Saturday, August 1, 2009

Saturday 11 miles + 10k trail race.

Had a blast today at the La Sportiva Eldora 10k. I thought I felt very good during my warm-up but once the gun went off I was flat as a pancake. I didn't start to feel loose until mile ~3 and my breathing relaxed and my legs felt OK, I had zero turnover though and just felt slow. One thing is for sure, I suck at technical descents! A kid named Shiloh (sp?) was yo-yoing in front of me the whole race. He would put a huge gap on me on the descents and then I would reel him in on the climbs. The same went for Bill Fanselow, who despite not being even remotely fit, is a tough dude to beat! Scary to think when he does get fit! Bill took a wrong turn and lost a lot of momentum, otherwise he would have caught 3rd place. As it was- Andy Ames was 7th? Bernie Boettcher was 6th. Bill was 5th. I was 4th. Shiloh was 3rd. Simon Gutierrez was 2nd. And a fast as crap dude from Pennsylvania was first, something Byrne. My descending was horrid, I was cautious enough that the race didn't crush me. We'll see tomorrow when I time trial 22 miles.

Updated Sunday... Here are the results

6 comments:

Justin Mock said...

Shiloh is a former US Mountain Running Team member. You beat some legit dudes. I really wish you would've raced the Cheyenne Canon selection race last weekend, I think you'd have been in the mix.

Lucho said...

Shiloh is a cool name, that's all I remember. Neil Diamond had song about a Shilo (a girl though)... but you young kids with your damn rock and roll don't know the classics :)
Apparently the guy that won is a 2:13 marathoner or something? I don't remember his name. I suck at descending! If it had been all uphill I would have been in the mix. Nice run for you today too! Damn.

Brett said...

I read somewhere recently from a very good mountain runner (don't remember who it was), that Shiloh was one of the best descenders they'd ever seen anywhere.

Matt said...

Go tell it on a mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on a mountain
That you're Tim Waggoner

and that you want to take some people out. Word.

Fulfill the prophecy (at least enter some more mountain races!)

Great stuff, humble and in the mix.

Justin Mock said...

Brett, Rickey Gates said after Cranmore that Shiloh was the best on the downhill.

Tim, I see the results now. It is a current member of the US Mountain Running team that won it. Guy beat out even Rickey in the selection race in NH. He was on the team last year too.

Competitive race up there in Eldora!

GZ said...

KICK ASS.

Descent skills can be learned. Like any stimulus. Yeah, there will be nut cases that can effectively remove their skulls from the rest of their heads and just let go - but generally we can all improve with a few downhill dance lessons on trails (the stuff to west of Boulder is excellent for this ... as is some of the Walker Ranch stuff).

Matt Byrne was fourth at Mount Washington. No small feat. And NO downhills there. Well, maybe one. At the start. For like five feet.