Sean Gillies (Posts about never summer 100k)

Never Summer 100k recap

Sean Gillies — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 18:27:20 GMT

Week 12, race week, is done. By time and miles it was my biggest of the year.

19 hours, 12 minutes
78.3 miles
11,962 ft D+

I finished the Never Summer 100k in 18:29:19, 50 minutes faster than last year on a course 3 miles longer. I was 104th of 246 starters and 204 finishers, 7th in my category and 65 minutes behind 3rd. I moved up 30 places from 2020.

The finish line, Friday

Friday evening the race directors, faced with a forecast for stormy and wet race day weather and, because of a flash flood watch in the county, an insufficient number of available search and rescue staff, decided to reroute the race. They replaced the traverse from North Diamond Peak to Montgomery Pass and the long backcountry segment past Kelly Lake with less exposed segments nearer to aid stations. This eliminated about 2,000 ft of climbing and added a mile to the race distance.

I ran the middle of the race relatively quickly, moving up from 158th at mile 11 to 97th at mile 50. After the Canadian aid station poor fueling caught up with me and I bonked. Between Canadian (49.8 miles) and Bockman (55.6 miles) aid stations I slipped six places and passed no one. I passed five runners after Bockman and was passed by six others. Four times on the final climb I came to a stop, sagging onto my poles until I could recover enough to continue slogging. I did manage to pick it up in the last two miles and crossed the finish line 40 seconds before midnight.

Aspen near Clear Lake aid station

The weather was quite good west of the divide. It was only when we ran up to Clear Lake that we encountered heavy rain and mud. I changed shoes after and was dry from Clear Lake #2 (44 miles) to the finish.

My second consecutive finish

Thank you for pacing, Mike, and huge thanks to all of you volunteers. I couldn't have done it without you.

Never Summer training week eleven recap

Sean Gillies — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 18:04:40 GMT

I wrapped up a low volume, high quality week. There are only 6 days to go.

4 hours, 56 minutes
28.5 miles
2,392 ft D+

I did a bit of tempo running on Tuesday out on the county roads while my daughter was doing her equestrian thing. Intervals on dirt at Pineridge on Wednesday. Some easy suburban single track on Thursday. More easy running at Horsetooth on Saturday and an easy out and back on the Spring Creek bike trail today. I'm still doing strength and conditioning workouts, but am going easy on my legs.

Next week I'm going to run about 75 miles, including the race on Saturday, which returns to its original 64 miles after a reduction to 61 last year. Due to a failure of attention I ended up doing about 63 miles last year. I'm not going to do 66 this time. If you're curious about the latest pre-race information from the directors, read it here. I'm taking Friday off work to get up to the race start and do some volunteering at the finish line for the 60k version of the race.

Until then, my main goals are to sleep well, stay healthy, and tune out non-critical things. I apologize in advance for not replying to emails, new issues on GitHub, etc.

My 2021 running program

Sean Gillies — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:32:54 GMT

I've been struggling to settle on running goals for 2021. I like goals and I've wanted to have goals, but I haven't been sure about about my choices. I've been toying with the idea of signing up for a 100 mile event, a long-term goal of mine, but woke up this morning with a feeling of clarity and committment. The right goal, or goals, for me in 2021 is to run the local trail races, all of the local trail races, the Gnar Slam. This means a 50 mile race in May, 100 km at the end of July, 13.1 miles in September, and 26.2 miles in October. I've run all of these before, but never more than 2 in one year. I'm going to enjoy reconnecting with the local community (counting on COVID-19 vaccination!) and solving some running issues that troubled me last year.

I went for a run at Horsetooth Open Space earlier today to celebrate and cement my decision.

Never Summer 100k recap

Sean Gillies — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 22:10:13 GMT

I concluded 25 weeks of training and finished my first 100k race this morning. By the numbers, the past week is among my top weeks.

21 hours, 32 minutes (#1 longest time on feet)
74.2 miles (#4)
14,295 feet D+ (#3)

The Never Summer 100k starts in Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated former logging community 76 miles west of Fort Collins. I arrived early Friday afternoon, set up my tent, and handed over three bags of supplies to be dropped off along the course. This service allows runners who have no crew, like me, to drop or take gear along the way. I sent gallon ziplock bags with my favorite gels and drink mix to the 17 and 29 mile points. I sent a larger waterproof stuff stack to the station at 44 miles with more gels and drink mix, a change of clothing, an extra rain jacket, and a pair of running shoes. The sugar in my bags amounted to 2500 calories. The race provides food and water at seven stations and I planned to eat another 2500 calories of food like peanut M&M's, bananas, and cheese quesadillas. I avoid soft drinks at home, but embrace the sugar and caffeine in Coca-Cola during races.

After saying bye to my bags I went for an hour long easy run on the first miles of the course, turning around after testing the first climb. Back in camp, I snacked on crackers (200 calories), cooked and slurped up two packs of ramen (400 calories), and washed them down with a double IPA (250 calories). After fluffing up my sleeping bag and pillow, I made a large mug of mint tea and then walked away from the camping area to take pictures of the sunset and reflect on my training. I have felt better the night before a race. I've been getting over a sinus infection; my head was still a bit stuffed up and I had experienced some slow pressure release on the drive over Cameron Pass earlier in the day. Knowing that I had trained well (over 250 miles of running and 48,000 feet of climbing in June) helped me put aside worries about my nose and sinuses.

