Pineland Farms Trail Running Weekend

2012 May 26-27  Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival

Saturday, 5 km in 0:37

Saturday they had 5k, 10k, 5k barefoot, and 5k canine, where runners race with their dog. The day before it was warm and humid and I didn’t feel like running, but after a travel day, I decided to do the 5k anyway, hopefully to loosen up my legs. Normally I don’t run for a couple of days before a big run, but I made an exception. Bill and I decided to go really easy and to walk up the hills to conserve as much energy as possible for 50 km the next day. As it was I didn’t feel like running at all and dragged myself through it, but by the time we finished I felt warmed up at least and a little better.

The 5k course weaved back and forth in broad switchbacks, using mostly parts of a cross country ski trails, with some sections through mowed fields. I had hoped to use my Nike Skylon road running shoes for the 50k the next day, but decided during the 5k run to use the backup pair of shoes I brought, Montrail Mountain Masochists, which are much more stable. Not that the footing was bad, but I didn’t like the way the Skylons felt on those trails.

Sunday, 50 km in 7:57

Sunday had 25k, 50k, and 50 mile races. It was Bill’s first 50 km, and we were going to try to follow the lead of his older experienced-marathoner brother David. I just wanted to run with them, hoping I wouldn’t have any problems and could keep up. I decided last year that sometimes the overall experience is worth more than killing myself to go all out in races unless 1) my training is very good, 2) I’m at a good racing weight, and 3) I have a solid desire to go hard. My overall training has been very good, but my weight isn’t down as much as I wanted, and this wasn’t my goal race, so I wasn’t going to go hard, but 50 km is a long race for me and while I was somewhat confident I would be able to handle the distance well, you never know until you get out there.

We discussed our strategy a little, and though the course wasn’t extremely hilly, it was undulating, with lots of little ups and downs, so the plan was to walk most of the uphills and run the rest. Hey that sounded great to me. Luckily the warmth and humidity from the previous day was gone the morning of the 50 km, and it was about 60 degrees when we started.  

As we started out down the hill I felt very sluggish, but after half an hour I was warmed up and running ok, if not feeling that smooth. On that day I loved our relaxed approach with hiking up the hills instead of running, not exactly the way most people do a race, but refreshing for a change, and very much like what I’d been doing for a few months mixing running and hiking when out on my trail runs.

For most of my life I’ve been a fairly consistent runner, sometimes going through competitive phases, to be sure that means for me competing to do my best only, since I’m a mid-pack finisher, or sometimes a little better, but not winning anything or placing in my age group. I’ve also been a hiker, avid at times and more occasional at other times, but always loving nature and the outdoors. Since I was a teenager I’ve always loved running trails much more than running roads, and as I aged a little I learned to walk up some of the hills when trail running, especially when I starting doing longer distances and some ultramarthons.

But this year I started doing what I call run-hikes, which can be any combination of running and hiking in the same outing. The difference is that I make what I’m doing distinct in my mind so that when I’m hiking I adopt a hiking mindset and when I’m running I take on a trail-running mindset. That means I consciously tell myself “ok I’m hiking now” or “ok I’m running now”, which is enough to shift my experience of the moment. Sometimes when I switch to hiking it’s an instant relaxing relief, and my senses suddenly become a little more peripherally aware. Other time when I switch to running mode I will feel the excitement of moving faster over obstacles, and even though my senses are still awake, I get more of a tunnel-vision focused on the trail ahead, which becomes a meditation of a different kind. Combining the best of both activities on my outings has been a complete revelation this year.

Our controlled approach to the Pineland Farms 50 km became an extension of the kind of run-hikes I’ve been doing much of the year, with the difference being that I switched modes faster and more frequently when hiking up the hills, whereas when I’m normally out there I would hike for much longer, not based on hills, but based on what I wanted to do at the time, then I would run for longer periods as well. At Pinelands I would saunter up the hills more slowly than Bill and David, but would run faster at the other times, sometimes slightly leapfrogging. It made for a very relaxing and fun 50 km for me.

I followed my plan for long stuff of starting to eat a lot early then continuing to eat throughout the run, which I’m sure paid off because I wasn’t very hungry after finishing. I started eating a protein bar 5 minutes into the run. After that I would grab stuff off the tables, eating the fruit right away, and stuffing the other food – cookies, pretzels, etc – into my little front pouch, which I would eat before the next aid station. I did take probably 6 s-caps throughout the run, but didn’t need that many. Peeing five times was a bit too much, but after the run I wasn’t thirsty so it was all good.

The 25 km course went downhill to the west, weaving down a mix of contours around fields and cross country ski trails in giant switchbacks, coming back up the hill, then going out on the east side for 8 km or so. The first lap went well, and we were all feeling pretty good, but the promised-for cloud cover never came, so it felt warm in the sun. As the day wore on a cool breeze made it very tolerable and a fine day for running.

On the second lap I started to feel a little stiff in places, but fine otherwise. Then pretty much at the bottom of the hill, David took off at the aid station, and we just figured he wanted to bank a little time, but since he’d been pacing us thus far, we thought we would soon catch up with him. Nope. Finally about 20 minutes later when crossing through the finish area on the way to the last 8 km lap on the east side of the course, we spotted him across the field and soon caught up with him at the next aid station, having worked it a little bit to catch up to him.

From there it was a bit more of a slog on tiring legs, but we all stayed together, with David’s son helping pace us in. We were running representing Crow Athletics, and wore singlets with the outline of a crow on them. Curiously, in the last couple of miles we started seeing crows, there seemed to be one up ahead in the trail around every turn. It occurred to me later that crows have very good vision and are smart. They could easily have seen the crow outlines on our shirts and been curious. Don’t know, but the crows were good omens at that point and kept us going strong to the finish.

The only slight disappointment to the day was that they ran out of beer! Each finisher was supposed to get two free beers, but the tap had run out. I mentioned it to Bill as we were getting some food, and one of the volunteers heard me. Turns out they were saving some beer for the 50 MILE finishers, but she went and got us a couple, so we each got at least one, but they really should plan better on that one thing. Otherwise a well done weekend!

I felt pretty good after finishing, I think because we walked most of the hills and I ate a lot during the run. Overall, my average heart rate for the 50 km was 121, or about 63% of maximum heart rate, which I think made my recovery go much faster. When I hammer a long race it takes weeks before I feel fresh. I liked doing the race as a run and in a more relaxed manner for a change. It was a very different refreshing experience!