Monalto Saturday, Three Ridges Sunday: good climbs, good times

Final climb of Montalto 5K--photo by Natalie Krovetz

Saturday I ran the Montalto Challenge 5K. I also ran it in 2009, which was the first year of the event. I love running hills and mountains and this is one big mother: 5K of anaerobic suffering and roughly 1300 feet of climb with a sweeping view of Monticello and Charlottesville at the finish line. All proceeds from the race benefit the Monticello-Saunders trail systems, which make the suffering all worthwhile.

My friend Andy Jones-Wilkins was in town getting ready for his new job as Head of School at Tandem Friends. He is also in the middle of training for his favorite race, Western States 100. AJW has finished the last six WS100 in the top-10, which means he is guaranteed entry for the following year. This also means his training can't suffer when he is traveling to the east coast, so he asked me to set up some training runs with some big climbing. Montalto fit the bill for Saturday, and Sunday we headed south to the Priest and Three Ridges, "the" place to get your climbing legs and trash your quads for any mountain 100.

Saturday

The weather was gorgeous for a trip up the mountain...clear skies, cool 50 degree temps, and light winds. Eliza, Andy, Harry and I warmed up with an easy jaunt up the Saunders Trail, to check out the first mile of the race. The grade here was gentle, and we had fun catching up and sandbagging our race goals. Eliza was defending her "Queen of the Mountain" title that she earned last year as the first woman, and Kristen was coming back from a stress fracture. Harry was recovering from Boston, and Andy was hoping to get in a solid climb. My excuse/story? I was two weeks out of Promise Land and just hoping to stay close to my 2009 time of 26:35.

We also admired the stencils that were set every half mile up the mountain to the finish line:


(photo by Jay Alexander)

Once the race began, I was able to click off the first mile in a comfortable 7:20, my tempo pace on "flat" roads. Eliza and Andy were long gone, Harry was just behind me and Kristen was just ahead. We stayed like this until the Saunders Trail ended and we turned up Montalto. Then, BOOM. The grade was at least 12%, maybe more. Walking was required. But everyone around me was walking, so at least I wasn't alone. Since power hiking in ultras is my strength, I was able to make good time alternating hiking and running. Kristen (who is always about 15 seconds ahead of me in a "regular" 5K) was about five seconds up until the last switchback. I caught her here and managed to keep running instead of walking, even though I was suffering. Andy, who finished four minutes ahead of me as fourth overall, was standing at the top yelling "PUSH!" so, I did. I also gasped to the nice volunteer fire fighter who was racing next to me, "Pull me in..." and he did. 26:40 and second female. Thanks, Andy, Thanks, Fireman.


(photo of Andy and me--with Monticello just behind--by Audrey Lorenzoni)

Kristen was seconds behind me and Harry just after her, and we stayed on to cheer on the 230+ runners and walkers who made the trek. Wow! What an awesome event. It was so cool to finish the race looking down onto Monticello. After admiring the views, and taking photos, it was time to run back down the mountain and explore the rest of the beautiful trails that make up Carter's Mountain and Secluded Farm. We were able to get in around ten miles total before heading to Greenberry's and the rest of our Saturday.

Sunday

4:30 am Sunday, Andy and I headed down to Montebello to meet Jeremy, Kevin, Marlin, Jenny, Drew and Nick for a trip up Three Ridges/Mauhar and then the Priest. We met the gang at 6:00am in a light rain, and after introductions and plans for meeting up after the run, the "Fast Guys" (Andy, Jeremy, Kevin, Drew and Nick) took off running up the AT towards Three Ridges. Marlin and I were quite content to hang out and take it easy, as we were coming off a full spring race calendar and very happy to not have to run fast! The Fast Guys made it look ridiculously easy as they ran uphill--Jenny (who caught us later) said she thought they were riding mountain bikes, they were hammering!

