Recovering from hard runs/races is always tricky when in the midst of training. Coming off a tough race that is NOT the goal race (like Ski to Sea for me, probably the furthest thing from a “goal race” on my calendar yet simultaneously one of the most demanding physically…and psychologically), you want to resume a normal schedule somewhat quickly after crossing the finish line, but you also have to be conscious of giving your legs enough time to recover. It’d be ideal if I could take Ski to Sea as nothing more than a hard 8 mile insane speed workout and, Monday or Tuesday, just keep the training ball rolling en route to the Sun Mtn 50k (June 20) and White River (July 31). But all that would do is render me motionless on the bed, legs elevated, cursing the fact that no race I’ve come across, including Sun Mtn or White River, give refunds in the occurrence of injury.

A week after a race like a marathon, or something ridiculous like Ski to Sea, the soreness tends to be gone and you sorta feel your age again. You feel able to ratchet the training back up to normal levels, which begins the tricky part. Because though you *feel* able, you probably still aren’t. Unless you’re Michael Wardian or something.

A couple days ago I headed up to Cougar Mtn for the 7.5 mile race (more like 7.75), #2 in the 4 race series, in all honesty just thankful to be back in the “win or lose, at least only it only affects ME” mode of thinking I’d taken for granted up to Ski to Sea. It was a very refreshing feeling, a tiny amount of euphoria washing over me anytime I remembered to remind myself of that. Though it had been nearly two weeks since that sprint down the mountain, I’ve learned the hard way in years past (Hood to Coast the weekend before the SJ&J half marathon a couple years back being a nice recent example), to not expect to feel fresh. During the warmup w/Dutch, not only did I not feel fresh, I had a very tight feeling in my left calf, like it was wanting to cramp but holding off out of learned politeness. I already figured I would not be painting a Monet out there on the course this day, but now I was hoping I could simply race without injuring myself. Though I did not feel cocksure, on the starting line I tried to maintain excellent posture, on the event someone may have been looking at me, trying to determine if, umm…I was in fact cocksure. Oh you better believe it, JACK!

The race started, its now-typical loop around the grassy field causing the obligatory separation before the single track began. A minute or two later I climbed into the single track, surprisingly in first place and noticing how odd and uncomfortable that felt. So uncomfortable, I didn’t mind at all when Michael Smith (3rd at the last race, one spot in front of me), took the lead soon thereafter. Immediately I felt better, chasing him, though he didn’t remain in my sight line for very long. A high school cross country coach, he employed the tactic all cross country coaches teach their kids…when you pass someone, PASS THEM. Don’t give me the option of going with you. Michael did this. He went past me hard, got about 50 yards in front of me, then backed off. On the back and forth switchbacks of Cougar Mtn, 50 yards is plenty, as I could only occasionally see him and soon found myself more worried about myself than him.

About 50 minutes later I crossed the finish line in 2nd place, final time being 57:56. Michael’s lead steadily grew to a final difference of 1:53, and 3rd place finished about the same distance behind me, so in essence I was, once again, completely alone for 97% of the race.

The course was probably the muddiest I’ve seen it outside of random Cougar runs in the pouring rain, though the actual weather at the moment was bordering on hot (damn near 70 degrees). I was fortunate I decided to go ahead and wear the new shoes I’d just gotten on Thursday and “broken in” with an easy 5ish miles the evening before. One two occasions I very nearly slipped while steepling a log, and may have eaten mud or worse had I been wearing anything with less than the large amount of tread my new shoes had. This, the isolation, and the “I’m not cramping but I want you to know I’m not happy about doing this race” calf are probably what amounted to what was an almost 4-minute drop in performance over last year’s race, where I was pretty fresh, I ran the 2nd half with the Swede, and on nice hard-packed trails.

Minutes after finishing I could feel my calf definitely cramping up so I tried to do a sort of cooldown which only delayed the inevitable, that being my limping around the rest of the day. Sunday I just biked for ~90 minutes and watched a bunch of meatheads play baseball near my house in between sets of icing and massage, and Monday evening I was able to do an easy 45 without any issue. Tonight I did an effortless 8.8 at 7:00 pace.

Only a steady diet of icing and massaging will allow me to keep the training ball rolling as Sun Mountain arrives in a mere 5 days.

Issaquah Press story on the race

(Moments before I iced a couple of my bros, the Cougar Mtn mascot)