Spartan “Trail” Championships
One thing I noticed is that I had an absolute blast. I went into the race with no expectations and came out with a fire burning brighter than ever to keep training and competing. I will definitely go to the next Spartan Trail Championship regardless of the course thrown at me.
I was super excited to race this because I knew there was going to be some talented road and trail runners competing. Spartan truly managed to bring out a high level field with athletes such as Andy Wacker, Joe Gray and plenty of other sub 2:20 marathoners (all within the top 15 finishers) and most with sub 15 minute 5k times. Given the pool of athletes, I was super curious to see how I would stack up. The terrain instantly put me at a disadvantage so my only goals were to run bravely, remember to smile every mile and practice positive thought patterns.
As expected, Andy set a fast pace early on. I clocked a 5 minute mile right out of the gate (trying my best to be conservative). I am sure the lead pack went through the first mile at about 4:50 pace (child’s play for him) I quickly tucked in behind fellow Spartan, Mark Batres (2:17 marathoner), and found what, at the time, I thought was a comfortable rhythm. Andy and 3 other guys quickly pulled away. I found myself running in a pack somewhere between positions 5-10.. It was awesome to be running so quick on “trails” in a pack. I remained in this pack for about 9-10km, but slowly fell off the back… These guys just seemed to float up the hills and over the flats, while at times I felt my pace dropping immensely during climbs. Unfortunately, the lack of steepness and technicality did not allow me to reel in many people.
Overall this was a great race. Despite many people asking me what happened and that it was unfortunate to finish in 10th… or the stranger that asked if I pulled a hammy since I finished 10th. Reality is I got outran by people who are faster than me…. For now. I will continue to compete in races like these that push me outside of my comfort zone and teach me to run faster. I will continue to work on the meticulous skill of running every day.
Part of me believes I ran the smartest race possible and truly gave my best effort but another part of me believes that I could have pushed harder…. In hindsight I believe I could have pushed hard to stay with Mark since running in a pack is easier than pushing alone.
One thing I noticed is that I had an absolute blast. I went into the race with no expectations and came out with a fire burning brighter than ever to keep training and competing. I will definitely go to the next Spartan Trail Championship regardless of the course thrown at me.
3 things I did well:
- Went into the race without expectations
- Started the race bravely and trusted my training (I have a tendency to start slow and bombard myself with negative self talk before kicking it into gear)
- Remembered to smile and have positive/enthusiastic self talk during the race!
- My fav: “Float, fight, flow!” Or “I am racing like a rockstar!”
Thoughts on the course:
This course design was skewed towards road runners and college XC runners because it was all on wide farm roads with no technical terrain whatsoever (I felt like I was running at the Boulder Reservoir). In my opinion a TRAIL championship should be on real trails. It is totally fine to have a bunch of flat and non technical miles on the course as long as it is balanced with a couple of miles of technical running (50% non technical farm roads, 25% fast flowy single track, 25% technical terrain). A distribution of varied terrain forces athletes to use different skills in their repertoire and displays a greater amount of athleticism rather than a mere display of running capacity. Maybe next time the course designer will consider making a true trail race rather than a glorified XC course.
Pre race fuel:
- Breakfast: mashed banana with honey, blueberry purely elizabeth granola and some PB and oat milk
- 16 oz of water and nuun
- 30 min before the race 1 serving of Watermelon Ascent Pre Workout
Fuel during the race:
- 12 oz of Skratch Matcha Green Tea & Lemon
- 3 Ginsting gels mixed with 4 oz of water
Post race:
- Recovery mix: 1 serving of Chocolate Ascent Whey Protein and 3 tbsp of honey
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