Am I out of shape? I got to thinking last night about the Hagg Lake Trail Run from last Saturday, and the Timberline “Half Marathon” from last September. The former race was about 15.25 miles. The latter about 14. Hagg Lake had 3400 feet of elevation gain. Timberline of 3500. (If we believe my Garmin Forerunner 305. I think it overshoots the elevation, but since I used the same device for both events, the numbers are comparable.) Hagg Lake had a lot of mud, but wasn’t too bad. Timberline was completely dry and warm.
I ran around Hagg Lake in 2:39:23, a 10:17 min/mile pace. I ran the Timberline Half Marathon in 1:50:28, about a 7:52 min/mile pace. And I won that race. What a difference a few months, and some very haphazard training makes! In thinking about my experience at Timberline though, I know where I can get fitness wise, and I know what it takes to get there. I’ve even got a plan. Now all I have to do is execute…and hopefully not get injured!
March 2, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Yes, but in September most runners/cyclists are close to their peak fitness of the year and this is late winter, when we are fat and slow.
Also, you raced one and ran one as a good training run. Then, on top of that, the mud has got to cost some considerable time.
Don’t beat yourself up! You are a great athlete, and if you execute your plan, I am sure you can match or beat your Timberline pace.
March 3, 2009 at 7:02 am
Thanks Nick. Definitely not beating myself up, just trying to put things in perspective. That was more of a ‘here is what I’m capable of if I execute a solid plan’ theme. In a lot of ways I’m probably ahead of where I was this time last year.