The North American escapades are coming to an end and now I head to Europe to start my summer season of mountain racing in Schweiz-Suisse-Svizzera-SWITZERLAND. Excited for this after coming off a great US season so far. I came back from injury to perform well at Nationals and make the USA World Mountain Running Team and that set the stage and motivated me for the next big Championship, the North American and Central American Mountain Running Championships this past weekend at Cypress Mountain in British Columbia. I would be attempting to win my 4th consecutive title at this Championship, which in 2011 when I won, set the record for most NACAC victories and also most consecutive Championship wins.
The course was ridiculous. When you look at the course profile it resembles that of a child drawing a horizontal "S". We went from running around 20% grades to over 40% instantly and the heart rate sky rocketed likewise. There was a huge portion of rock climbing near the initial summit where most of us covered about 500-700 meters in nearly 20 minutes! One section of the rock slide-out required athletes to literally go Cliffhanger and pull themselves over a giant rock to traverse the next portion of the course. Being 6'2" I felt I had an advantage here and I was able to lift myself right over, but wasting a ton of effort. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for some of the women who were less than 5 feet tall!
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| Photo by Nancy Hobbs |
The race went out very aggressively as Jared S. of the USA team led the field through the first k and at that point the Top Canadian and I started to push the pace and distance ourselves from the field. I looked back a few times checking the crowd for whom I felt would be one of the toughest competitors in the field besides James G. of the Canadian team. This man Rob K. also of Canada living in the USA had PR's very similar to mine in flatter courses so I figured once we started to get on flatter terrain the race could really heat up. Mexico did not attend the Championships this year so that made identifying possible threats a bit easier as in Mexico there are a million races and many at high altitude so its difficult to determine how fit their athletes are. I have been shocked by a few top Mexican athletes in past years where they really pressed the pace and aren't afraid to run aggressively. I came into the race feeling a bit down, like a cold or something. Head felt really hazy and my breathing had been off the last 4 runs.
I had very little energy the day before and I was really starting to think I'd suffer my first loss at a NACAC Championship since I'd be facing such a stellar field while feeling less than decent. I convinced myself that it would be ok if I lost as I still would have the record for most wins and most consecutive wins. It was hard to tell myself that and very difficult to digest such a thought. I think being honest with yourself has its benefits, but also it can be detrimental if you are someone who really allows their thoughts to control their performance. I can usually brush off negative thoughts, but honestly I felt like crap and I was at a loss of motivating thoughts beyond the fear of losing when sick.
I thought about how disappointing it is to represent your country and not take care of business by not performing well. Even though you are sick, its not always a great excuse in my eyes to run poorly. I didn't want to be a victim of my own preaching. That was my motivation. When we neared 3k I really started to hurt and James G. or Canada really pressed the pace on the technical ascent. I continued to look back to see if I was gonna be passed. Eventually my body started to wake up. The weather was already a bit muddy and raining. The snow had recently melted around the peak of the course so that made for a sloppy last 5k. I had some slips, but no falls as the Scott Race Rocker performed well in the mud. The rain got annoying as it was hard to focus forward so needless to say I ran over a few bushes and took out a few branches along the way.
Before the race I started to play around with my new Mio Active watch. This watch is very similar to my Mio Vital Petite. Great watch for skinny runners as the watch is petite and light.The Mio Active definitely helped me over the course of the latter stages of the ascent. After a missed turn when I finally started to pull away a little past the half way point of the course I lost the lead and had to hustle back. This caused me to push a little too hard. The Mio Active features sensors on the sides of the watch where you can get your heart rate reading without a chest strap by pressing your fingers on the sides. No chest strap+small watch= light and efficient. I was able to check my heart rate and found that it was getting way too high and I was going anaerobic early. I slowed a bit to recover and ran around 170 HR, which is still pretty tough on a 35% technical gradient.
The Mio Active also features accelerometer technology offering accurate distance, speed, and steps. I knew the course was around 11k and I wanted to really run the last 4k stronger than the first 4k. The last few runs before the race I found the Mio Active accelerometer to be quite accurate. I took it to a track and ran 4 laps using the accelerometer on the Mio Active and it was only about 12 meters or so off! Impressive for non GPS technology. I trusted the distance calculation on the watch and really made a strong move once I hit around the 4 mile mark. I was able to run strategically. In the end, this lead to my 4th NACAC Championship Title! 
There were no mile markers so I found having the Mio Active gave me a huge advantage as I felt a few of the top athletes may have underestimated how much racing was actually left, whereas I knew almost exactly what I had left. One last look back to check my lead out and from there it was smooth sailing down the final steep technical section of the course on the Baden-Powell trail straight down the side of Black Mountain to the Cypress ski bowl. In the end many runners that used GPS technology found the course to be either slightly under 10k or slightly over. Mio Active clocked 6.22.
Another great watch creation by Mio with the Mio Active. One that will be great for athletes who need a light watch and also would like to avoid a chest strap in a high tempo events. This will definitely be the watch I use as I head to compete in Switzerland over the next 3 weeks!
Here is the link to the USA Track and Field Website on the race:
http://www.usatf.org/News/Gray,-Erholtz-win-NACAC-Mountain-Running-Champions.aspxWorld Mountain Running Association report:
http://www.wmra.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=755&Itemid=2
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