IAU Trail World Championship Recap
Where do I begin? With the disappointment? With the learning? With the future?
The 3rd IAU Trail World Championship was quite a disappointment. I had prepared for this race for over a year, conditioning my body to handle 70+km of "trail running" at a pretty good clip, running three difficult 50km trail races in the mid-3:30's and erasing a decade-long CR in a pretty popular trail marathon. Bottom line, I was conditioned to run through 50km at sub-7:00/mile pace on pretty harsh Mid-Atlantic trails and then tack on 20km more.
What I was not prepared for was hiking up a mountain ascent and scrambling the descent. The race started in nice conditions, a field of 120 athletes. With the initial 4km on the road before our first of two summits up Diamond Hill (1750ft), I got a feel for the field. I ran in about 25-30th place through the mile and by 2 miles had moved into the top 20. As we started the climb of Diamond Hill, I started easily passing most runners and I was operating at 60% speed. By 25 min I had caught the 2009 silver medalist, by 30 min I had moved past Josh Brimhall, and then by the summit I had passed Ben Nephew and moved into the top 5 placings.
It is at the summit where I forgot to take my Red Bull. I went from internalizing thoughts of "wow, I am going to do quite well, this is great" to, "holy cow, these guys just threw themselves off this mountain!" I was deciding so gingerly and so inexperienced, that I was immediately passed by close to 25-30 runners in a matter of minutes. Fine, I thought, I will pass them all on the second ascent, and sure enough, I worked my way back up to the top 20 by the summit, but then once again, I lost everyone on the rapid and deathly descent. Mentally, I was bummed. I could not compete with the experienced fell runners and downhill descenders. If only the course was uphill.
But I pressed on... I figured the fields and roads would be my strengths and I could make up some ground. However, but the end of the second loop, my pressing descents had already fired up my hip flexor, which had tightened up on the travel. By 20km, I knew my day was done. The "bogs" were a disaster, as I watched runner after runner fall into these traps up to their shoulders. I fell once quite sharply, but continued on. Finally, we hit some nice dirt road, but with a weak hip flexor and tightening muscles from all the step-stone climbing, I was in trouble. Another 2-3 mlies of bogs were disastrous and at the 28km aid station I was probably in 40th place.
And then we approached BenBaum, the dreaded mountain (2,500ft) without a path, just basically follow orange flagging to the top, single file, everyone hiking and walking up the climb. From 28km-40km was the ascent and descent of BenBaum, more than 2 hours of walking... in a world championship! Unbelievable. My calves were cramping from the 25% grade and on the descent I must have fallen close to twenty times, as I had no grip. I spent some time with an Argentinian devastated by the course as well and it was depressing.
However, I was inspired by the lead Frenchman and Frenchwoman. The Frenchwoman (went on to win) passed me on the ascent of the mountain and she was crying from the effort. It was a great effort, and a gold medal effort. The Frenchman, Clavery, I saw begin his ascent as I just got off the mountain, and he was in pain, but working hard. Jason Loutit (CAN) was working even harder and was performing some great rhythmic breathing. And then there was American Ben Nephew running the race of his life in 6th place.
Then there was more inspiration from my teammates. Jason Bryant, a mountain specialist, probably made up close to 20-30 positions on the mountain and was now in the top 25. At the 40/48km aid station, the teammate I had been with at 30km, David James, had now caught up to Joshua Brimhall and they were fired up because the USA was in position to contend for the team title.
At the 40km station, my hip flexor was done and I could no longer run nor walk without fierce pain or any strength. As soon as I wished Dave and Josh off, Iain Don-Wachope of South Africa (and formerly my rival at Western Kentucky) sat down next to me, himself dropping out in 3rd place at 48km, stating, "Gabriel, if I would have finished, I would have been broken. I am a runner, and this is not running." He made me feel better.
I waited for Perla, whom I knew would want to finish. I had seen her out on the course and she was pacing herself to finish, running in the final position all day. She would finish 29th in 11 hours and 44 minutes. Eleven freaking hours! This from a woman that placed 2nd at Hog's Hunt in 4:36 and won the Laurel Highlands 50KM in the second fastest time ever in the 30-year history of the event in 5:48! Simply amazing.
What a disappointment. Lots of time and money went into this attempt and it was a failure but I learned a few things: 1) this is not my cup of tea; 2) if it is, I need to learn to descend like a mad-man; 3) Ireland is beautiful; 4) the Ritz-Carlton is the only hotel chain I ever want to stay in again; 5) I love my wife.
