Sean Gillies (Posts about marathon)

Training week 15 and Salida trail marathon recap

Sean Gillies — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:44:54 GMT

The last week was challenging. I reached a new personal mileage record, ran 9 consecutive days (ending Wednesday), finished the Run Through Time trail marathon on Salida's Arkansas Hills Tail System on Saturday, and then went out for another long run on Sunday.

68.4 miles
12 hours 45 minutes
6430 feet D+

The weird thing is that I'm feeling good and not at all worn out or burned out. I guess my training regime must be working. Next week is a recovery week. I'm going to do much less running and more cycling, yoga, and hiking with my kids on the weekend.

Friday I drove 200 miles from Fort Collins to the town of Salida in the center of Colorado to participate in the Chaffee County Running Club's Run Through Time trail marathon.

My race bib.

In the 1990s I used to come to this part of Colorado regularly for hiking and skiing in the Sawatch Range, but it's been a while since I've visited Salida. The race day weather was fine. Cool and sunny with just a bit of a breeze. I wore my windbreaker, hat, and gloves at the start and for about half a mile of the course, then stashed them in my pack for the remainder.

At the starting line with Mt. Shavano and Mt. Princeton in the background

My performance expectations were low. The race was coming at the end of what were, for me, three big weeks of training. I didn't feel tired, but I didn't feel very fresh. After the start I drifted towards the back of the pack while trying to find a suitable pace. After a few miles I settled in and started to feel comfortable on the winding, rolling singletrack at the bottom of the course. At mile 7, the course turned onto a steep graded road for six miles. I hiked most of this and passed a number of runners. I've been working on hiking quickly and efficiently and was satisfied with how I did during the race.

At the top, the course switched onto completely snow-covered trails for about six miles. The snow was deeply drifted in places and the footing was poor. I took this slowly, got passed three times, and conceded a bunch of time. As the snow clear, the descent turned very steep and rocky for five miles. I managed this well, but my legs were feeling heavy in the last two miles and I conceded more time. I finished in 5 hours and 33 minutes, two hours after the first finisher. I'm pleased with this. That's 15 minutes faster than my 2017 Blue Sky marathon time, on a comparably challenging course, without any tapering or rest before the race. I'm also pleased that I was able to recover and go for another long run on the Coyote Ridge and Blue Sky trails on the way home from Salida. 37 miles in all for the weekend. I'm feeling more confident about finishing the Quad Rock 50 in May.

Tenderfoot Mountain, Salida landmark, and the first climb of the day

Blue Sky Marathon Finisher

Sean Gillies — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 23:27:45 GMT

Well, I did it: 26.2 miles and 3780 feet of climbing in 5 hours and 51 minutes. I was the 175th finisher out of 285. Abby Mitchell, the first woman to finish (11th overall) finished in 3:50. Chris Mocko, the overall winner, finished in 3:15.

The course went north at first, counter-clockwise around a loop in Horsetooth Mountain Park, and then back to the start. About 9 miles. From there, we went south and counter-clockwise around two loops in Devil's Backbone, and then back to a finish line just a few meters from the start.

I suffered from gastro symptoms until the very end of the course, stopping at every toilet along the route, and behind some trees as well. I coped by not eating on the course, subsisting on water and a few gels, and staying well within my limits. I felt pretty good in the last 4 miles after a gel pack and a big swig of coke at the last aid station. I probably moved up 12 places in that distance. While I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I did finish my first trail marathon, and overcame a bit of adversity to do it. Good job, me!

I ran for more than 90 hours this summer and fall to train for this 6 hour race, and I couldn't have done that without my family's support. Thank you, R., A., and B.! I hope you'll back me again in 2018.

If you're into this kind of thing, I recommend giving the Blue Sky Marathon or one of the other Gnar Runners events a try. The trails and views are sweet and it's very well run and staffed.

I almost forgot: my map data workflow is the following bash one-liner:

$ fio dump export.gpx --layer tracks | mapbox upload blue_sky_marathon

Race Day Eve

Sean Gillies — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 23:49:30 GMT

In 12 hours I'll be driving to the start of the Blue Sky Marathon. This evening I'm setting my gear out, getting thoroughly hydrated and fed, and suffering from some kind of gastro-intestinal thing. Yesterday afternoon I was dizzy and tired. Now I've got some mild diarrhoea. I'm preparing as though I'll be fine in the morning since there's nothing else I can do about it.

A cold front is coming through tonight and there may be snow above 8500 feet. The high point of the course is 2000 feet below that and shouldn't be affected. Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny, cooler, and breezy. Better conditions than during my last long run on the course two weeks ago.

Being asleep by 8 p.m. will be hard, but I'm going to try. I'll have photos on Instagram and this site tomorrow.