Yankee Springs "race" report

This Friday Tarryn, Dylan, and I went to Yankee Springs for the race weekend. There were races all three days. Because of just getting over my IT injury about five or six weeks ago I originally signed up for the marathon . I switched to the Double Marathon about two weeks ago thinking it would be better training for the Burning River 100. Friday night I volunteered to help with the 10k race. Another added bonus was the opportunity to meet and chat with Montrail stud Max King. Tarryn and Dylan left just before the 10k start and I was staying the night in a cabin because of the 6 am Double Marathon start time and they would come in the morning. I didn't get done helping out until around 10 pm then headed to the cabin to get ready for bed( about 11:30pm), 4:40 am came pretty early but I felt ready to run. Part of the reason I chose to run the Double was an article I ready on Irunfar.com about using "B" races as practice runs working your way to your "A" race. Bryon Powell signed up for a 100 mile and just planned on dropping at 50, great way to have a fun long training run. I've never done this in the past because if I'm in a race I want to race. So I went into this with the mindset that this was only a training run and to not destroy my legs. The next month or so is the peak of training for the 100 mile, so I couldn't afford to be laid up for a week because I pushed too hard. There were only about 23 of us signed up for the Double so no big crowd to force me into the race mindset. The course was four 13.1 mile loops of technical single track and rolling hills but no major ones. In the first loop I started with another runner for the first two miles, then I was alone. I rolled through the first lap not feeling very smooth but no issues. I came through in 1:45 for the 13.5 mile loop(GPS). I felt smoother the second lap and other than day dreaming past a turn adding about 4-5 mins and stepping over a turtle laying eggs on the trail it was uneventful. Coming into this race I was doing a lot of shorter, hard back to back runs. 12-16 mile tempo runs Sunday night and 19-26 mile trail runs Monday morning. So the longest single run I had was a 26 mile run in 3:27. Starting off on the third lap I still felt alright but I could tell that the lack of "time on my feet" in long runs would be an issue. I slowed the pace down quite a bit and just enjoyed an easy lap. About half way through the lap I was starting to realize that if I run the full Double(55 miles for me) I'd be out there for 8 hours and do what I said I wasn't going to, destroy my legs. So even though it felt tough to do I decided to call it after three laps. I ran 41 miles in 5:53 an 8:33 per mile pace with 2800ft of elevation gain and equal loss, it was a great workout. It was 15 miles farther and 2 hr 26 mins longer than my longest run since my injury. I accomplished what I wanted out of the "race" with a solid training run and a good time. Staying injury free and working my way back up to 100 mile weeks is the goal. I believe it was a wise decision and I stand by it. I don't feel beat up and I'll probably run tomorrow which is what I wanted moving forward in training for Burning River. I tested a new piece of gear on this run also. I wore the UltrAspire Quantum race belt with my gel flasks and electrolyte pills and it felt great. I'm happy and excited to bump up the mileage and get in great shape for Burning River!