Keweenaw Trail Running Festival 10K

The Keweenaw Trail Running Festival was held on July 11-12 this year in Copper Harbor, Michigan. For those who don't know, Copper Harbor is the northernmost town in Michigan. I heard of this race series last year while I was on vacation in the area. This year I was able to run one of the races in the series before heading home from vacation.

The race series is three races:

• 10K at 8am Saturday
• 5.8K hill climb (917' elev. gain) at 6pm Saturday
• 25K at 7am Sunday
  

I was staying in McClain State Park outside of Hancock, MI for the week with my family. Friday afternoon we drove to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge outside of Copper Harbor for my race packet and then did some sightseeing and hit some gift shops in town. The race packet was minimal - T-shirt, race bib, and 4 pins - nothing else and nothing to throw away. Nice.

I woke up a dozen times Friday night wondering what time it was and if my alarm was going to ring. Eventually it did and I was up at 4:35 and off to Copper Harbor by 5:10. It's about a 40 mile drive for where I was staying and I wanted to get there around 6am when the bus was going to take runners to the start. I'm always early so it's not surprising that I was the third runner on the bus. One was a woman from Ontario (Janice) that has run the series several times and the other was a young woman from Minneapolis (Melissa) that has never run on a trail in her life. Eventually enough runners were on the bus so we were shuttled to the start at Ft. Wilkins State Park. There we got our timing chips which were velcro ankle bands.

The weather was very good for running - 58 degrees, sunny, strong breezes, and very low humidity. At race time we got our instructions on how to watch for the flags so we wouldn't get lost. I had earlier planned to line up at around one-quarter back from the start. I was chatting too much with Janice and Melissa and the starting line was more wide than deep and I think I ended up starting about 60% back. Oh well. At the sound of the horn we were off and everyone (150 runners) was heading for a path 100 yards ahead. We hit the patch and there were a few spots where we slowed due to too many people on such a narrow path. This was a flatter area of the course at the beginning but I was limited by the speed of those in front of me. I suppose it let me warm up better and save energy for later.

Here is the course description from the race website:

The course starts in the grassy field overlooking Lake Fanny Hooe at Ft. Wilkins State Park. It follows a wide trail along the lake until crossing the Lake Manganese Rd and entering Clyde's Meadow which surrounds runners with wildflowers, ponds, and wild birds. Runners then enter a dense cedar forest and follow a winding trail before crossing a small stream. After crossing the main road into Copper Harbor, runners jump onto the exquisite single track of the Garden Brook Trail that winds its way up along the brook for several miles before recrossing the main road and entering the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge trail system. The trail remains narrow single track and winds gracefully through the rolling terrain and forests north and east of the lodge. The trail emerges from the forest at 5.9 miles. The last third of a mile takes runners over the soft grass of Fairway 9 to the finish behind the lodge.

The description above sounds 'lovely'. Half way though the course I was trying to think of the proper word to describe the hilly trails. I couldn't decide if it was a Bitch or a Bastard. Something missing from the description is that the trails were heavily hiked and therefore tree roots were greatly exposed. Also, since we were in copper country, there were rocks, not big ones, just bedrock and small rocks, many that were the size to fill your hand and were not easy to run on. It was very difficult to get around people on this single track but if you really needed to get by every so often there were spots to run off the trail to pass. I'm sure the forest was beautiful but I didn't see it. I had to keep my eyes on the ground nearly the entire race. The race map shows 1,258 feet of climbing and 765 feet of descending. The roots, rocks, and hills made for a great race.

Below are my splits. The first mile was slower than it should be because I wasn't in the right spot at the start. My last mile is faster because there were fewer roots/hills.

mile 1 - 8:20
mile 2 - 9:18
mile 3 - 9:43
mile 4 - 9:29
mile 5 - 9:20
mile 6 - 6:32
last .2 - 1:20 (6:39 pace)

I finished in 54:02 according to my watch. My new friend Janice finished 2 minutes behind me and was second in her age group. I didn't bother waiting for results (update: I was 6/10 of age 45-49) to see if I placed since there were several guys around my age and they started out, and finished, in front of me. Melissa took a little longer to finish and I was excited to hear what she thought since it was her first time running on trails.... She loved it. I recommended that she check out the Upper Midwest Trail Runners website when she gets back home for races and places to run. I had some water, a banana, and a mini cliff bar to get some energy back before I headed back to McClain to pack and drive the family home.

My thoughts about this race: I loved the 10K and next year I hope to be able to run the full series. If I did that I would definately stay in/near Copper Harbor for the weekend to cut down on the driving.

update: I found the race results. I was 6/10 in my age group and 39/77 for males.

--Mark

trusty heart rate monitor

I have a Polar 610i heart rate monitor, and according to my records, I started using it on 7/17/2005. I have not worn it for every workout, but most of them. It keeps a total of the calories and hours. The total I have now is 672,843 calories and 1,333 hours. That's 500 calories per hour and 28 hours per month which is about what I expected. Only one battery change so far and I have had no problems at all with it. The reason I'm taking a look at this data is because I have a Garmin on order. My trusty Polar may get pushed to the bottom of my gym bag, only to come out to play in Kickboxing class or when I'm on the treadmill.

The Garmin I've pre-ordered is a 310XT. It's like the 305 except it has improved water resistance and a 20 hour battery life. I should have by the end of July, hopefully sooner. I'm excited about going out to run without mapping the mileage on my computer.

