Looking back - August 2013

August 2013 (10 years ago): I was preparing for the master’s world mountain running championships and trying to figure out how I’d do it will a strained hamstring.  I tested it out in Northwood NH at the season finale of the Harmony Hill XC race. The 3.6 mile course had 250’ of climb/descent and some of the footing was a bit rough.  Sometimes CMS teammate Tim Cox was on hand and warned me about a few of the younger runners who were going to take it out hard.  I lost some ground on the long downhill but reeled in the leaders after we looped the lake and started the uphill to the finish.  I got into the lead with ½ mile to go but couldn’t hold him off.  We both dipped under the old course record.

 

1          22:36   M17     Lucas Fisher    Strafford/NH                                     

2          22:40   M49     Dave Dunham Bradford/MA  CMS                                        

3          22:51   M24     Vincent Lyon   Antrim/NH                                                     

4          23:10   M40     Tim Cox           Northwood/NH          Acidotic                                  

5          23:49   M25     Nate Bassett   Northwood/NH                                                                                 

 

I headed to Switzerland the week before the championships with the idea of racing at a nearby mountain race and easing into the big race.  I got a cortisone shot in the hamstring right before I left with the plan of doing the two races then taking a month off to heal.  I was very tentative the morning of the Weissenstein 14.2km mountain race.  My plan was to go out conservatively and push on the steep climbs but not push it on the flats or downs. 

The first 5km only climbed 650'.  From 5k - 9k we'd climb 1,300' (or about 550' per mile) which was where I hoped to work the hardest.  By the time we hit 5k I was in 22nd place as the climbing really started.  I hit 9k in 45:18 with splits ranging from 5:06-6:20 per Kilometer.  I was dreading the stretch from 9-10k where we dropped 150' on forest roads, all the gains I'd made on the guys close in front of me slipped away.  By 11km I had moved up to 16th place but would start losing spots as we did some crazy downhill running (the last 1km dropped 400’). I probably lost a minute on that final descent and ended up 9th in the 40+ and third in the 45+.

 

Pl         Time    Name                          Age      Cat      City

1          1:03:38            Daniel Lustenberger   21                    Kriens

2          1:06:49            Fabian Kuert               30                    Langenthal

3          1:07:20            Michael Morand                     30                    Court

4          1:08:03            Nils Makos                  29                    Oberdorf

5          1:08:30            Kaspar Sollberger       40        M40     Bolligen

6          1:08:39            Martin Lanz                 40        M40     Zürich

7          1:08:44            Stefan Meinzer                       42        M40     Uster

8          1:09:26            Marius Füeg                26                    Mümliswil

9          1:09:42            Jacques Rérat             37                    Fontenais

10        1:10:02            Bernhard Eggenschwiler 28                Büsserach

11        1:10:40            Erwin Müller               47        M45     Oberkirch

12        1:11:08            André Nussbaumer    26                    Oensingen

13        1:11:41            Urs Jäggi                      42        M40     Subingen

14        1:12:06            Peter Deller                 42        M40     Zürich

15        1:12:51            Oliver Maeder            39        M40     Bettlach

16        1:13:20            Daniel Hagenbuch      42        M40     Niederrohrdorf

17        1:13:28            Gabriele Sartori                      48        M45     Zürich

18        1:13:32            Marco Reinmann        27                    Oberdorf

19        1:13:36            Jürg Schaller               34                    Solothurn

20        1:13:40            Nico Stohler                34                    Hölstein

21        1:13:44            Lukas Walter               35                    Langendorf

22        1:13:56            Dave Dunham             49        M45     Bradford

23        1:14:25            Jamie Cascio               40        M40     Zuchwil

24        1:14:32            Beat Dähler                 43        M40     Muhen

25        1:14:42            Sascha Kamber                       37                    Zofingen