#dirty spokes

[mattmhaley]

First race for Wild Endurance this morning at the Dirty Spokes Frozen Foot 7 miler. I finished second after a decent effort. I got dropped by the eventual winner but worked my way through the short course field to put myself in second before the second lap. I definitely have a lot of work to do but it was a good to get back out on the trails and attempt to open it up.

[mattmhaley]

Check out the dates to the 2015 Dirty Spokes Trail Series

[mattmhaley]

Took the win in my final race of 2014 at the XTERRA Georgia Victoria Bryant 10k p/b Dirty Spokes. It was a fun race on a muddy course. That meant slow times on the hilly, sloppy course, but it was fun to get a little dirty. Now it's time for a week or two off to recharge for 2015. Big thanks to Strava and Dirty Spokes for their support this year.

[mattmhaley]

XTERRA Georgia Little Mulberry 10K p/b Dirty Spokes

It was a crisp 28 degrees for Saturday's XTERRA trail race at Little Mulberry Park and the pressure was put on early when I got bib #1. It was actually pretty awesome to get number 1, outside of a few track heats that were most likely random, I don't think I've ever been bib #1.

Fortunately, I was able to live up to number as I ran 37:23 for the win, in what has become one of my all-time favorite races. The course was a little different this year than in the past, but it was still just about half cross country and half trail race. 

Rapid Recap

The overall winner of the 5k took the race out really hard, so I hung back a little bit at the start and worked my way back onto his shoulder through the upper meadow XC trail. I caught him at the top of the XC climb and moved past him on the long downhill before rejoining the XC course in the west meadow. Knowing the course as well as I do, I knew I could push it through the XC course before we hit the trail.

By the time I made it to the trail I had about a 1:30 advantage over the chasers (Eddy Ortiz & Carlos). I tried to use the long downhill to build on that and then just focused on surviving the climbs. I did a good job of racing through the sections that were runnable even though I was probably running as little over my head given my recent training (and the fact I took a week off two weeks before this race). I started to feel the early pace in the last mile and once I came out of the woods and crested the final hill I just cruised to the finish.

The win was my second on this year's XTERRA series, so that sets me up nicely with points. I'm planning on racing the final race of 2014 at Victoria Bryant in a few weeks then taking a little more down time before building up for 2015.  

* Thanks to Nozomi Wade for the finishing photo. 

[mattmhaley]

XTERRA Georgia Little Mulberry 10K p/b Dirty Spokes

Race video - I make a couple quick cameos.

[mattmhaley]

Finished third in the XTERRA Georgia Battle at Big Creek 10 miler. It wasn't a great race but since I'm not in great shape I'm pretty happy that I made it back onto the podium. Thanks as always to Dirty Spokes for putting on another great event.

[mattmhaley]

XTERRA Georgia Ft Yargo State Park Video Race Recap

[mattmhaley]

Race Recap - XTERRA Georgia Harbins Park 10k

The 2014/15 XTERRA Georgia race series kicks off with the Harbins Park 10k in late September. I took the entire month of August and most of September off from racing, but tried to keep running maintenance miles (5-7 a day) so that I wouldn’t be in way over my head when jumping back into racing. In the past, I’ve had one early September 5k to gauge my fitness but this year I didn’t have that so I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into the first trail race of the season. I did however ride the Fool’s Gold 50 mountain bike race the week before, which took a lot out of my legs.

Fortunately for me, I am really familiar with the course. I’ve run this race before and I’ve run on a hiking trail at Harbins a bunch, so I was able to take advantage of that knowledge and key in on the decisive sections of the course. Harbins is an interesting course in that it starts with nearly ¾ of a mile that’s gradual downhill on the paved path before you hit the trail. Once you’re on the trail it continues downhill with a few short steep rollers until leveling out around the two mile mark. At three miles, you begin the only major climb of the race, a solid ½ mile hill. Once you hit the halfway point you descend the back side of the hill then start a deceptively uphill final three miles. When you hit the pavement again it’s a half mile gradual up to the finish. Last year, I was destroyed for the last half mile, my legs were toast from the overall uphill second half. This year, I was focused on not being in the same boat.

Pre-race I went for a mile and a half warm up then caught up with a few of the usual suspects. That’s one of the best part of Dirty Spokes races, the community is absolutely awesome. Everyone is there to run hard and have fun.

At the gun, I got out to the front and tried to settle into a good rhythm. Knowing the course profile, I wanted to make sure nobody went out super hard because it’s easy to run over your head early on. I moved to the front and settled in to try and control the early pace. Once we hit the trail, I’d stretched out a decent sized lead of 10 or 15 yards but with Jesse not being there I wanted to try and distance myself early on, so I put a small surge in as soon as we hit the dirt. Once the early race adrenaline wore off, I focused on trying to get myself in a comfortable rhythm. This was a little harder than I was hoping due to some of the early rolling hills but I settled in really well after hitting the two mile mark. I probably did most of my damage between two and three miles as this part of the trail is relatively level. I told myself to press where I could, survive the climb at three miles then recover on the downhill.

I’d built up a good size lead by the time I crested the climb so I was able to recover well on the downhill, I probably took it a little too easy but given my lack of race fitness and the way the race was unfolding I felt like as long as I pushed the second half I could hang on for the win. I did not feel great during this race. My legs still felt like they were feeling the effects of Fool’s Gold and on top of that my IT band and hip started to bother me about half way through. I started trying to get myself from landmark to landmark. ‘Get to the switchbacks by the big rock, okay now get to the big downed tree, now to the equestrian trail crossing, last dirt climb, and finally the  pavement.

I hit the multi-use path and tried to put in a surge but my legs had no plans of responding. I settled in behind Tim, who was leading me home on the bike. I glanced back and he told me I had about two minutes. That was a huge relief and in all honesty I shut it down at the point and just cruised into the finish. It was good to get the win, especially when I didn’t exactly feel prepared. It’s a nice 15 points in the series and a good start to attempt my title defense.

After I crossed the line I jogged an easy mile or so cool down the caught up with Matt McNamara, who rode Fool’s Gold with me the week before and did the Lake Lanier tri the day after this race. We chatted for a bit and talked to a few of the other regulars before Amanda and I said our goodbyes and headed out since I had to catch a plane to Minnesota for work. I won a nice little prize pack of Tifosi sunglasses and a ton of beef jerky. We hit up Dunks and then I made my way to the airport.

Overall, it was a good workout. It was good to get the win, but I think I need to reexamine the way I’m training right now. My plan is to take a few more days of rest this fall. My XTERRA races aren’t going to be as fast as they have been in the past, but I think the extra rest and backing off the mileage will pay off in the end. We will see how it goes. Next up is Ft. Yargo, nearly nine miles, so that’s going to be tough but a good workout. I also need to get into the gym and work on my flexibility and strength.