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The 3rd IAU Trail World Championship was quite a disappointment. I had prepared for this race for over a year, conditioning my body to handle 70+km of "trail running" at a pretty good clip, running three difficult 50km trail races in the mid-3:30's and erasing a decade-long CR in a pretty popular trail marathon. Bottom line, I was conditioned to run through 50km at sub-7:00/mile pace on pretty harsh Mid-Atlantic trails and then tack on 20km more.
What I was not prepared for was hiking up a mountain ascent and scrambling the descent. The race started in nice conditions, a field of 120 athletes. With the initial 4km on the road before our first of two summits up Diamond Hill (1750ft), I got a feel for the field. I ran in about 25-30th place through the mile and by 2 miles had moved into the top 20. As we started the climb of Diamond Hill, I started easily passing most runners and I was operating at 60% speed. By 25 min I had caught the 2009 silver medalist, by 30 min I had moved past Josh Brimhall, and then by the summit I had passed Ben Nephew and moved into the top 5 placings.
It is at the summit where I forgot to take my Red Bull. I went from internalizing thoughts of "wow, I am going to do quite well, this is great" to, "holy cow, these guys just threw themselves off this mountain!" I was deciding so gingerly and so inexperienced, that I was immediately passed by close to 25-30 runners in a matter of minutes. Fine, I thought, I will pass them all on the second ascent, and sure enough, I worked my way back up to the top 20 by the summit, but then once again, I lost everyone on the rapid and deathly descent. Mentally, I was bummed. I could not compete with the experienced fell runners and downhill descenders. If only the course was uphill.
But I pressed on... I figured the fields and roads would be my strengths and I could make up some ground. However, but the end of the second loop, my pressing descents had already fired up my hip flexor, which had tightened up on the travel. By 20km, I knew my day was done. The "bogs" were a disaster, as I watched runner after runner fall into these traps up to their shoulders. I fell once quite sharply, but continued on. Finally, we hit some nice dirt road, but with a weak hip flexor and tightening muscles from all the step-stone climbing, I was in trouble. Another 2-3 mlies of bogs were disastrous and at the 28km aid station I was probably in 40th place.
And then we approached BenBaum, the dreaded mountain (2,500ft) without a path, just basically follow orange flagging to the top, single file, everyone hiking and walking up the climb. From 28km-40km was the ascent and descent of BenBaum, more than 2 hours of walking... in a world championship! Unbelievable. My calves were cramping from the 25% grade and on the descent I must have fallen close to twenty times, as I had no grip. I spent some time with an Argentinian devastated by the course as well and it was depressing.
However, I was inspired by the lead Frenchman and Frenchwoman. The Frenchwoman (went on to win) passed me on the ascent of the mountain and she was crying from the effort. It was a great effort, and a gold medal effort. The Frenchman, Clavery, I saw begin his ascent as I just got off the mountain, and he was in pain, but working hard. Jason Loutit (CAN) was working even harder and was performing some great rhythmic breathing. And then there was American Ben Nephew running the race of his life in 6th place.
Then there was more inspiration from my teammates. Jason Bryant, a mountain specialist, probably made up close to 20-30 positions on the mountain and was now in the top 25. At the 40/48km aid station, the teammate I had been with at 30km, David James, had now caught up to Joshua Brimhall and they were fired up because the USA was in position to contend for the team title.
At the 40km station, my hip flexor was done and I could no longer run nor walk without fierce pain or any strength. As soon as I wished Dave and Josh off, Iain Don-Wachope of South Africa (and formerly my rival at Western Kentucky) sat down next to me, himself dropping out in 3rd place at 48km, stating, "Gabriel, if I would have finished, I would have been broken. I am a runner, and this is not running." He made me feel better.
I waited for Perla, whom I knew would want to finish. I had seen her out on the course and she was pacing herself to finish, running in the final position all day. She would finish 29th in 11 hours and 44 minutes. Eleven freaking hours! This from a woman that placed 2nd at Hog's Hunt in 4:36 and won the Laurel Highlands 50KM in the second fastest time ever in the 30-year history of the event in 5:48! Simply amazing.
What a disappointment. Lots of time and money went into this attempt and it was a failure but I learned a few things: 1) this is not my cup of tea; 2) if it is, I need to learn to descend like a mad-man; 3) Ireland is beautiful; 4) the Ritz-Carlton is the only hotel chain I ever want to stay in again; 5) I love my wife.
