Once again, I escaped the wrath of the weather gods. The morning was a warm 53 degrees, and despite the rain on Friday, the course was in great shape ... hero dirt. This was the first one in the Mountain Goat Adventures Trail Race Series, 10.5 miles with 1300 feet of elevation gain. It was nice to have a proper warm up, compared to last year's bitter cold temperatures, where I used the cab of my truck to do some squats, lunges, and other mobility/warm-up exercises.
I opted to just go with a 10 ounce hand held bottle. I was hoping for a sub 1:45 time. I had not done much run training leading up to this, hoping my cycling fitness and expedition race would be enough. I was wearing Brooks Caldera's; they had worked great during the Sea to Sea, and felt more comfortable and stable than the Hoka's I had been using.
At 8:30 am, Lisa blew the horn, and I was off. I entered the single track with the front runners. My legs felt sparkly and I flew through mile 1. A woman passed me towards the end of that mile, but I was ok with letting her go. Seeing my heart rate at 168, I knew I could not hold that for 10 miles, and so I settled a bit.
The first 5 miles came and went without much effort, so it seemed. I was happy with my heart rate in the upper 150's, pushing into the 160's on the climbs. I had been having difficulty getting my heart rate up on the bike recently and was concerned (enough to get a referral for a cardiologist in May), but after seeing how well it was doing on the run, I am pretty convinced that I was just carrying a lot of fatigue after the Huracan and Sea To Sea.
Midway through mile 6, I began to see glimpses of the first place woman, about 200 meters ahead. Now I had a carrot! My intentions were to just keep her in sight over the next two miles and then, if I was feeling good, I would attempt an attack around mile 8-9.
Miles 7 and 8 my perceived exertion went up. But when I saw 1st place walking up a hill midway through mile 8, I embraced the pain and began to push harder. Even though she was still fast on the descents, I slowly reeled her in. Then I attacked on the next climb. As I passed, I gave her some words of encouragement and to come with, but she was unable.
At the top of the climb, I kicked in the afterburners and pushed it hard, all the way to the finish. I thought I was going to blow a gasket on that final climb to the finish, but I was determined not to slow to a power hike. I just kept the legs turning over, looking back only once midway up the climb. Not seeing her, I cruised on into the finish with a time of 1:38.
I won my AG and took the overall as well, finishing 7 minutes faster than my goal. I was stoked!
The 10 ounces of Skratch I had was just the right amount, finishing it with 1 mile to go.
Back in December I went to Chattanooga Non-Surgical Orthopedics in Chattanooga to see Dr. Jeff Hall. At that time I had been dealing with a left patellar tendonitis for the past two years, without success. I had gone through physical therapy as well as doing some comprehensive strength training and mobility exercises, but to no avail.
I received a series of 4 PRP/HA (platelet rich plasma and hyaluronic acid) injections into my tendon. Although my knee joint had no issues, I had that injected as well. This occurred over an 8 week period. Insurance did not cover it, so it was a $1500 out of pocket expense. I was super nervous about how effective it would, as that's a lot of money! Well, I am ecstatic to say that IT FUCKING WORKED! And FUCK YOU, BCBST for not covering a procedure that has minimal to no complications/adverse effects and was 100% effective. I am sure that all my PCP visits and PT appointments added up to at least twice that amount that I spent.
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