Cougar Mountain 5 Mile Race Recap

The 2014 Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series has started! I absolutely love these races and appreciate the opportunity to balance out my road racing and get out on the trails. My boss at work originally introduced me to this series back in 2012 and it has turned into a definite favorite of mine that I look forward to each year.

The series is jointly hosted by the Seattle Running Club and Northwest Trail Runs and takes place on the second Saturday of every month between May and August. Each month offers a number of distances runners can choose from.

May: 5 Mile or 10 Mile
June: 8 Mile, 14 Mile, or 5k
July: 10 Mile, 20 Mile, or 5k
August: 14 Mile, 26 Mile, or 5k

To start off this series, I chose the 5 Mile distance with the hope of improving on my time from last two years. A little history recap of my previous two Cougar Mountain 5 Mile performances:

2012: 41:02 (42nd Overall)
2013: 38:45.2 (10th Overall)
2014: You will have to read on to find out.

The race was set to start at 9:00 a.m. so I arrived a little before 8:00 a.m. I grabbed my racing bib and timing chip and set out along a gravel road called "Clay Pit Road" adjacent to the starting area and began to warm up. At first I felt miserable but after about 20 minutes I started feeling pretty good. By the time I started in on some strides I felt ready to fly. I headed to the starting line with about five minutes remaining and met up with my boss and another coworker who were also running the race. I asked my boss about the trail conditions as he runs the Cougar Mountain trails frequently. It had been raining pretty heavily the days leading up to the race and he confirmed that the trails were super muddy. I set my watch and recited a mantra I learned from Erin of Jasyoga: (Breathe in: I am, breathe out: Here now).

5 mile and 10 mile course routes.

As you can see from the above map, the race started with a 400 meter sprint around a grass field. Well, that morning it was no longer a grass field but rather a marsh swamp ground. My feet were sinking about 6 inches and I hadn't even reached the first corner before my feet were soaked and I had added what felt like a pound of water weight to my feet. So, for the next mile or so I was kept company by the consistent rhythmic companion: slosh-y slosh-y slosh-y slosh-y. I did not let this slow me down. Both the stretch of Clay Pit Road and the last mile and a half were wide and dry, so I planned on making the most of those sections. My road racing and track workouts kicked into gear and my body responded easily as I picked up the pace and flew past a large number of runners who I didn't attempt to pass in the field. I flew through the first mile in a pace of 6:50, knowing that the first and most significant climb of the course (Lost Beagle Trail) would be coming up in another half mile. 

Starting off the race with a 400 meter run around a marsh!

Lost Beagle. The climb. The pain. The badonk. I definitely was reminded how much hills require the badonk. I was also reminded how weak and lacking mine was by the 8:35 second mile split. Mental note: add more hill workouts to weekly routine... check! As bad as that sounds, it was far worse for most of those around me and  track workouts has started to help teach my body to recover faster and transition between gears more smoothly. I was able to push the pace immediately after cresting Lost Beagle Trail, transitioning from a 10:00 pace to a 6:46 pace in a matter of seconds. At this point, there were two distinct front waves. I had kept track of four runners in the lead group who had pulled ahead of us and I was left with a pack of about 8 runners.

The section between the 2.5 and 3.5 mile mark was definitely the most frustrating part of the race for me. I felt like I was in an aerobic running state. My breathing wasn't labored even at the 6:46 pace I was holding, and my legs felt light. The problem was the trails. As promised, every couple meters there would be a mud pit which promised to provide a one-way ticket onto my ass. This wasn't exactly a problem on the flat and straight sections, but proved to be a nightmare when combined with a switchback turn or a steep downhill gradient. I will be the first to admit that trail racing is completely different game from racing on the streets and that I just don't have the trail running experience to handle the turns and downhills in those conditions. This held me back to the point where about four runners pushed past me. When I crested the second and final uphill climb on Mine Shaft Trail, I once transitioned into 6:05 pace and passed a runner who had overtaken me in the previous mile. As I said, I knew the last mile and a half was more or less flat and dry and oh did I stick to my strategy and take advantage of that. I sped up to a freaking 5:55 pace and flew past yet another runner. I passed a small fence which told me I had about 800 meters to go and my mind went into my track workout state. Just another 800 meter repeat. I cleared the last 800 meters in 2:35 and flew past the last two runners who had passed me earlier in the third mile. My final mile split came out at 5:50 which clocked me in at an official time of 37:10 which put me 5th overall!

I bet the camera guy's boss told him to take a picture of the runner with the most painful expression. Job accomplished sir.

Race Results: http://www.seattlerunningclub.org/Events/Cougar/cougar5-10mi14.html

Post Race lessons and updates:

1. Work on the badonk.

2. Track workouts are freaking amazing. Adding track workouts to my weekly routine has proven invaluable. Seriously. With all the speeding up and slowing down throughout the race, it actually felt like a 37 minute track workout session of repeats. With hills though...

3. I have been steadily increasing my mileage with my sights set on the Seattle Half Marathon in the fall. For the past month I have been increasing my mileage with quality miles in long runs and speed work/tempo sessions with the Green Lake Track Club. As a result, I have had to skip a number of 5k races that were on my calendar to allow my body to safely adjust to the increased intensity. As of writing this, the next race I plan to run is the Fremont 5k on June 6th.