Time Trial

Beth and I went hiking this weekend, up in Winter Park. It was a "getaway" weekend for both of us, and it totally rejuvenated us. Denver is a great place to live, but Winter Park is a fantastic place to escape to.

We hiked the Jim Creek Trail, which heads up from the Winter Park Ski Area, but on the other side of the road. It was a really fantastic hike, I will try and post pictures of it later this evening. The gradient is moderate, not too steep, but not too flat; the terrain is not very technical; and the views of the nearby mountains and Buck Creek are inspiring. We hit the perfect temperature too, since we were up in the high country, it was in the 60's as opposed to the 90's. (Which seems to be what you hike in down here on the Front Range trails) Beth, Otis and I didn't make it to the waterfalls at the end, I'm guessing we got about ¾ of the way, but it was still an awesome way to spend a couple hours.

Hiking along, I was reminded of a famous work-out I had heard about when I lived back in New Hampshire. The Moosilauke Time Trial was a race that was put on by the Dartmouth Ski Team every fall. Anyone could compete, not just Dartmouth skiers, because it is a great test of your pre-season fitness. Master athletes, high school athletes, skiers from other colleges, alums, old-timers, everyone in the skiing community tried to attend at least once. Some years it was a big race, other years it was pretty small. (It depended on the weather, who wants to run up a mountain pouring rain at the bottom, and a blizzard at the top?)

On a chilly fall morning, the racers would all meet at the trailhead at the Ravine House and the coaches write up a start list. One racer every 30 seconds or maybe every minute, and then the two coaches start their watches at the same time. The trail, I believe, was about 3 miles long, and gained quite a bit of elevation. One coach would then head up the trail, as fast as they could go, with some extra jackets and some food. Since this was a race up one of the famous 4,000 ft. peaks of NH, that coach would get about a 30 minute head-start before the first racer on the start list would take off. The coach at the bottom would send the racers off according to their times on the start list. Hopefully the coach would beat that first runner up the mountain, and as each runner crossed, note their final overall time. Eventually, all of the runners would leave from the trailhead, and make it to the top, and when the summit coach had his start list totally filled out, everyone would head back down the trail. Some simple subtraction, and the results list would be posted on the trail marker. A true time trial, no tactics, no strategy, no help from others, just all out climbing. It was a redline workout, where the athlete had to be careful not to “overheat the engine”. Sounds fun, doesn't it? :)

The key to this race was, every year, they raced the same trail, using the same time trial style. This allowed athletes to come back year after year to see what kind of shape they were in. This information was extremely important, for summer training workouts, fall race schedules, or injury rehabilitation philosophies, plus it was a HUGE team builder. So, in addition to being a whole lot of fun, it was tactically useful in many ways as well

This is exactly what I would like to somehow start with the CHS runners. But, there are lots of hurdles to overcome. When would we do it? What time of year? Who would come? How could we get to the race? What would be an appropriate trail to run on? Would we drive up that day, or drive up the night before? Well, this weekend, I think I found the trail. Perfect length, easily accessible, not too technical, it would be great to hold a time trial on. Beth even agreed! (I didn't ask Otis, he was having too much fun splashing in the creek.) Now, I just gotta get to work figuring out the other logistics. Stay tuned!