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Sycamore Canyon 30k (Full Race Report)

Three races in three weekends. No tapering, not much time for rest.

Going into Sunday’s Sycamore Canyon 30k, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My races at the L.A. Marathon and Oceanside 70.3 had gone fine and I felt like I’d recovered well from both, but I hadn’t tested my speed in either of those races. My plan for Sunday was to push the pace a bit. I had no idea how my legs would react.

The short answer is that the legs were great! As I posted yesterday afternoon, I ended up 2nd overall with a time of 2:38:XX. The guy who beat me absolutely crushed the course – as he should have, given his incredibly sick running resume. I went out pretty hard, figuring I would dial it in when I needed to, but that time never really came.

Race morning started with a meet-up and photo-op with a bunch of my new running friends from Twitter and the blogs. All smiles here before we hit the trails:

This race had such a different feel than the chaotic starts at L.A. and Oceanside. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been moving towards doing more trail racing and less tris or road races. The smaller size and relatively relaxed starting atmosphere and attitudes make for such a happier race start.

I didn’t know much about the course, but I did know there would be some pretty tough climbs:

I also knew that there was some single-track near the beginning and I didn’t want to get stuck behind anyone. So my plan was to go out from the start pretty hard and get in a good position for the single track. And that’s what I did. Right from the get-go, I was near the front. A few guys in front of me missed an early turn from the fire road to the trail and at that point, I couldn’t see anyone in front of me.

The first climb started pretty much at that turn-off and I charged right up the hill. I was still in the don’t-get-caught mode. I knew I was pushing harder than I normally would have but I also felt strong and wasn’t worried that I was “ruining” myself. After a short, but steep, single-track section, there’s a switch-backy (nice word!) fire road that continues up to the top of the first peak.

While climbing on the fire road I could see two runners in front of me. Pretty far in front already and quickly getting further away. I didn’t know what distance they were racing, but I knew that catching them wasn’t in the cards. After cresting the first climb, you get rewarded with a long, fast descent all the way to the first aid station at mile 5.5. I noticed a few guys catching up to me and then they caught, and quickly passed, me. John and Garrett were running the 50k (fine, let them go) but the third guy was in the 30k (don’t let him get too far ahead). But pretty much right after they passed, the dude running the 30k bit it pretty hard. As I ran past him, I checked on him and he made it clear that he was OK and I should continue on. So I did and ended up tucking in behind the two speedsters in the 50k. At one point I looked back and saw that the guy had gotten back up and continued running. There was no one else in sight behind us. The aid station at the bottom of that descent is also the turnaround for the 18k race. We were about a half-mile from it when one dude came flying back up the hill. He was crushing the 18k. And that meant there was probably only one guy in front of the three of us. But was he running the 50k or 30k??

By that first aid station, I decided that I would hang with John and Garrett for as long as I could. I could tell that they are “faster” runners than me, but this was the first 50k for both of them and, for yesterday at least, their 50k pace wasn’t too much of a push beyond my 30k pace. Keeping up with them took me just a little out of my comfort zone, something I normally hesitate to do, but something I should definitely be doing for “short(er)” races. Especially when I’m feeling good.

With my handheld still relatively full and the temps nice and cool, I didn’t stop at the aid station. Right after the aid station, the course starts climbing up the La Jolla Canyon trail. This is the same trail from the start of the Point Mugu 18k I did last September. That only means that I know how rocky and steep it is! John, Garrett and I generally hung together through this climb, but near the top, Garrett fell back and John moved a little ahead. At the top of this climb, you run through this awesome meadow:

It’s pretty flat and the ground is even so it’s a great time to push the pace. John and I were back together and Garrett caught us during this stretch as well. Garrett reported that the 30k dude who fell wasn’t too far back and that definitely kept me moving. The three of us were talking about the one guy we thought was ahead of us. They thought he was a well-known local in the 50k. So… that would have meant that I was in the overall lead! I’ve never been in that position before. And damn, it felt good. I even started thinking about my “victory” tweet and blog post…

The end of this section is the same rocky, steep section that we went up after the aid station. Footing is a tricky, but we weren’t slowing down (much). At the aid station, I chugged 2 cups of water but didn’t want to take the time to refill my handheld. I figured I had enough fluids to make it to the end without running out. And I was still concerned about being caught from behind. I jammed out of the aid station without Garrett or John, who were taking an extra few seconds.

John ended up catching up with me on the climb back up the Ray Miller Backbone trail.

I was running most of it, but also taking walk breaks whenever it was steep or the particular section was a long climb. This climb is a bunch of switchbacks so I could see that there wasn’t anyone besides Garrett behind us. I was psyched to reach the top of the climb with no one in sight.

From this point, it’s about 2.5 miles down and then a half mile on a flat fire road to the finish. I didn’t think anyone would be able to come from nowhere and catch me now. It was just a question of whether I was first or second.

I finished nice and strong and my very first question was: “Was I first or second??” The answer, as you know, was “second”. The obvious follow-up was “By how much.” I was relieved to hear that the winner had 100%, entirely, undeniably kicked my ass. He beat me by 23 minutes. He beat the course record by 11 minutes! I ended up talking to him and he casually mentioned that he would be running the London Marathon in a few weeks and perhaps the Belgian 100k national championship and some 24 hour European championship. I was curious about him so I looked him up online and found his running resume (same link as above; I added link again for emphasis). He is definitely the real deal – 2:24 marathon PR, 6:55 100k PR and 140+ miles in 24 hours. Hot damn! There is never shame in not winning, but there is especially never shame when someone like that dude is the winner!