Wyandotte Park trails, aka Wyco, is about as fun as it gets for a trail race. When signing up for the PsychoWyco Race you have the option of doing 1 - 3 loops of the course with each loop being 10.35 miles. Two years ago I ran the 10 mile version, and you can read about that here. This year, I upped the ante and signed up for the 20 mile race.
Right about mile 2, no mud....yet.
My running has been very hit and miss lately. I have had some strong weeks and solid back to back runs and then I have had the last couple of weeks where I ran twice within two weeks of this race. So going into this I was not expecting anything spectacular. My objective was to have fun, enjoy the course, and be able to finish. That is exactly what I did. There is really nothing dramatic to report, I met a friend from Nebraska and his family at the race. He did the 50K and ran a great race. I mostly took my time, had some great conversations out on the trails, bombed down the hills where I could and successfully finished without falling. Trust me, the part about no falling was no small feat. The trail had several muddy areas that were either slick, or sticky enough to suck your shoes off of your feet.
Dancing over the rocks
Phew, I made it!
If you are up for a challenge with some great terrain and an awesome group of people, this is the race!
Going from one hill
...to the next
When I finally came through the finish 4 hours and 8 minutes later....
My legs and my shoes were a good indicator of the mud we had faced.
My mantra was to "just keep moving forward", and in the end it was well worth it. This is the largest race medal that I have ever received, and yes, the little tornado even spins.
Ice Age training is still pretty spotty but I have still managed to get in a few quality runs. This week I did back to back 12 milers on the trails. Both runs really went well and even though I ran pretty much the same course both days, there was a big difference in the trail conditions. Saturday was dry and dusty, Sunday was rainy and muddy. Good clean fun!
I was a little tired towards the end of my run today but I still managed to finish fairly strong and only about 6 minutes slower than yesterday. With the muddy conditions I am very pleased with my finishing time.
The warmer temperatures make the trails still look like fall.
It's a tough march up that hill, especially when muddy, but it's really fun bombing back down it!
I was amazed at how bright orange the leaves were today. This is a really pretty area of the trail
Because it rained all night there was no shortage of standing water or muddy areas
This creek bed was dry most all of last year. It's not flowing, but it's a start.
There really is sort of a trail here. They did some clearing this fall which created a big open dirt area / mud pit.
This trail area provides a good combination of mostly flat areas where you can really get some speed going of you choose to do so, and several challenging hills that will leave you gasping for air on the way up and praying not to fall on the way down.
Below is an elevation comparison between my 12 mile run and the first 25 miles of the Ice Age 50K from last year.
12 mile trail run
25 miles of Ice Age 50K
I believe that they are fairly comparable other than not so many flat areas in the Ice Age.
This weekend was a great test of endurance before I participate in the Psycho Wycho Run Toto Run20 miler in a couple of weeks. It is one of the toughest courses that I have ever run. It is a 10 mile loop that you choose to run from 1 - 3 laps. I am going to run two laps (20 miles) because I don't think I am ready to run another 50K right now. Especially on this course!
All in all it was a very solid training weekend. I am trying to focus on good recovery habits such as stretching and rolling. We have also started to shorten up our core workouts a little and add in some yoga for the last 15 minutes.
At the end of the day, you can't hardly beat a nice long meditative run on through the rain and mud out on the trails.
I had the opportunity to participate in the 4 mile Veterans Day Trail Race in Kansas City this weekend. I LOVE the challenge and variety that trail running and racing offers. Most of my training this year has been with longer more aerobic runs so a 4 mile trail race was quite the challenge for me. I was pretty much redlining most of the run, and after the first 2 miles I did walk some of the hills just to get my heart rate back under control.
It was a new course through the Wyandotte Lake area in Kansas, there were several areas of the trail that were cambered and leaf covered. I was one of the lucky few towards the front that did not take a wrong turn off of the path. As you can see, just by looking at the course here, it would not be difficult to do so.