The Three Ridges/Mauher lollipop is a favorite run for many reasons. It takes me about four hours at an easy pace to run the 14 miles of the loop, and Marlin, Jenny and I did exactly that. We had a great time catching up on Jenny's recovery from her Camino de Santiago adventure, Marlin's summer Grand Canyon plans, and enjoying the beautiful wildflowers along the trail. Each time I run this loop, I discover something new...this time, it was the pretty white and purple flowers that we never see any other time of the year.


Mountain Laurel on Three Ridges

The Fast Guys ended up running Three Ridges/Mauhar in 2:40 and were bombing down the Priest twenty minutes after we had started climbing up. Whew! Marlin and Jenny kept climbing but Andy and I needed to get back to C'ville, so I peeled off and headed back down. It was a full 24 mile run for the Fast Guys and a solid 16 mile outing for me...and a perfect Mother's Day gift. My first back-to-back in a while, great climbing, and good friends, old and new.

Celebrating Spring at Promise Land 50K+

Apple Orchard Falls

David Horton's Promise Land 50K+ is a rite of spring for many of us in the mid-Atlantic region. Held on the third Saturday in April, it is usually rainy, sometimes cool, often humid, but always beautiful. The waterfalls of Cornelius Creek along the brown ribbon of single track offer peaceful sounds as we trot by, culminating with the breathtaking Apple Orchard Falls at mile 27. No wonder many ultrarunners consider this the most beautiful 50K of the year.


Cornelius Creek Trail

Promise Land was 50K number three on the Lynchburg Ultra Series calendar. It came four weeks after Terrapin Mountain 50K and ten weeks after Holiday Lake 50K. Of the three races in the LUS, it is the most difficult. It has over 8,000 feet of climb in 33-ish Horton miles, and the weather is always unpredictable---usually hard rain Friday night followed by clearing skies and warmer temps on Saturday (that is the pattern I have encountered in all five years I have run the race). This year was no different, and I was a *wee* bit concerned about the "heat" that was predicted---temps in the 60s+ is heat for me. In preparation, I did a bit of heat training in the weeks preceding the race, but basically I adjusted my time goals, ramped up my hydration and electrolyte intake, and embraced what the day and the trail gave me.

I was very excited about this year's PL---I had not been there since 2008, and was looking forward to camping out with Bill, Dan, Gentry, Jack, Marlin, and the rest of the IMTR crew. Bill brought his awesome camper, a tent, chairs and a grill and we were good to go by 4:30 pm on Friday. We sat back and watched folks roll in, shared stories about recent races (Bill had just run Boston on Monday), and sandbagged about our fitness and race goals. We also befriended a local beagle, whom we named Jack. He was a shivering, wet little guy when we rescued him from the hazards of the big bad world; after a night of eating burgers, dogs, and sleeping under the warmth of my towel, he wandered off to find his next meal.



Race morning arrived and, true to form, it was raining. I was secretly happy because I run best in cold rain...but it stopped just before 5:30 am and we were off in dry weather. Darn! I started in the back and found myself totally overdressed by mile 1, so I wasted time on the climb taking off layers. Before I knew it, we were popping out onto the Glenwood Horse Trail, which is also part of Hellgate 100K. Woop! I always get good karma on the Hellgate course and it felt great running in the cool foggy weather. I chatted with Gary, Kerry, and Rebekah as we climbed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and felt good coming down into Sunset Fields to all the cheers and hoots!


Running into Sunset Fields with Rebekah Trittipoe

My race plan was simple: stay slow and easy in the early hours just in case the sun popped out later and baked me. And that's exactly what happened. As I descended the lovely Cornelius Creek Trail, I felt great but needed to hold back for the dreaded Colon Hollow section---the undoing of many PL runners. I passed Jenny here and felt badly for her---she was battling a cold and having trouble breathing--but knew she would tough it out with her great attitude (and she did!). I felt strong on the road section to the White Tail trail, and then it was time to drop the hammer. Here I passed about 20 people on the Colon Hollow climbs as the sun started to show. I kept drinking and popped an S cap each hour, and had no cramping issues at all. Woop!

