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XTERRA Point Mugu 18K Trail Run

First post-Ironman race done. First running race since Boston done. First running race where I felt healthy and well-trained since, well, in a long long time, done.

And it went really well. The short of it is that I finished in 1:28:06, good enough for 14th overall and 3rd in the 35-39 age group. I felt great during the race, paced well and feel like I ran just about as well as I could have yesterday. (There are always things I think I could have done to save a minute or two, but less of them this time!) It’s a tough, but incredibly beautiful course. The weather today was fantastic. All in all, this feel a little like redemption, and something of a rejuvenation.

Now, for a bit more detail:

The race takes place in the La Jolla Canyon in Pt. Mugu State Park, in the northern part of Malibu. The start is at the Ray Miller Canyon trailhead. They offered an 18K and an 11K, I ran the 18K. It’s the first race of the Xterra Trail Race SoCal series, which is made up of seven races between today and May 2010. I had planned to get up there to check out the course before the race, but just never made it. Here’s the profile:

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to make the picture any bigger, but hopefully you can see that the race starts with a pretty significant set of climbs, then plateaus for a couple miles before another climb and finally finishes with a steep descent.

It was overcast and comfortably cool at 7am when I got to La Jolla Canyon. Parking and packet pick-up were both amazingly smooth and quick and I had a ton of time to relax, go to the bathroom, talk to some people and get in a warm-up run before the 8:30am start. I met up with my friend Rom a few minutes before the race started.

When we lined up for the start of the race, I made my only real “mistake” of the day. I knew that the course starts on a road and quickly siphons onto a thin, pretty much single-file path up into the mountains. Getting stuck behind a group running slower than I wanted could really slow me down. Based on prior years’ results, I knew for certain that I didn’t belong at the very front of the starting group, but now I know that I should have started right behind them. Instead, I started a few dozen people back in the middle of a pretty large group. I started fast and while the road was still wide, I worked my way through a bunch of people. When we got to the trailhead, I was in a pack who seemed to be running at the “right” pace. But as we began the initial climb, I realized that I had miscalculated and probably should have been in front of that group. For the next few miles, “my” group – about three guys and two women – worked our way through the people ahead of us until there were just the five or six of us running together. The trail was somewhat technical – rocky with uneven ground and some sharp turns, drops and hops up. There were a few really steep short climbs that were more like stairs than a trail. I was running well and running/climbing at a conservative pace, which felt OK because my heart rate was high and I figured saving something for the “faster” part of the course was a wise idea. My first mile was 10:25, the second mile was 8:24, the third was 10:15. All my mile splits are below, but it only got faster after the third mile. I think my effort was generally consistent over this part of the course, the terrain just dictated the pace.

By about mile 4, just where the course flattens out for a couple miles, I decided to pick it up and was pretty surprised when the breathing behind me faded away. Without too much effort, I’d dropped everyone I was running with! I was pretty happy to see that happen, but, in retrospect I think that if I had been at the front of that group to start with I could have saved at least a couple minutes over the first half of the race.

At that point, I just settled in and started cruising. I couldn’t really see anyone ahead of me. About 6.5 miles into the race, the 18K and 11K races met up. (The 11K started 20 minutes after the 18K.) Things got confusing here and it wasn’t obvious who was in my race and therefore worthy of extra effort to pass. But for the rest of the race I passed a lot of people. I’m guessing that most of them were 11K runners.

Mile 7 is a pretty long, steady climb and was my only mile slower than 7:30 after mile three. For the rest of the race, I just maintained a steady effort, sipping my InfiniT and taking water at the aid stations, mostly to dump over my head. The sun had been strong and there wasn’t a lot of shade. It was only 9am, but it already felt pretty hot. The trail in the second half of the race was wider and smoother than the first half. The views were amazing. Sometimes, we were above some low clouds, looking down on shaded valleys. Sometimes we could see for miles across the mountains. Probably around mile 8, it got overcast, which was a huge relief.

The last three miles are mostly downhill. I looked back a few times and there was nobody behind me – nobody that I hadn’t just passed at least. I didn’t think there was any danger of being passed. In fact, since I dropped that group at about mile 4, I never did get passed. That was a fun feeling! During those last few miles, there are a couple “bumps” that caught me by surprise, but, in general, it was a fast finish. I felt great and continued working my through runners ahead of me. At one point near the end, I was behind a group of four runners. With about a mile to go, I made the decision to pass them all, which turned out to be a good idea because the very end of the race is steep and narrow and I doubt passing there would have been possible.

I finished strong (other than a slight calf cramp that tripped me up a little about 10 feet before the finish). I knew I’d run a good race. As I mentioned up above, I paced really well. I think that I could have gone a few minutes faster over the first half, but maybe I would have paid for that at the end. Either way, I had a good race start-to-finish!

Rom came across the finish line a few minutes later and we hung out for a while, getting some food and waiting for the results to be posted. The women that I’d been running with at the beginning of the race ended up the first and second overall women. Once I saw that I’d come in third in my age group, I waiting for the awards ceremony to claim my medal. (The fact that they have five year age groups at a relatively small race does overload the podium a little, but I’ll take it!)

It was a fun race. Really well run and a beautiful course. The volunteers were great, the aid stations well stocked and the post-race breakfast very generous. The people racing were friendly and laid-back (a much different vibe than the crazies at triathlons). I’ll definitely be back for more races in the series.

Full results are available here. I was only 15 seconds behind the 13th place person, but the person in front of him was nearly four minutes faster.

You can find photos of the event (including me receiving my third place award) here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t copy any of them in here.

XTERRA Point Mugu 18K Trail Run – September 27
Time: 1:28:06
Average heart rate: 159
Conditions: Crazy – hot and sunny at first, clouded over and cooler towards the end
Overall place: 14/277
Age group place: 3/24
Splits:
1: 10:25
2: 8:24
3: 10:15
4: 7:28
5: 7:21
6: 6:50
7: 8:34
8: 7:34
9: 7:04
10: 6:45
11: 6:14
.2: 1:32

Run #2 – September 27
Distance: 2.4 miles
Time: 21:30
Course: Local neighborhood
Conditions: Evening, clear, mid-60’s

Bike – September 28
Distance: 27.7 miles
Time: 2:07
Average heart rate: 97
Course: Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach pier, back
Conditions: Overcast, mid-60’s

Strength – September 28