Last light of day on Seven Utes Mountain

I set an alarm on my phone for 3:45 a.m., but awoke at 2:55 to the clatter of a cowbell sending off the first wave of 10 runners. The race's COVID-19 protocol included wave starts, one every five minutes, to get every runner off the line before the race's nominal start time of 5:20 a.m. My wave began at 4:45. We had overcast, calm, and cool, not cold weather, so I left my jacket and gloves in my vest. We ran and hiked in the dark for most of an hour. I removed and stored my headlamp halfway along the climb up Seven Utes Mountain. I've skied up and down the mountain before, but have never done it in Summer. It affords lovely views and on the descent, just below treeline, is the biggest patch of columbine flowers that I have ever seen.

Dawn on Seven Utes Mountain (11,478 ft), 6:21 a.m.

Participants in previous editions of the race remarked on upsides to the wave starts. The summits and the trails to them were less crowded, and the lines for portable toilets were much shorter.

American Lakes basin, 8:27 a.m.

It took me one hour and nine minutes to get to the top of North Diamond Peak from the base of the climb on Colorado highway 14. That pace was fast enough to pass 15 other runners. At the top, I found a small group (trumpet, guitar, drums) playing "99 Red Balloons". Instead of taking a photo, I put on my jacket and gloves for the first time. A light rain had started.

Medicine Bow Mountains, 10:58 a.m.

I had a misadventure in the middle of the course. Between the Montgomery Pass Ruby Jewel aid stations, somewhere around mile 25, I got off the trail to pee and discovered that my pack was completely unzipped. My rain jacket was missing. I was not so out of my mind yet to dare going above treeline once more without a jacket, so I backtracked to look for it. After hiking a mile, uphill, I found it on the very edge of the trail. Retrieving my jacket cost me almost 30 minutes, but paid off. I needed it on the climb to the cold and rainy saddle above Kelly Lake.

Kelly Lake, 3:25 p.m.

Peaks and lakes aren't the only natural features on the race course. Quaking aspen trees grow tall in extensive groves below Clear Lake. Unblighted large specimens are uncommon and their beauty is striking.

Aspen grove, 6:52 p.m.

I've struggled to stay motivated at the end of races, but not in this one. I left the Clearly Canadian aid station at mile 44 with fresh, dry socks and shoes, a turkey and cheese wrap in my hand, and didn't look back. The sky cleared and the trail dried and turned very runnable. On the way to the Bockman aid station I met Jim Wei, a runner from Colorado Springs, and we pushed each other to the finish. I moved up 24 places in the last 17 miles and Jim moved up 25. He was the only one to pass me in those miles. I wrote last week that I had set three tiers of goals for the race; I hit the second one despite my misadventure, finishing in 19 hours, 20 minutes, and 31 seconds.

Finish line, 12:05 a.m.

I can't thank the race directors, Nick Clark and Brad Bishop, enough. I suspect that between the COVID-19 uncertainties and protocols they put in twice as much effort this year. To all of the generous, kind, masked volunteers on the course: I am eternally grateful. My deepest gratitude is for the support of my family. Ruth, Arabelle, and Beatrice are as proud of my finish as I am.

I'm going to take a short break from running and writing about running, but still plan to be at Quad Rock on August 15.

T minus sixteen hours

Sean Gillies — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 16:02:39 GMT

Taking the day off work was a great idea. I'm too excited about the race to do any computering this morning. Instead, I'm packing camping and running gear in my car. After lunch I will drive up CO 14 and over Cameron Pass to the race start in Gould, set up camp, hand in drop bags, and go for an easy run.

I'm expecting rain today from moisture in the monsoon flow which is beginning to affect Colorado. Tomorrow's forecast on the course looks better than today, starting sunny with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon, typical summer weather in the Rockies. I'd rather not be wet all afternoon, but I'm prepared for it, and the race is prepared for it, too. There will be hot food at aid stations. I'm looking forward to cups of soup in the later stages of the race.

Tapering for the race has been challenging. Air quality has been poor here the past two weeks and because of that I've done less running than I planned. But I have kicked my sinus infection, banked up plenty of sleep, and eaten well. I feel rested and energized, and that's the important thing.

Never Summer training week eighteen recap

Sean Gillies — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 03:24:44 GMT

This was my biggest week of training ever. I aimed to surpass my efforts in week nineteen of my 2019 season and I did it.

17 hours, 34 minutes
77.3 miles
15,279 feet D+

I ran on six days, including three long runs and one hill workout. My hamstring continues to feel fine at a slow pace. Saturday's long run was in hot weather, and I managed the heat well. Sunday's was at high elevation, up to 12,324 feet, and I handled that well, too.

The wildflower season at Horsetooth and Lory is evolving. The State Flower is in bloom, as is our showiest penstemon and the bright yellow and red blanketflower.

Colorado columbine (Aquilegia caerulea) in Lory State Park

Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mountain Penstemon) in Horsetooth Open Space

Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) in Horsetooth Open Space

It's great to live close to Rocky Mountain National Park and have relatively easy access to high elevation trails. My family I drove to the shuttle lot on Bear Lake Road, masked up for the short bus ride to Glacier Gorge trailhead, and were on the trail soon after. I'm going to do this again soon, to run and to pick up the permit for our family backpacking trip at the end of the month.

Snowfield on Flattop Mountain

View north from Flattop, snowy Never Summer peaks in the distance

Big news this week is that the Never Summer 100k race is officially on. There will be rule changes and constraints to keep runners and volunteers safe: wave starts, no parties, reduced service at aid stations, masks required when not running or eating or drinking. If I'm healthy on July 25, I'll be on the starting line. For a few weeks I've been making plans for an alternative adventure in case Never Summer didn't happen, but I didn't think it would be feasible to run the entire course by myself due to the high elevation and remoteness. I'm pleased to be able to do it with support. Thank you, organizers, volunteers, and our State Forest hosts.