Last year's Whiteface race was a blast, and I've been looking forward to running it again all year. I was especially excited about the race because it offered a chance to see what a full year of heavy training has done for my fitness. Comparing workouts from year to year is a pretty good indicator, but nothing beats a race to really get an idea of how your running is improving, and this was my first race of 2013 that I also ran in 2012.
I expected a cold and windy day on the mountain, and was pleasantly surprised to wake up to temps of over 40 degrees, even at 5:30 AM. I met my friend Jeff Dengate in Wilmington and we warmed up for 2.5mi, and by the time we were done our warmup clothes were sweaty and it felt totally fine to jog to the start line in shorts and tee-shirt. Gloves would prove to be a good call, as it wasn't nearly as warm up high. I did some drills and strides, then Santa Claus (this year's race was sponsored by Santa's Village) gave us the signal and we were off.
Whiteface (or any uphill race) is all about getting your effort level dialed so that you can last until the end without blowing up. There are several ways to do this (by feel, pace, or heart rate, for example), and I chose to go by heart rate. The Whiteface road climbs at a very consistent grade, but there are still plenty of slight grade changes throughout the course that make running by overall goal pace a bad idea (unless you do a lot of work beforehand to figure out the grade for each mile and calculate mile paces based on that). I knew from last year's race the I can sustain a heart rate of about 176bpm for the length of the race, so I checked my watch throughout to make sure I was hovering right around that level.
The first mile is the easiest, and I settled into fourth place, running my own race while the top three quickly put a lot of distance on me. I wondered if any of them were going out too hard and would come back to me, but didn't even think about trying to stay with them. Getting into oxygen debt at any point during a race like this almost guarantees a poor finish. I could tell there was someone about 10 seconds behind me from the cheers at the aid stations and the beeping of a watch every mile and assumed it was Jeff, but never looked back to find out.
I expected a cold and windy day on the mountain, and was pleasantly surprised to wake up to temps of over 40 degrees, even at 5:30 AM. I met my friend Jeff Dengate in Wilmington and we warmed up for 2.5mi, and by the time we were done our warmup clothes were sweaty and it felt totally fine to jog to the start line in shorts and tee-shirt. Gloves would prove to be a good call, as it wasn't nearly as warm up high. I did some drills and strides, then Santa Claus (this year's race was sponsored by Santa's Village) gave us the signal and we were off.
Whiteface (or any uphill race) is all about getting your effort level dialed so that you can last until the end without blowing up. There are several ways to do this (by feel, pace, or heart rate, for example), and I chose to go by heart rate. The Whiteface road climbs at a very consistent grade, but there are still plenty of slight grade changes throughout the course that make running by overall goal pace a bad idea (unless you do a lot of work beforehand to figure out the grade for each mile and calculate mile paces based on that). I knew from last year's race the I can sustain a heart rate of about 176bpm for the length of the race, so I checked my watch throughout to make sure I was hovering right around that level.
The first mile is the easiest, and I settled into fourth place, running my own race while the top three quickly put a lot of distance on me. I wondered if any of them were going out too hard and would come back to me, but didn't even think about trying to stay with them. Getting into oxygen debt at any point during a race like this almost guarantees a poor finish. I could tell there was someone about 10 seconds behind me from the cheers at the aid stations and the beeping of a watch every mile and assumed it was Jeff, but never looked back to find out.
Last year we had tough headwinds for a couple miles before the Lake Placid turn and especially from the Wilmington turn to the finish. They were there this year too, but definitely not as bad. The only section with a tailwind is about half-mile long, where it also flattens out some after the Lake Placid turn. I kept my heart rate as steady as possible all the way, teetering on the fine line between sustainable effort and way too hard. It was cold higher up, but still perfect for running. I managed to keep running even through the tough section after the Wilmington turn where I walked a bit last year, and finished strong with a 1:08:47, over 4 minutes faster than last year (that doesn't sound like much but it's 30sec per mile faster--a big improvement). I came in fourth--the top three were way ahead--and Jeff held on for fifth and a slight PR after a tough race on almost no sleep.
We had been in the clouds for the last few miles of the race, but after finishing and getting our warm clothes on we hiked to the summit and popped out above the clouds, with some holes opening up every so often that allowed for views down to Wilmington and east toward Vermont. As the last runners finished it had really cleared up, and Jeff and I ran back down, getting warmer and warmer as we descended. By the time we were in Wilmington (having run almost 20 miles total) it was a beautiful fall day, pretty much the perfect running day all around in my mind.
We had been in the clouds for the last few miles of the race, but after finishing and getting our warm clothes on we hiked to the summit and popped out above the clouds, with some holes opening up every so often that allowed for views down to Wilmington and east toward Vermont. As the last runners finished it had really cleared up, and Jeff and I ran back down, getting warmer and warmer as we descended. By the time we were in Wilmington (having run almost 20 miles total) it was a beautiful fall day, pretty much the perfect running day all around in my mind.
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