--Mark

Crossed the mileage line

I keep wanting to run more miles per week than I have in past years. Every time I work my mileage up I eventually have to step it back as I start to get injured. This running season is no different than last year. I finished last week with 60 miles and this afternoon my left knee is telling me to take it easy. My knees almost never hurt.

I'll try to shoot for 45 to 50 mile weeks for the next month and see how that works out. If my knee pain continues this week will be a sub-40 mile week.

--Mark

Apple Blossom half marathon

I did a couple of things I never have done before: 1) Run a race without tapering for it, and 2) deciding the day before a race to run it.

I ran the Apple Blossom half marathon in Hastings this morning. It's run from the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center and this year was the 29th running.

It was a beautiful day for a race. Early morning temps were in the upper 30's and race temps were still cool. Going into this one I decided to race it. I needed a benchmark to see how I'm doing and to help tune my training paces this summer. I didn't have a hard goal but I was hoping for a 1:45.

We were all bussed a mile or two north of the Carpenter Nature Center to a St. Croix Park. I used to camp there 25 years ago when Control Data Corporation owned it. It's nice that it's a public park now so everyone can use it.

There were three races starting simultaneously from different starting lines. 5K 'in front' in the left lane; Half-marathon behind the 5K'ers in the right lane, and 10K'ers about a mile behind. This year the race had chip timing for the first time. The only timing mat was at the finish so we all had the same start time synchronized to the gun.

I met my running partners Kristen and Karl there, put my extra clothes in a drop bag and a few minutes later we were off and running. This is a fairly hilly race so it's a good thing I like hills. I remembered to hit my lap timer for each mile. Here are my splits:

1 8:01
2 7:11
3 7:18
4 7:53
5 7:57
6 8:27
7 7:47
8 7:45
9 7:40
10 8:11
11 7:25
12 7:39
13 7:31
13.1 0:47 (0.1 miles at 7:45 pace)

I finished in 1:41:36 and had a not-too-high heart rate average of 162.

The variation in my splits is mostly due to hills. On a flat course I'm sure they would be more even. I estimated the midpoint time and was happy to get negative-splits 51:07/50:29 or (7:48/7:43) 1st/2nd half paces.

I didn't really feel good until mile 8 and then I felt like I really wanted to run. It could have been the Shot Bloks. There were plenty of aid stations for water and a 'sports drink'. I just stuck to water but at mile 6 I took ONE Shot Blok and chewed it up right away. I also took one S!Cap shortly after for sodium/potassium. 2 miles later I felt great. At mile 8 I took another Blok and this time I just sucked on it and kept it in my mouth, biting off tiny pieces from time to time. I finished it about mile 9.5. At mile 10 I took my third Blok, sucked on it for half a mile then ate it. I took another S!Cap then too. From my splits you can see I'm averaging near a 7:30 pace for the last three miles. I remember running uphill and into the wind during that time too. I had a nice finish and then got together and with Kristen and Karl to relax in the sun for awhile before heading home.

I would like to run this one again next year but I hope the shirts are a different color. Powder-blue is not my color.
--Mark

nothing much new

Still ramping up the miles and should get to 43 this week. No problems so far increasing by about 10% per week.

I have added something new to my training. Tuesday mornings I go to Discover Strength in Plymouth for strength training. I'm thinking of dropping out after a total of 5 sessions and doing similar workouts at my primary gym. You can check out Discover Stength at: http://www.discoverstrength.com/

--Mark

12.7 miles today

This was my longest run of the year and I ran the final two miles faster than the first ten! I felt good at the finish but my muscles feel a somewhat tired now. My goal is 34 miles this week which I will meet if I can get in a 9.3 miles river loop on Sunday.

Last Sunday I yelled 'Uncle' at the 2 mile mark into my river loop run. It was 41 degrees, raining cats and dogs, and some heavy duty lightning/thunder. I was completely soaked and turned around for a wet run back to the club. I was wearing my 2008 Twin Cities Marathon shirt which I am convinced was the reason for the cold rain. I won't be wearing it this Sunday.

My goal for the next month is to work my way up to 50 miles per week and then start into an 18-week marathon training plan. At the end of that I will run the Twin Cities Marathon.

--Mark

Back in Gear

I ran the Get in Gear 10K this morning. There was no rain and it was perfect for racing. I had a goal to run 7:30's today and I met that goal. After not running in January or February, it took 160 miles of running over the past two months to get me back to where I am today. I'm very happy and am ready to jump back into running with my friends for distances up to 12 miles. Soon enough I'll be running longer with them too.

At the race today I started too far back. At mile one I was thinking that the race was way too big and why the heck did I even decide to run it. It took about two miles to get around most of the people that had a slower target pace than me. At that point I could just settle in to a pace and run. Here are my paces:

Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:11
Mile 3: 7:28
Mile 4: 7:25
Mile 5: 7:34
Last 1.2: 7:38 pace (9:00 time)

from the results online:

bib number:	1048
age:	49
gender:	M
location:	Eagan, MN
overall place:	485 out of 3419
division place:	37 out of 174
gender place:	389 out of 1647
time:	46:49
pace:	7:32

Looking at my paces I'm slightly disappointed that my pace dropped off 10 to 15 seconds for the last two miles but I'll get that back in time. I ran at a harder effort than the Trail Mix last Saturday but I maintained a good breathing pattern all the way to the finish. I wasn't sucking wind loudly like some of those I passed. My legs feel good, my feet feel good and I think I'll just run some easy miles tomorrow.
--Mark