This project began with a team from the Rocky Mountains of Utah and Colorado at the International Elbrus Race on Elbrus, one of the Seven Summits, an 18,500' volcano in the Caucasus of Russia. We took 3rd and 5th place in Fall 2013. Follow training, test races, goals, technique, theory and fun as we work to achieve our dreams. Right now I'm alone here [Charles] so this reflects my own races, runs, training, and challenges. Please subscribe and comment when/if you can. Please share.
I arrived in Flagstaff right at rush hour, just a bit before the sunset, which left me blinded facing into the sun while negotiating traffic in an unfamiliar town. I dropped into Safeway and stocked up on supplies for the night, the next day, and some post-race goodies for recovery. The primitive camping area up the road near the Arizona Snow Bowl ski area was up a very rough, very rugged dirt road but my trusty AWD wagon got me to the end of the road and back well enough. The spots were all full. Some were obviously homeless people living out in the national forest to spite the time limits, which was frustrating.
Agassiz Peak (just right of center) from the hwy north of Flagstaff
The gates were closed at the ski area, but there was a spot suitable for guerrilla undercover camping, so in the dark, in the forest, it was possible to set up camp and make it work.
It was a cold, clear night, with beautiful stars and I awoke to the sounds of trucks, maybe hunters, heading up the switchbacks toward the Arizona Snow Bowl. It was 5:50 AM and the gates at the resort claimed to open at 8 AM, so I broke camp, got out the MSR REACTOR stove and cranked up some herbal tea and oatmeal. I let the oatmeal sit for a bit and then added in some protein powder RECIPE.
I took my time stretching, adjusting my trail running pack from Ultimate Direction and staying hydrated. At a few minutes after 8 I went up to the resort and parked near the Check In Station. There were a few other early-birds, primarily some of the presumed front-runners. It was, after all, the final VK in the US Skyrunners series. I finally changed into my Asics short tights, Zensa compression sleeves, TNF arm warmers, TNF Breck Independence Day 10k Tech-Tee, Point6 Summit Socks, Altra Olympus 1.5, Goal Zero tech cap, and Hestra cycling gloves. I popped in my contacts and added my wife's Julbo sunglasses. I was ready to go. I dropped off a bag for the summit, with my Nike sweatpants and puffy jacket. It was windy and cool in spite of some sun between the clouds.
My number for the Flagstaff VK
It was time to get my Suunto Ambit 2S on, and start "running" the race. The first stretch of uphill wasn't too bad, in spite of several erosion control ditches, some over 4' deep and 4' wide. I was able to jump some, and step in and out of others, but uphill it wasn't that bad. Downhill though was killer. It was like deep scree, dirt, silt, gravel and loose grass to glue lava rocks the size of toasters. I "screed" down quite a bit, fell some and generally was unhappy. Very unhappy. The next uphill felt a bit harder, and the downhill after was even worse. I slowed down to around a 50:00 pace just to stay upright, though I did fall and tweak both wrists. I had wisely decided not to use my poles. I would have broken them by now.
Walking the course before the race, this is an erosion control ditch. 1 of about 20?
Finally the last stretch before the summit and I was up at the top. 1:32:47 on their clocks. I had beat my Quandary PR by 3 minutes. It was dang cold so I snapped a few pics, a video, and then headed down to the lift to get my warm gear on and have some snacks and water before the cold miserable chairlift ride down.
At the bottom they said the tee shirts were delayed by yet another few hours and maybe by 6 PM at the store in Flagstaff. I had to get home because my son has a CX race on Saturday, so I booked it through the night to Utah.
Summit, the finish line for the Flagstaff VK, October 2, 2015
Today, Sunday, I had a chance to mess with my stats on Movescount, separating out the uphills from the downhills. I was really frustrated that the downhills were so slow, much slower than my uphill pace, so I stitched the uphill segments together to create a simulated uphill-only VK, That gave me a finish time of 1:17:27. That's way better than my previous best on Olympus-to-the-saddle of 1:23. That gives me lots of hope for the future.
How about an online Meet and Greet and you can ask me about how I trained and prepared?
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