A Race Report from the 5 Peaks Golden Ears Trail Running Race
The following excerpt is taken from the blog of James Wanless – http://james.wanless.info/, who reports from last weekend’s 5 Peaks Golden Ears trail running race:
— I’m not sure I should be calling these races right now, as that would suggest the normal cycle of preparation for such an event was followed. You know, tempos, track intervals, hill repeats, longer runs with race pace legs – in short, training. Unfortunately, since my diagnosis of a suspected – and more recently confirmed – meniscus tear, my ‘training’ has consisted of trying to find the right amount of running distance, frequency and intensity that doesn’t make my knee too tight afterward. This, coupled with a plethora of core, balance and knee strengthening exercise, is what passes for training for me.
Prior to the diagnosis, while I simply had a tight knee, I had plans for this to be a season of reasonably hard training with several target races, and some specific road race time goals. Now, I’m viewing the races I did register for as simply hard runs to gauge my fitness and to keep me a bit focused. Five such events are the 5 Peaks BC trail races and today was the first one of the season, in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
I ran most of the course last weekend for familiarity, so I knew there was a pretty gnarly 1000 ft gain in one 1/4 mile stretch (aptly named Incline Trail), so I knew some of it would inevitably end up being hiked. While I have done some trail running in the past, it’s never been a big part of my running so, when coupled with the knee issues, I felt there was no point having much of a race goal. I decided I’d just make sure I was hitting Incline Trail as solidly as I could and would have a nice day on the trails…