Quad Dipsea (28.4 Miles) 04:15:00, Place overall: 2, Place in age division: 2
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Crosstraining miles
Total Miles
0.00
28.40
0.00
0.00
0.00
28.40
This course is a quad killer. I would equate it to 1.5 times the Wahsatch Steeplechase. 28.4
miles and 9,200 ft. of elevation gain and you get to go up and down a section with 676
stairs twice. Basically you run the Dipsea Race (oldest trail
race in the US)
four times. I have run the Double Dipsea twice but that doesn't come close to
the Quad.
I ended up finishing 2nd
overall but the gap between me and the winner was huge. The winner named,
Erik Skaggs, finished in a record time of 3:52. Erik and his brother are
incredible ultra runners so I guess I shouldn’t complain. The winner’s
brother, Kyle Skaggs, has the best time for the Hardrock 100 (33,000 elevation
gain) which is considered the hardest 100 miler in the US.
He broke the previous record held by Scott Jurek by 3 HOURS! Here
is a funny video of the two brothers competing to see how far each can go at a
15% grade on a treadmill. Sounds like fun, huh?
As for the race, I felt pretty
good until the last quarter when I had to return from StinsonBeach.
My quads were screaming on even the smallest incline. At that point I was
in survival mode and I just made sure to keep moving. I definitely could
have been better prepared considering that my longest training run was only
2:40 and the race lasted 4:15. I knew this going in so the results were
pretty much what I had expected.
Besides the running part, it
was a perfect day to run and the views were incredible.
View up one of the staircases. Don't trip on the way down!
