XTERRA Topanga Turkey Trot 15K Race

The second race of the 2010 series was much tougher, but I was able to reach my goal time. I came in 2nd for my age group.

Weight: 135 lbs
Time: 1:10:25.17

Preparations for the race went very well. I was adequately rested and had a good pre-race dinner of mashed potatoes. The day was not particularly cold at home, but once I got to the race site it was around 35F. I ended up just wearing my gloves during the run to keep warm.

The race went very well, but was tougher than anticipated. I cut my time by about four minutes from last year, coming in at 1:10:25 for the 15 km. On a level road that time would suck, but this course is pretty gnarly. They like to tell people that the first two miles is straight up, which doesn't feel too far from the truth. By the time we reached the end of the first major climb we've gone a bit over two miles and climbed at least 800'. While this section is on a wide fire road, the next 3.5 miles is on nasty single track.

This middle segment should be a chance to improve your time by building up some downhill speed, but it's just too fucked up for that.  The first mile and a half is just a long series of switchbacks that keep you from building up much speed.  Also, the ground is very loose and crumbly.  In fact, I twice had my footing completely drop from under me as I reached for branches to steady me.  As for the branches, they were EVERYWHERE!  Unless you're 4'3", you had to duck almost constantly through this section.  Needless to say, compressing my lungs by ducking didn't help my ability to run quickly.  Also, ducking didn't always help since I ended up with a bloody scrape along my right temple (which was better than the > 6' runner I saw later with a huge gash going from the center of his forehead all the way over the top of his head.)  Before I forget, I should probably mention the fallen trees (granted, only a few inches in diameter) randomly strewn across the trail.  This is all in addition to the usual assortment of large rocks, dry creek beds, etc. that I've come to expect from the sadists at XTerra.

At around the 5.5 mile mark we finally got out of the brush and onto another fire road.  The fact that it was all uphill didn't make it any less enjoyable since it meant we could at least stop ducking and jumping.  We had another 800' of climbing, but it went quickly since more than half the race was done.  Once we got to the second peak things got even easier.

Last year I did very well on the first climb, but sucked during both downhill segments.  The single track really threw me last year, but I still did well since I got ahead of all but a dozen or so runners before getting to it.  That year, more people passed me in the final three miles because of how slowly I went down hills.  The past several months I've been working on my downhill form, and can easily go faster than a 6:00/mi pace (10 MPH) often sticking to a 5:35/mi pace when I know I don't have to worry about holding back at the end of a race.  This is what I did this year, flying through the last third of the race and coming in around 10th overall and 2nd for my age group.