Roclite 285

So since I’ve done two races in these shoes, and I’ve not spoken out about them I figure I should say something. The Roclite 285 is really nothing special. It’s a very solid shoe. Just like every other Roclite I’ve ever warn I’ve liked. This shoe is 20 grams lighter than my normal ultra shoe (the Roclite 305).

Roclite-285

The 285 has a hard plastic toe cover which is great for when you kick a rock or a root. One draw back I do have about this shoe is it seems excessively  pointy. That being said I kick more rocks and roots with this shoe than I have with any other shoe. Aside from that one complaint the shoe itself is solid.

This shoe is definitely made for those with narrow feet, and it is still snug. This narrow snug fit really helps the shoe to stay in place on your foot when navigating uneven terrain. When there are lots of rocks, roots, ruts (from bikes) and your foot ends up striking in lots of various positions you want to know that your shoe will stay on your foot and your foot will not slide around inside.

So far the longest distance I’ve run in these shoes is 32 miles, and they’ve held up to the demand. I’ve run both the WhiteRock 50k and the Sylamore 50k in these shoes. Whiterock was a dirt road the whole way, and really any shoe could have worked for this course. But Sylamore was a different story. With water crossings, wet rocks, roots, stone steps, gravel, sand and ice this trail was a test for this shoe. The upper does a pretty poor job of keeping out the sand and grit when the going gets wet. But as with any mesh upper shoe that’s going to be the case. The out sole is made using a sticky rubber which is great for grabbing hold of rocks and giving you a solid grip every time. The 285′s work great when they’re wet and dry. The rubber grips and holds what ever the terrain.

Anybody looking to add a solid shoe to their line up should look into the 285.

It’s not flashy, it’s not boring, it’s not fantastic and it doesn’t suck. But it sure as hell gets the job done with the minimal amount of fuss.

Sylamore 50k

Two weeks ago, I ran my first race since August. My goal at Whiterock was to run the race 100% problem free. Aside from a short (2 min) bout with kidney pains, I ran the race as well as I could have, slow, steady, controlled.

At Sylamore, knowing that there was going to be a lot less altitude I wanted to try and finish sub-6 hours.

At the start of the race, I watched all the speed demons race off, I heard that there was going to be an attempt at breaking the record today.

Stu, Deb, Debbie, Me, Julie at the start of the race.

After the first mile, we reached the famed stream crossing. This is about 100 feet across and waist deep at it’s deepest point. Needless to say it was a tad cold, but nothing I couldn’t handle! Right after the stream we went up hill. The view out over the river was amazing.

Cruising along not paying any attention, and just following the guy in front of me, I soon found myself lost! There were 4 of us, wondering around looking for a blue blaze. It seemed like forever!, but really, I think we were off track for maybe a minute. Once we got back on trial I found myself behind some people I’d followed before. I just relaxed and centered myself. I hadn’t lost that much time and there was a lot of race left ahead of me.

The first aid station was at the base of the first big climb. Keeping with my new fueling strategy, I stopped off, filled my paws with bananas and orange wedges and took off hiking up the hill. It really seemed like minutes before I was on top. Looking at the course profile makes it seem worse than it is. But really the climb was only about 500 feet. I was really excited to let gravity do it’s trick on the decent. On the decent I’d met a fella named Frasier, from Memphis. He was looking to do a 6:30 time today. After we got to the bottom he decided to hold back a tad, while I kept on trucking.

The second climb was awesome. It was steep, rocky, technical, I knew I was gonna have fun coming down this later. After the second long decent, I was at the second aid station. Continuing on with the my fast aid station strategy, I grabbed more fruit, stuffed my face and headed out.

The last segment was the easiest (if you’re looking at relative altitude gains). This section I ran with another guy who’s name I never got I’m glad he came along at this point. I let him pass, but found his pace perfect for me to be pulled along with. I just fell into a comfortable pace behind him and we talked the rest of the way to the turn around point.

