Streak To Mission Peak: my first Open Course race!

Enough hibernating, between COVID and a 2-year injury stint, it's time to get back on my toes and rebuild! On one hand, I can't believe how much fitness I lost, both physically and mentally. On the other, it makes complete sense. Indeed, I praised myself for putting a lot of hard work in training and racing, back then. In other words, there is no free lunch, I couldn't even train because of this hamstring injury, even less so work hard. Well, on the running side, because on the first job, that has turned insanely taxing.

COVID has seen an abundance of virtual races and challenges. Imagine telling Usain Bolt, go to the nearby track, race 100 meters at 110%, time yourself, and let us know. No spectators, no competition, no adrenaline to aim at a gold medal in fair terms, no assurance the weather conditions match other performances (e.g. wind, temperature, humidity), that's just not the same! Sure, it allowed many to get out of the door and maintain so motivation. What the heck, I even succumbed to the game, I entered Paulo Medina's Single Track Running 100 miles to Auburn back in June, to celebrate Western States but, more importantly, in honor of a dear friend couple, both battling cancer (Bob died a few weeks later). And I completed that event twice (once over 4 days, and another one with a series of 10Ks or so).

Fast forward 9 months, I offered to the boys an entry into PCTR's Bay Area 9 Peaks Challenge. I have already enough trouble training for faster and longer flat miles but, in case Quicksilver 100K is confirmed, I'd better work on some up and downhill skills as well! Two key things decided me to enter this challenge:

1. Supporting one of our local race organization businesses which have contributed many key races to our USATF Pacific Association (PA) Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Grand Prix in the past;
2. Having a challenge to tackle as a family;
3. Get some specific goals to bring variety in my boring training and come back;
4. Discover places I'm ashamed for not having visited before; yes, that would include the top of Mount Tamalpais for a start, but also Mount Davidson, Slacker Hill (although I've been around many times, like Mt Tam), Montara Mountain, Mount Umunhum (double shame), Mount Vaca and Mount Saint Helena!

We started the 9 Peaks Challenge with Mission Peak, 2 weeks ago. Between all my runs of Ohlone 50K and my special connection and love for this race, and using the steep incline as a hill repeat course when I was in top shape, that felt like an easy way to start. Although I had never run up that mountain from that side, starting from the... Ohlone College. At least that solves the parking problem encountered when you start from Stanford Avenue (see the section Park entrance controversy in the Wikipedia article...).

Now, 3 of the 9 selected peaks have an Open Course associated to them. Since I'm more into running than hiking, I decided to also register for these and kill 6 birds with 3 stones. Having real races would help pushing the envelope and get in some much needed hill training after such a long break.

But, first, what is an Open Course? It's a race open for a few weeks on a very specific course which you can run when you want, but follow meticulously. Like a standard course but without any ribbon. Like a standard race but without seeing the competition. It's different from the popular Virtual Race format in which you basically run a certain distance but on a course you pick. To make sure you are not cheating, PCTR, trough its spinoff The Trail Portal.com, partnered with PWRLab. PWRLab, a startup providing online automated coaching based on your GPS recordings, claims some patented technology to recognize who is actually running from a GPS track. I'll elaborate on the experience in upcoming posts.

Back to Mission Peak, the start from Ohlone College is really steep for the first 1.5 miles. The course eases up a bit when you get through a nice grove.

Then you get back to a large fire road with switch backs which reminded me of our motorcycle ride through the highest passes of the French Alps 3 years ago.

The last few hundreds yards up to the summit of Mission Peak are always epic, not just because of the rocky terrain but all the hikers. Starting at 7:30 am wasn't early enough to beat the traffic on a Sunday!

I took a selfie at the summit pole, nicknamed Mission Peeker, then rushed for the descent, still paying extra attention to my footing on the first yards, a section I fell badly in the early part of Ohlone 50K 2016, the first time I missed the overall podium after 9 participations.

I was really happy to fly down the fire road and get the watch displaying a 5:45 min/mile pace at some point! Fast downhill is good training too, makes different muscles work hard.

Overall, 48 minutes for the climb, 24 minutes for the descent, this is too symmetrical, I'm sure youngsters can do much better on the 3.8-mile climb, I did walk way too much! As I said, I'm just back at hill training, and it showed in my awkward walking for the following two days... As I said above, I can't believe how much a lost and what I need to rebuild...

Here is the 3D flyover (click on this link or this screenshot):

Max had started 5 minutes before me and I missed him while he was enjoying the views from the summit. Agnès and Greg did hike to the top in a power walking mode.

One Open Course done, 2 more to go in the Bay Area Open Course Triple Crown series. And one Peak done, 8 more to go!