I am finally coherent enough to write about yesterday’s trail run. Twelve of us drove to Rio en Medio which is a lovely uphill streamside trail with several waterfalls. This trail is lower elevation that last week, it starts at 7200 and goes to 9200. We stayed lower because of snow problems from last week.
Since this is my one week at altitude I expected things to be a bit tougher than last week. Everything that I had read points to week 1 and week 2 being the hardest. I still have elevation insomnia. Normally I sleep hard as a rock for a solid nine hours, but here I fall into an exhausted heap about 8:00pm, and wake up at midnight, toss and turn for a while and then sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 and get up. I can’t wait for this to pass.
We began the lovely trail run and it was fairly easy going, but when we made our first stop at a steam crossing one mile in I was happy to catch breath. I am pretty sure it was a Garmin malfunction but it said my max hear rate in this first mile was 236, you laugh but then in mile 2, my max was 232. My average was 179 for those miles.
While it was not super steep in the beginning it was steep and to give you an idea about HR, pace, and stress of environment/landscape. Mile 1 was 11:51, mile 2 13:24, and mile 3, 18:49. And even on mile 3 my max HR was 165, with an average of 151, normally 151 is an 8:45-9:00 on the road. By the fifth mile the ground had leveled out and we were running 9:00’s and my HR continued to drop. The slow paces was also due to stopping to get everyone over the stream.
At the fifth mile there was a critical decision. We had two options, either go back the way we came, this would be a downhill run and rock scramble for 5 miles, or, continue on and the trail would turn into a dirt road leading to Aspen Ski Basin and down around to Chupadero. If we continue on it would be 10 to 13 more miles. My first instinct was to continue on into the unknown making this a 15 – 18 mile run instead of a 10 mile run. I had a sneaking suspicion Maryann, the super strong woman from last week just might join me, and sure enough, both she and Andy said yes. This was a good thing since we came in a car together. I guess “like” personalities do bond!
I only had about 5 oz of Gatorade with me so I had to ration. The dirt road was totally exposed to the sun and downhill. After last Sunday’s 5 miles of downhill I took it easy. I had DOMS from last week and I did not want that happening again especially since I have a race this week. Andy and Maryann were about 20 meters ahead of me. The first five miles were around an 8:00 pace which was a good relief from the slow hill climbing. But about the 6th mile the sun was beating down on me, the hills were moving up and down and my groin started to ache forcing me to take it even more easy. I ran a couple of easy 9:00 miles.
Toward the end with 2.5 miles to go the dirt road ends into asphalt pavement. Maryann and Andy waited under a shade tree for me and we were all out of water. Just then super runner Eric came driving by in his car. ( Eric was in the 1996 marathon Olympic Trials-he is a super runner) He finished the 5 mile return and was heading home. We asked for a ride back, half joking and half serious, but we could not bribe him to drive the steep hills back. We asked for water and his companion had half a liter that she gave us. But I guess our fumbling became apparent and we were aware that Eric was studying our faces to see if we were able bodied and coherent enough to finish the trek. Apparently we passed.
The splash of water and the hard road brought my pace back down to 8:00 but not for long. I looked ahead and all I saw in the horizon was a giant hill. I could not even see it’s end, it must have been 2 miles long and straight up. I remembered our car having a hard time climbing it. I started the second to last mile at a 7:50 pace but it eventually turned into a walk, making it a 12:00 average. I caught up to Andy who was a ahead of me and for a short while we walked, then we would say, “let’s run to that sign,” which was maybe 50 meters way, but eventually Andy said “no”and I stopped too. Maryann was waiting for us on the top of the hill, none of us were sure where our cars were at that point and we were all kind of foggy.
The final .86 of a mile was terrible. We walked. We were overheated, without water, exhausted. I had nothing left, absolutely nothing. I could only walk. It was not like I was sweating and tired, llike after a race, but I was beat like after running a hard marathon. The .86 was at a 14:00 pace, a walk. With less than 200 meters to go, Andy said, “let’s jog.” Oh it was hard to start but then it felt pretty good.
There were four runners waiting for us and clapping. The 5 milers finished not too far ahead of our 10 miles, their terrain was much harder. We rolled in and Jim instructed us to drink one bottle of water then Gatorade. We would have done anything we were told. Jim always has an ice cooler filler with water and Gatorade and a box of peanuts, mixed fruit and nuts, cookies, and other treats in the back of truck for the finish. Maryann and I squatted on the ground to stretch both agreed that we would do nothing for the rest of the day. My brain was shot.
I drove the hour home, got the dogs and went to Abiquiu Lake to cool off my legs. The lake was cold and refreshing and did wonders for my aching hips. In the last two weeks I have done an astronomical amount of downhill running, easily about 15 miles. And while 15 miles may not sound like much, I am not counting the up and down hills, I am counting deliberate non-stop straight downhill running of the 5 miles last week and almost 10 this week. There is nothing more damaging, to me at least.
I could not do anything for the rest of the night. I could barely figure out what to make for dinner and my stomach did not want any food. It is the same feeling you get after a totally exhausting marathon where you also took in caffeine and your digestive system shuts down. You are exhausted, strangely alert, but can’t respond to anything. I had no caffeine and only ran 15 miles, but I ran for 2:40 with 10 miles in the blazing hot sun.
Was I wrong to pick the long route? No way, the three of us had a blast and I would do it all over again!
Adventure Artist 
Leave a Reply