At the turn around I had to do something about my foot. I had sand in my sock and it was starting to rub my foot! I had a hot spot, luckily it wasn’t painful, just annoying. I had a couple blooming bananas, took a salt tab, filled my pack with water and headed out. I made it to the turn around in about 2:30. I was feeling really strong about my pace. I knew I’d just have to relax, let the race unfold in front of me for the rest of the way back. As long as there were no disasters I’d finish in under 6 hours.

On the way back I saw Debbie and Deb and Julie! They all seemed in good spirits, and Deb was taking tons of pictures! Before I knew it it I was back at the middle aid station. I ate more fruit, messed with my sock some more, took another salt, ate some potatoes this time and took off up the hill.

Me, on my way back to the finish line.

I had two more big climbs before the last aid station and I needed to keep my momentum going forward. Walking up the hill I found myself being passed by people, this was kind of disheartening for me. But I knew there were some technical downhills coming and I could use those to my advantage. Once we got to the top of the first hill, I let it go. I flew down the hill, passed people, splintered the group, lost just about everyone who’d passed me! Felt great! Next the short trek along the river to the second climb. Feeling a tad tired I ate some more food. It was around here that I’d started running with Rob. Rob and I kept motivating ourselves to the finish! Rob pulled me up the second climb. We met back up just after the last aid station. I knew if we could maintain an 11 min/mile pace we’d make it back to the finish in time.

This was when the race started to get hard! Everything started to hurt. Our pace suffered! I was getting more and more concerned with my watch. Waiting for the stream crossing. I knew once we were are the stream crossing it’d be 1 mile to the finish line. These last 5 miles included a lot of walking. Cramps, puffy fingers. The temps rose to the mid 60′s today. I’m happy with the clothing choices I’d made in the morning. But still wasn’t prepared mentally for the heat. I could feel it getting to me. Every rock face reminded me of the first one I saw outbound. Just praying that it’d be the last one, meaning we’d descend into the creek!

Rob and I reached the creek crossing with 20 min to spare. At this point we knew we were going to make our sub-6 finish. This is Rob’s first, my second. My first sub-6 was my second ever 50k, on a really flat course, and I finished 20seconds under 6 hours!

The last half mile down the paved road was brutal. We knew we just needed to keep going, but we kept taking turns cramping. his calf, my hamstring, his hamstring, my calf. The finish line was beautiful! We shuffled across the finish line happy to be done. I’m already ready for my next race!

I keep getting better, this is exciting. I hope I can continue to crescendo all the way to Western States and get my first sub-24 100 and get that silver buckle!

Whiterock Classic 50k

First race of the year, first race since Leadville. I was a little nervous. It’s been a long off season for me. Struggled with some knee pains post leadville, then some back pains, then piriformis pains (though now I’m starting to think that the piriformis and the back pains are the same thing and I just let the priformis get so bad before that it started to effect my back).

Well, lets get to the guts of this! I was originally planning on cruising down to Huntsville, TX with some fellow TrailHawks for an attempt at a 50 mile race. It wasn’t until Coleen’s FatAss that I found that there is a race in AR that’s only 5 bucks! The race was closer, cheaper (and cheaper hotel) seems like a no brainer! Turns out there was a whole grip of us who were going to this race, which made it ever more fun.

Most of us Hawks before the race

Laurie and I left Lawrence Friday evening to KC to pick up Coleen. Then we raced to Fayetteville, AR to meet up with Debbie, Deb, Stu, Julie and Dave at the Super 8 for a night of sleep before the hour long journey through the Ozarks to the starting point for the race.

This race for me was one of particular interested as a way to measure my recovery. I’ve been struggling with some piriformis injuries as stated previously and I was half expecting to pull out of this race somewhere between the start and the halfway point. I wanted to stay slow and steady. Focus on my fuel and my body and less on my time. Turns out that was the best way to go. Made sure I ate a 2-3 blocks every 2 miles. This was also my first ultra wearing light weight shoes and using only a handheld water bottle. With all this new stuff going on and running with injuries my focus was to make sure all the pieces stayed together and nothing fell apart.