At one point I came upon three young LU girls and a dude---they were power hiking this hilly section, so I joined them. The guy turned around and I saw it was Andrew Thompson, aka "AT"...and the current speed record holder for the AT! Cool. KEWL! Of course I am a total ultra geek so I chatted up Andrew on his AT experience, but the most-est cool part was talking Barkley, which he finished in 2009. Andrew wrote the most mesmerizing and well-written Barkley report I have ever read the year he failed to finish five loops, in 2005. I remember reading it and thinking...wow...he really went insane at Barkley...wow. If you haven't read it, take the time to do it.


Being a total ultra geek with Andrew Thompson at the finish

After talking dogs, jobs, and the problems with teens today, Andrew and I started to move past the LU chicas and powered into the AS at a good clip. As we climbed up Apple Orchard Falls, I ran as much as I could, but it was time to split off once I started power hiking. Andrew took off up the mountain and I climbed the falls with a big train of people behind me, making me really work it. I love this climb and tried to do it in 50 minutes, but I was feeling the heat and was sweating buckets by the top. I saw my buddy Bob Clouston from the Charlottesville Area Trail Runners and he was ringing the cowbell---thanks, Bob!


Finally at the top of the climb and ready to roll down to the finish!

The last five miles of Promise Land I usually feel crappy---sore quads, low energy, bonky---but this year I felt awesome. I was hoping that my conservative start would give me enough energy to catch up with the folks in my "race zip code"--typically Rick Gray, Marc Griffin, Marlin Yoder, Beth Minnick---but it was too late to catch them on the last downhill. I got to the final AS at 6:24 and hammered the last three miles in under 22 minutes for a 6:46 finish...my slowest PL ever, but feeling the strongest ever at the finish, and first female masters...I'll take it!


The look on my face says it all: feeling great and happy to be done!

The post-run was a celebration of our ultra community. Horton was there to greet and congratulate each finisher, Clark handed over the nice schwag (Patagonia shorts) and I got a nice Patagucci Ipad bag as well for the masters win. The picnic lunch, cooked by Nancy Horton and her friends, was delicious as usual and we had a great time watching the finishers and sharing stories from the trail. I met some new friends in Andrew, Jamie, Cheryl, and Danny, and got a chance to hang out with the usual suspects as well. It was a great day in the mountains.


Promise Land finish with Headforemost Mountain in the background

Results are here.

Keith Knipling's photos on Flickr are here.

Something special happened at the pre-race briefing...Jamie Darling, Horton's secretary, was surprised by her boyfriend with a marriage proposal, orchestrated by Horton, of course. Her report is here...very sweet! Jamie was trailing me in the LUS standing by only two minutes before Promise Land...love got the best of her on race day as she crushed me by 16 minutes! Woop!

Photos by Keith Knipling, Brock Nichols, and Bill Potts

Going BIG at Terrapin 50K

Going BIG got me Pattagucci schwag. Thanks, Clark!


I coach the girls' J.V. lacrosse team at St. Anne's-Belfield School, and have done so for the past sixteen years. I love teaching and coaching 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. They are sponges---eager to improve, and they are still so young in many ways and unaffected by the mixed messages they get from the media about how to dress, how to act, and what to eat in order to be "cool." The girls lacrosse program at STAB has produced numerous D1 and D3 All-Americans, and the J.V. is the first stop for many who want to play at the next level. I am thrilled to be able to help them achieve their dreams by teaching them about attitude, visual imagery, positive self-talk, as well as practice behavior, commitment, and focus. We have a lot of fun learning about the intangibles to lacrosse and life success as I share with them a thing or two about the Barkley (which many of you know is coming up this weekend!!!).

