psych myself out. I think I need to work on not giving up when it gets a bit rough. So, the final 3 or so miles were not my strongest. Even my heart rate graph shows that. I think once both the women immediately in front of me disappeared from view, I slowed down. Then again, I was also glycogen depleted and tired muscularly.

Finally, the end. Towards the end I was passing the walkers who were doing the 3 mile course. Crossed the finish line and not that many people who had done the 9 miler were there. Overall, the race went decent considering I had only decided to race on Thursday, I was far from tapered, I had no idea of the actual course topography, and I was improperly fueled. I think the race gives me some confidence that I can shit out the run at Wildflower if need be. Need to work on finding the snap in my legs though, I miss not being able to power up them like I could last year. Lately it's just been a slogfest.