Leadville Night Run - 08/04/12 - 08/05/12

Late Saturday afternoon the Agile Fox and I hit the road to Leadville, CO. We were on our way to do a group training run, at night, of the last 21 miles or so of the LT100 race course - which is only two weeks away. Chris is a veteran of the LT100 and will again be racing it this year. A few weeks back he threw out the idea of me pacing him for a portion of it. I was super excited, and honored, that he asked me, and so I kicked the tires on it with Diana. She was, and still is (I think), fully supportive of the idea! So, what better way is there than to actually run a portion of the course in order to get some experience and get an idea of what to expect?

Before I get started - Brandon Fuller was the gracious host of this Unofficial LT100 Night Run and so huge thanks to him and his family for organizing the event, opening up his house and providing food and drinks both pre and post run, showers, beds, etc., etc., etc..  It was a great time with great people!  You can read Brandon's report and see some of his pics here.

We started out at Fish Hatchery (which is an aid station for the race) at 8:00 pm and would run back to Brandon's house, which is only a little ways away from the true finish line of the race. I was super nervous since there were people like Nick Clark and Mike Aish (former New Zealand Olympian) out for this run - and even Darcy Africa showed up as I would later learn. All massive, elite-level, talents. I was also really nervous about the climbing and the altitude, since all of these things would be firsts for me. Turns out I was right to be nervous. 

The view from Fish Hatchery in Leadville, CO.

People gathering for the run.

For me, an 8:00 pace on flat, even, ground at 6,000' is really, really, good.  Well, we started out at almost that pace from Fish Hatchery which is at about 9,640'. I'm sure that was a super easy pace for pretty much everyone involved in this run, but for me that was a challenge. It took all of two minutes before my legs, mostly my calves and hamstrings, were on absolute fire. At that altitude, with much less oxygen than what I'm used to, the lactic acid buildup starts fast. The first mile and a quarter are gentle, paved, roads - then you hang a left - and hit Powerline.

Powerline - I'd only heard about it , mostly from Chris, and had read about it some. I wasn't disappointed in the hype. What a monster. Crazy thing is, while it's the biggest climb for this night run, it wasn't even close to being the biggest for the race. After experiencing Powerline this night, I'm glad that I won't be climbing Hope Pass (12,600') anytime in the near future. The climb out of Twin Lakes (where I will start pacing Chris) and doing Powerline again will be quite enough thanks very much - and will be a greater challenge than either of my two previous 50 mile races I suspect.

By the time we hit Powerline I was already near the back of the pack, though I could still see the lead pack up ahead of me climbing. This part, for me, was completely un-runable. I started hiking and it wasn't long before I was passed by everyone else and was pretty sure I was the last person. I was gasping for air, as I tried to get my breathing regulated and get as much air in as I could, hoping that I could get my burning legs under control. The strange thing was that my heart rate was completely normal. I guess I was moving so slow, because my legs were total crap, that my heart rate stayed down pretty well. We hit a nice little downhill at about mile two, which offered a little relief, but it was short-lived and then it was back to climbing.

Chris had warned me of the multitude of false summits, and so I was mentally ready for that. At no point in my mind would I tell myself - "This HAS to be the top!" In fact, I didn't even count the 'summits', but just had it in my head to keep pushing upwards. I wondered a lot too about how far ahead of me the lead pack was: 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, more?

Brandon had said the light would probably be good until we reached the top of Powerline - but I had to turn my light on pretty early so that I could see the wide, but rugged and sometimes treacherous, trail.  I'd check my Garmin occasionally for the grade and saw 20% and 21% a few times. Man - steep stuff.

At times I would try hiking backwards, trying to alleviate my burning legs, and to see if I really was last - but that wasn't much of an option due to the footing and being afraid I would eat it. If there was anything at all even close to flat, I would try to 'run' it.