The course is almost all single track which made it difficult to pass. But, being a fairly low key race, everyone moved when asked. There were no huge hills like Run Toto Run, but there were plenty of little ups and downs to keep a person challenged. Here is a snapshot of the elevation.
I started fairly close to the front because I knew it was going to be difficult to pass once we got into the trees. I let a few people jump out ahead of me knowing that some of them would fall back as we got into the race.
I was able to pass quite a few people but after mile 3, I was passed back by two of them. I kept right on the tail of one of the guys but just didn't have the strength to pass him back again. He didn't walk any of the hills but I was able to make up my ground on him on the flat and downhill sections. I was hoping that he was going to wear himself out running up the hills. He was pretty tough and was able to stay in front of me. I finished the race in 31:04 and 10th place overall. As you can see by the times here, it looks like pretty much everyone behind me took a wrong turn on the trail.
This was a fun race and also very difficult. I had the pleasure of introducing trail running to a friend from Bethany and also had the opportunity to meet fellow Dailymile badass Sherrie who recently ran 54 miles on 9/11.
It's Tuesday and I am still a little sore from the rocky and uneven terrain but I can't wait to get back out there again!
The taper is on! There are now 17 days until the Fargo Marathon and there has been a lot of hard work and sweat created along the way. I am feeling good mentally and physically. There have been many ups and downs while training for this marathon and it's been a long tough winter / spring of training. I am ready to roll!
So, what have I done to train for my fourth marathon and what have I learned?
My training officially began on January 3rd. Coach had me on a plan of three build weeks followed by a week of recovery. My three build weeks consisted of hard tempo runs, hill repeats, and a long run to finish of the week, not to mention two days of strength training that includes lots of ab and core work. The recovery weeks are not necessarily easy, but they are not quite as intense as the build weeks and he encourages a race at the end of the week.
My first race of the year (which was not on a recovery week) was a trail run that I could not resist. Run Toto Run is a 10 mile, 20 mile, 50K race through Wyandotte Park in the Kansas City area. I ran the 10 mile race, it was very difficult but it was amazing! Snow, mud, hills, creeks, hills! It was all a pretty awesome experience and seemed to go by quickly. More trail running is definitely in my future!
Living in rural Missouri and having a job that requires a lot of hours does not make it easy to find "local" races. So my next race didn't happen until March 26 where I ran the Frisco High Line Trail run in Springfield, MO. Springfield is a 4 hour drive, so I made a quick trip up the night before, raced hard, and drove home. The High Line Trail is a former railway bed that has been paved. It is flat and fast! I smoked my half marathon PR finishing in 1:33:45 and ended up placing tenth overall!
There were many times throughout my training that I became frustrated about the difficult runs and trying to juggle my training and my work schedule. I have missed some runs and workouts throughout this period but with a lot of careful and creative planning I was able to get most of them done. There were a lot of days when I seriously asked myself why I was doing this. People think we are crazy for what we do let along getting up at 4am some days just to get in a planned run.
So, with all of this hard work and the mental and physical struggles that I have put myself through, I have to stop and ask myself why. Why do we run and train and suffer like this? Is it some form of addiction or insanity?
Yeah, it's probably a little of both. But I can tell you that the sense of accomplishment after completing a tough workout or obtaining a PR in a race is fantastic.
I am pressed for time, as usual, as I am writing this and I realize that I didn't really give any great tips or advice on how to train for a marathon. It doesn't take any more than the usual things that anything worth doing takes. It's about commitment, dedication, hard work, sweat, and being humble but confident in your ability for growth.
With this being said, Fargo will be my fourth marathon.
My goal is to qualify to run the Boston Marathon next spring.
My goal time to finish in Fargo is 3 hours and 15 minutes.
This is a little better than 7:30 / mile pace. It may be a little aggressive, but I do think that it is possible to finish in 3:15 or very close to it. My Boston qualifying time is 3:20 so I have to give myself a little cushion. You never know what will happen over the course of 26.2 miles.