We lost our first game of the season on Friday. The final score was 12-6; it was 7-2 at the half (them) but the girls made the necessary adjustments and in the second half we had a "better" outcome (5-4). As I rode the bus home on Friday night with the team, I was thinking all at once about the game and what went wrong---I really, really hate to lose-- and how I was going to regroup and get ready for my own race at Terrapin 50K the next morning. I was happy to have the distraction of the race so I didn't have the chance to ruminate all day about the loss. Sabrina sent me a note on Facebook that night with the message, "GO BIG" and that was my mantra for the day. Thanks, Sabrina.

For me, going "BIG" doesn't mean being stupid and shooting my wad in the first 15 miles (I like to believe that I am too "experienced"--a.k.a "old" according to Adam Casseday :-)-- to do that at this point in my ultra career). Instead, going BIG means taking calculated risks, being smart, and going into the pain cave at strategic times. Terrapin, with its mix of fast downhill road running, tricky, technical single track and big climbing, is a good race to be strategic. It is also a perfect race for my inov-8 Roclite 268s, which I wore right out of the box. There are many places on the course that allow fast running and others that demand quick, nimble, foot placement and comfort with technical rocky running. The 268s are a perfect shoe for this type of terrain.

I drove down to the start with Eliza, who was coming back this year to defend her course record of 2:06 in the half-marathon from last year and "redeem" herself after missing a punch. (All the runners in the 50K and Half-M are required to punch their bib number with an orienteering punch to prove that they followed the course). Last year Eliza missed the second punch. She told me that she was in tears at the finish, fearing that she would be DQ'd (she is a world class duathlete and they get DQ'd for things like that)...but Clark Zealand, the RD, simply shrugged and told her something like, "it's all good." Awesome.


Eliza, here at the 2010 Terrapin, beating the boys (and the entire field) to the top

With about 10 seconds to go before the start, after greeting friends and getting all my nutrition and gear ready, I stood in the crowd and yelled, "Go Eliza! Watch out fellas, she's going to kick your butts!" Eliza was laughing and waved me off, but I knew she was going to scare them. She was going BIG too and it was fun to share the race with a friend who likes big, hard goals like me. The start gong sounded, and the speedy half-Ms and 50Kers were quickly out of sight as we ascended up the mountain to the first aid station at Camping Gap.

As is my custom, the plan was to stay towards the back and warm up for the first hour by mixing walking and running, and then shake it out a bit on the downhill section to mile 9.4. Last year I hammered this section at a 6:30 mile pace, and paid for it later with cramping and bonking; this year my goal was to run this section at perceived marathon pace effort. My MP is *about* 7:45, and I have been doing a lot of training this spring at MP and Half-M pace. I ended up running it at 6:58 pace, but felt totally comfortable and in control.

The next section took us on the Hellgate 100K course. Longtime readers of this blog know how much I LOVE that race. It feels like home to me, and as soon as I got on the trail, I yelled, "Helloooo Hellgate!" Marlin Yoder was running just ahead and I heard him laugh. I let loose a bit on the single track, visualizing prior Hellgate runs and taking in all the good karma that I was feeling. It was here that I passed three women, including my buddy Jen Nichols who was running really well. We started my favorite climb back up to Camping Gap and Marlin was my rabbit. He kept a great pace just ahead and we did a good mix of power walking and running. I got into Camping Gap in 2:52, and Horton yelled, "Second woman! First old, old lady!" and with that news, I headed down the trail towards the Promise Land 50K course, feeling really good and energized. Thanks, Horty!

The loop in the Promise Land section has been a tough place for me in prior Terrapins. We climb to the highest point in the course, and at three hours into the race, it is a good test of the morning's nutrition and hydration plan. I had been alternating between a bottle of Perpetuem and my Hammergel flask all morning and was feeling really strong. In fact, I can't remember ever feeling this good on this section. I ran it in 57 minutes, perhaps a bit too fast, but I was telling myself that at this point in the race, it was time to GO BIG or GO HOME. It was time for a gamble, a little risk taking, to try to make some time on the first woman and separate from the women behind me.