I tried to always keep someone (or their lights at least) in sight, or within ear-shot, so as to not fall too far back - and I did a pretty good job of that.  Either way, I knew that Chris would be waiting for me at Top of Powerline. He told me that what he wanted to get out of this run was a good hard effort to the Top of Powerline, and from then on, he was good to coast at whatever pace I could manage.  Poor guy...

After about 5 miles, and 1.25 hours, I finally made it to the top (11,111' according to my Garmin). Chris was there, and a couple of others that were going to head down the way we came up. Everyone else had moved on, not surprisingly to me. The worst was over, and the 16 miles still left was mostly downhill or pretty flat - but still challenging stuff.

By now it was pitch black, and Chris and I just carried on pretty much like it was any other lunch time run - though with lots of doubt in my mind now about if I'd be able to do 40 miles of this is just two weeks time. We had some dirt roads, and some jeep trail kinda stuff, before turning off on to the section of the Colorado Trial. This section was spectacular just as Chris had said it would be. This was very forested and very technical (at least for me) single-track but still it was mostly downhill - though my legs did not feel any better.  Anything even slightly uphill we would pretty much walk.

We talked a lot about salt intake, fueling, hydration, aid station strategy, and that sort of thing while the miles rolled past. I told Chris my concerns about pacing him for 40 miles - but he didn't seem concerned in the least. It was a beautiful night, with perfect weather, great trails, with good company and conversation.

At about 9.6 miles we rolled into May Queen (another race day aid station) where there was actually a real aid station setup!  George Zack and some other 'volunteers' had setup a mobile aid station where we partook of some beer and some kettle chips. Man, that hit the spot! There were a bunch of people hanging out waiting for a lift back to base as they were calling it quits for various reasons. Another runner actually came in after us too! I couldn't believe that there was anyone actually behind me, but it sounded like maybe he got lost a little bit. It was getting pretty cold out now and people were shivering, so off we went (at the 2:20 mark), having stopped for about 8 minutes or so to fuel and chit-chat, with another almost 12 miles to go.

Only about a 1/2 mile down the road from May Queen someone else had setup another aid station for us! Awesome! We had some Coke and some M&M's and away we went yet again. We ran past a ton of campsites, choking on the thick camp fire smoke the whole way. I noticed how raw my lungs felt around this time, and would intermittently have coughing and the hiccups simultaneously. Must be the altitude or something. Even Chris got the hiccups a few times. Bizarre.

From May Queen and around Turquoise Lake was about 7 miles at 10,000'. You could probably make some really good time here, if you weren't completely trashed like I was. Chris keep telling me not to worry about it - on race day after having done 80 - 90 miles already, he wouldn't be moving very fast anyways.

The Agile Fox running along Turquoise Lake.

After the lake portion (4:15 elapsed), with only about 4 miles left to go, time seemed to really drag for me.  We ran some dirt roads, even a little bit of pavement, jeep trails, etc.. One short, but steep section (downhill) I could only tip toe down because the footing was so bad with tons of loose rock and small boulders, and my headlamp was starting to dim. I had spare batteries, but couldn't be bothered changing them. Between Chris's dimming headlamp, his Fenix handheld, and my headlamp, we'd just plug on.

Finally, after 5 hours and 7 minutes, shortly after 1:00am, we arrived back at Brandon's. That was the toughest 21 miles I had ever done - and maybe even tougher than my two 50 milers - which Chris says he doubts. I wonder too how much Friday and Saturday's poor nutrition hindered my performance. I didn't eat well on either of those days (tons of wheat and dairy) and suffered a bit with some GI distress pretty much the entire run.

As tough as it was though, I'm very happy to have done this run. Not only did I get to meet some great people, but it was a huge learning experience and I think it will be a big help to me, and most importantly to Chris too, knowing what to expect on race day(s).

The Frankenshoes (New Balance MT110's) didn't fare so well this run.

Good luck to all the racers and to all the pacers and crews for the LT100!

And, as always, thanks to Diana and my girls for continuing to support my craziness!  I love you!

Garmin Connect Data