We made it to the first aid station about 5 mile away. I was feeling great! I wanted to run up all the hills but knew I had to hold back and relax. Laurie was there with a fresh water bottle, but it was too early in the race to need a new one so I just said no thanks, and we moved on ahead.  Between the first and second aid stations we had our first down hill section, it was pretty long, but nothing fresh legs couldn’t handle. We cruised down the hill running and jabbering the whole time having a blast.

We made it to the second aid station and I saw one of the greatest things EVER! Blooming bananas! Basically it’s a banana cut in half, partially peeled and then peanut butter is liberally spread on the tip of the banana. At this aid station I switched to a fresh water bottle, replenished my honey stinger chews.

The next section was one of the hardest sections of the race, essentially all up hill to the turn around. There was lots of walking, some running, but we were all in good spirits. There were multiple times the upper section of the hill was equated to Ogg Road. a place I’ve yet to run, but if it’s like what we ran, I’ll have to make some trips to Ogg for some hill climbing practice.

When we finally made it to the gate to the top of Whiterock Mountain, Coleen and I saw the posts that had been chewed up by bears. Apparently Whiterock has a lot of bears, and they like to eat wood. The top was windy and cold! Coleen and I were the first ones up there and we eating cookies while waiting for the others to sign in at the top. Coleen made some awesome vegan cookies and we weren’t allowed to eat them until we made it to the top. Then we took a picture at the top with Roxy. To be honest we took forever at the top of Whiterock. I was getting cold and cranky. I think we spent a total of 11 min up top. Not sure what the issue was there, but I was ready to go, and ready to take Roxy with me for a 10mile doggie jaunt!

Me and the girls at the top!

The way down was fast! That long hill we just ran/walked up we now ran all the way down. Most of the time complaining about how we didn’t think it was so long. We all made it down to the bottom sweet as a nut. At the bottom I swapped out water bottles, grabbed some endurolytes (wish I had my Scaps or Salt Licks, but in a pinch endurolytes will work), ate some more cookies and we were off. Up the hill, and frankly, going up was a nice change of pace from the previous long decent. Coleen and I started to break apart from Deb, Debbie and Julie. We decided it was time for everyone to just kinda get in their groove and go. Coleen and I hammered up the hills with some strong walking. Reminded me of walking with Coleen through the hills at Leadville. She’s always good company to have out in the middle of no where.

Approaching the final aid station I decided to let Roxy off the hook, and she’d ride the rest of the way in the truck. Good thing too cause the poor thing needed help getting in and out of the truck after the race was over! I switched water bottles again, ate some cookies (well tried, I was tired of cookies at this point and ready to be done). Coleen and I surged out of this aid station passing a couple we were tailing for a short while. Eventually we caught up to a local AR runner who was telling us about the bears, Coleen has also loaned him a water bottle, cause he’d left his at the top of Whiterock, and he’d run all the way down with out water. I told Coleen I was gonna chase this guy down, and try to hammer it to the finish. She told me to go! I was off. I made it about a mile, before I started having some pains in my lower back. My first thought was kidneys, and was thinking I’ve not taken nearly enough salt. So I took 2 endurolytes drank some water, arched my back a bit…turned around and there was Coleen, she’d turned on her music and was in zone! I turned back down hill and started running. My feet were starting to hurt, my knees were a little sore, tired of running downhill. I had to focus on being light, being smooth. The harder I ran the more it hurt. I found myself entering a trance of sort. Where each leg just kinda lightly danced on the ground. I could see the cars, I was almost done.

Whiterock was a great race, great people, my kinda place. I can tell that there are going to be some Trailhawk journeys to Arkansas to run in the Ozarks. The trails are hilly…not CO hilly, but long 2-3 mile climbs that don’t take your wind away. Perfect for training the muscles to go up and down and up and down!

Next up, in two weeks, Sylamore 50k.