Quick pre-race post.  Busy week at work going into this race, so not much time to devote to writing.

Castle Peak 100k is this Saturday, 18 Aug.  I ran it last year, so this’ll be my second go at it.   When I was deciding what races to do this year, Castle Peak was an easy pick.  Two reasons:  1) great course and event, 2) try to improve from last year.   Even though the year will culminate in late Sept with the Bear 100 miler, this race is really meaningful to me, and I’ve been looking forward to it since last Dec.

The course is tough.  I don’t have a lot of 100k’s under my belt to reference, but I’m pretty sure this is towards the harder end of the spectrum of 100k courses.   It claims 15,000 feet of gain, which is significant….average of about 240 feet per mile.  It’s slightly changed this year from last, but looking at the maps about 80% of it is unchanged from last year.  The new changes add more climbing, and remove the long ~8mile downhill fire-road finish from last year.   Course profile:

Castle Peak elevation profile.  Aid stations indicated by red dots (crew-access stations w/ red circles)

This will be only my second “repeat” race.  The other one is the Promise Land 50k, which I ran in 2016 and 2017.  Just based on my experience repeating that one race,  it is evident that the advantages of racing a known course are significant.  And not just course knowledge, but actual race-specific course knowledge.  By that I mean: it’s one thing to know the course (trails, elevation profile, aid stations, etc), but another thing to know how the course effects you at a race-level effort.  I have some good lessons learned from last year’s Castle Peak that I can try to apply this weekend.

I don’t have quite the detailed plan that I had for Lake Sonoma back in April (see Lake Sonoma pre-race post), but I do have some thoughts and a strategy.  These are:

1. Goal:  The primary goal is to beat my time from last year: 14:44:24.   I am confident that this is very doable if I race smart.  Last year I think I was in overall better shape going into the event, but I blew myself up about two-thirds of the way through the race, and left a lot of time on the table.   By not making some simple mistakes, I should be able to better last year’s time.   The secondary goal, which I will adjust to mid-race if things are going well, is to break 14 hours.    Achievable, but I need to see how some of the variables play out in the first half before I shift focus to sub-14.
2. Strategy:    If you look at the profile above, miles 37 – 50 have an overall downhill profile.   I was a wreck going through this section last year, and by the time I got to the Norden Aid station (last year it was at mile 43, this year it’s at 50), I was toast.  I spent 15 minutes at the aid station trying to pull myself together, then had to literally walk (I won’t even say hike) the next seven miles or so until I was able to rebound.  It was not bueno.   My strategy this year is straightforward:  pace myself early to enable a downhill surge in this mile 37-50 section.    In order to do this, I’ll have to be very measured and in tune with my body as I go through the previous section (miles 25-37), which I consider the crux section of the race.  This crux section is long, uphill, exposed to the sun, and much of it is above 8000ft.  Last year I got suckered into pushing too hard in this section, and it took a significant toll in the last 25 miles of the race.  If I can be measured and smart in this crux section, I think I can come out of it ready to push the 13 miles into Norden, make up significant time, and hopefully have some juice left to press the last 12 miles of the race.  Tentative and conservative mark on the wall to reach mile 50 is 11 hours.
3. Body/fitness:   Ten weeks ago I thought my race season was over.  My hip was not doing well in late May and early June, and I didn’t see myself being able to train or race again this year.  Then it bounced back (see Uncertainty, Patience, Optimism post), and I’ve been able to maintain a modified training regimen (4 days running, 2 days biking per week) since early July.  Fitness-wise I feel confident for this type of course.  Speed work has taken a back seat in order to preserve the hip, so I’m not going to crush any 10k’s any time soon, but that’s fine.  I’ve been able to get intensity and interval work on the bike.   I haven’t logged the ideal volume of running miles, but training hours per week has stayed comparable with a 60-70 running miles/week regimen.  I have emphasized vert in all my running, and my climbing and descending legs feel strong.   The hip still has good and bad days, but overall it’s doing well coming out of the taper.   Through all of this I’ve learned how to delineate and deal with different types of hip discomfort, and to treat it pretty objectively.   The bottom line is that, in addition to normal ultra-running discomfort, I will deal with hip pain on Saturday.  It will just be another variable, another problem to solve.  I am mentally prepared to deal with it.
4. Gear:  Only two things to report here.  First:  this will be my first race using poles.  I have been training with them, and I think they will be advantageous on this course.  Second:  I’m going bladder-only for water.   Never done this before, and it may be a pain to refill at aid stations, but I don’t want the water-bottles bouncing around up front, and I want to be hands free.  The bladder is 70 oz, so I shouldn’t run dry during the race.  Since it will be full of water, I will need to stay ahead of electrolytes by taking in salt tabs throughout the day.   I’ll take gels and calories early and often, but in small doses.
5. Post-race:  After this weekend I’ll take some down days then refocus on my 100 miler in late September.  Hopefully my hip rebounds quicker than Sonoma, and I think it will, because Castle Peak isn’t as fast.   But for now I’m focused on this weekend: executing my strategy and enjoying the race.

That’s it for the pre-race.   I’m really excited for this one….hopefully there’ll be some pictures and some good stories to share in the post-race post.   I can guarantee that there’ll be some suffering and some good takeaways.   Check back next week for the recap!