I loved coming back to Camping Gap for the third time because I got to see my friends coming towards me. There was a solid VHTRC contingent out there: Bill Turrentine, Farouk Elkassad, Bob and Kari Anderson, Caroline Williams, Bob Coyne, and Linda Wack to name just a few. Everyone was so positive and upbeat, and their cheers gave me a new gear. I felt awesome. I knew the hardest section was coming up and was grateful for all the good vibes. As I left Camping Gap and started the steep, steep climb up Terrapin Mountain, I reminded myself that it was here last year where my race fell apart. I had neglected to take in enough salt and began cramping as soon as I hit the steep rock climb. However, I was prepared this year with "S" caps and had been taking one per hour. I also was repeating my favorite mantra to myself, "Smooth and Relaxed" all the way up the climb and this really helped me stay calm and keep the heart rate down.


Terrapin Mountain overlook---photo by Clark Zealand

After punching my bib at the Terrapin and Fat Man's Misery overlooks, it was time to hammer the sweet, sweet single track down the Rock Garden. The Rock Garden is Terrapin's answer to Hellgate's Devil Trail. It has the worst footing and is the most steep, technical section of any ultra south of the Massanuttens. It only takes about ten minutes to cover but loose, baby-head sized rocks perched precariously on a 15% grade slope tests the ankles and beats the daylights out of the quads, and is a challenge for even the experienced technical runner. Cramping becomes magnified and time put in the in the bank starts to slip away. I was very happy to get out of this section unscathed!

Finally, it was time to check into the last aid station and head for the finish. I got to the station in my fastest split ever, but somehow managed to lose time on the wonderful, beautiful, and totally runnable Terrapin Mountain ridge trail. How did that happen? I wasn't feeling bonky, just tired and ready to be done. Thank goodness Rick Gray caught up to me and pulled me along in his train. We hit the final road descent at 5:30, and I asked the guys, "help me break 5:45". Wow! Rick became a man on a mission, hammering down the road and yelling back at me, "C'mon Sophie! We're going to do this!" I kept telling myself all my usual standby mantras, "Smooth and Calm. Dig Deep. Quick and Light." The road flattened and the finish was in sight. Woop! I love the way Clark and Horton's races always end with a downhill finish.

Rick hit the tape at 5:43 and I was there a minute later---35 seconds off my best time at Terrapin, but feeling better than I ever have at the end of this race, under 5:45 and second female. What a perfect day! I am not sure I could have run a faster or smarter race, so I am going to bank this one and come back to it often when I need a reminder.

Close behind me came a stream of VHTRC, IMTR, and Lynchburg friends...Mike Stadnisky, Marc Griffin, Jack Broaddus, Beth Minnick, Jen, Martha Wright, Kerry Owens, Doug Sullivan, Rebekah Trittipoe, and David Snipes. Horton was at his very best announcing each and every finisher, and the post-race BBQ was really yummy. We hung out at the finish comparing race stories and cheering for our gang who seemed to win most of the age group and overall awards! Many thanks to Clark, Horton, and all the fabulous volunteers for another terrific Terrapin. See you at Promise Land!


Just a few of the many VHTRCers who finished Terrapin Mountain 50K: Marc Griffin, David Horton, Mike Stadnisky, David Frazier, Jack Broaddus, Martha Wright, me, Marlin Yoder and David Snipes---photo by Robin Grossman

Postscript: Eliza ended up going big and breaking her own course record in 2:01, first female and fifth overall...and guess what mantras my lax team will hear at practice this week as we prepare to take on three games in five days?

The Charlottesville Runner

My friend Steven Kozusko, a member of Charlottesville's Boston Marathon training group (aka "Boston Group"), started writing a blog a few weeks ago profiling local runners who were training for Boston (as well as other endurance athletes) and their Charlottesville lifestyle. The blog, "The Charlottesville Runner" does a great job of introducing local and cyber readers with area endurance runners: who we are, why we live in Charlottesville, what we love about our little town, where we train and, most importantly, where we eat and drink coffee after we train.

It's a cool concept and I am honored to be the focus of The Charlottesville Runner this week! Thank you, Steven!