Boulder Running Company/Adidas runner Adam Rich won the Take 5 in the Garden 5K in May. He tried something much different last week, the Lead King Loop 25K trail race in Marble.

Longtime road runner Adam Rich ventured into the Colorado high country for the Lead King Loop 25K, Sept. 17 in Marble. He soon realized he wasn't racing on the friendly streets of Colorado Springs.
"It is hard to comprehend going from a 5-minute mile pace to running a 9-minute pace uphill and dying the whole time," he said.
But Rich, a 30-year-old physical education teacher from Colorado Springs, showed some depth and grit to finish third (1:53:27) behind two of the top trail runners in the business, Inov-8/Colorado Running Company's race winner Alex Nichols (1:51:06) of Colorado Springs and Manitou's Pete Maksimow (1:51:14).
All three beat mountain-running icon Bernie Boettcher's Lead King Loop record of 1:55:42.
Rich's race was something special. He didn't train for steep climbs and technical descents. He has focused on shorter distances throughout his career. He is the two-time defending champ in the Boulder Race Series - which contains nothing longer than a 3K. He is always among the top runners in local 5K races, which he often wins.
A Division 2 All-America runner at Western State College, Rich has personal-best times of 4:21 in the mile, 14:34 5K road, and 30:38 10K road. All were recorded at altitude.
We caught up with the Boulder Running Company/adidas runner this week. Here is his take on a different racing experience.

You're known as a road runner, and suddenly you place third at the Lead King Loop 25K. How did you come to choose a trail race?

I had been running some of the USATF Colorado State Championship races and saw that this was part of the series. I had heard about the race before and thought it would be interesting to run. I will admit that my racing reputation is definitely as a road runner as I tend to enjoy road racing. I have rarely run any trail races before - two I believe - and they were very different then what I ran up in Marble. The 12K trail race in Bear Creek was my first “trail” race back in 2004, and I ran the Canya Canon race on a whim years ago. Both of these races are tame compared to the Lead King Loop 25K.

What was it like for a road guy to take on the gravel at altitude?
I will say that it is a totally different type of running then what I am used to. On the roads, I can go out and run the first mile in 4:30 to 4:50 and feel pretty good doing so, but in the trail race our first mile was 6:17 with the uphill starting about a half mile into the race. It is hard to comprehend going from a 5-minute mile pace to running a 9-minute mile pace uphill and dying the whole time. The road races we have here really have little elevation change and are 5K to 10K, not 25K in distance. When you train on the roads, there is little variation in altitude so a 3,100-foot climb is pretty brutal to a road runner. The surfaces of the Lead King loop were changing as the race went on and went from mud to hard packed dirt to stream crossings and finished off with tons of technical rocky sections with giant water puddles that were impossible to dodge!

Alex won and set a race record 1:51:06, Pete was second at 1:51:14, but you were close at 1:53:27. How did your race with them unfold?
I give credit to both Alex and Peter. They are truly some of the best trail and mountain runners in our state. This type of race was their bread and butter. I basically just tried to keep in contact as best as possible, but Alex took off early in the race and was out of sight until about four miles into the race. Peter stayed about 10-15 seconds ahead of me during the first five miles of climbing. When we hit the top it took about ten seconds for me to catch him and we ran a few of the crazy downhill miles together hitting 5:05 to 5:10 pace for about two-and-a-half to three miles. After that the downhill sections turned extremely rocky and I basically let Peter go as I do not run well with technical rocky sections of trail. I lost about one minute to Peter in less than a mile and did not see him for quite some time. At that point the trail basically stayed the same with tons of rocks, giant water puddles and some short, painful climbs. I focused on just keeping the same pace I was running and working towards going under the old course record of 1:55:42.

Was there a moment in the race when you realized things were going well for you?
I’m not sure if I ever had a moment when I thought “wow you are in the mix and are doing well”. I will say that I was a little surprised to stay somewhat close to Peter on the long, leg-taxing climb. We were both talking to each other on the downhill sections and he told me that he didn’t think I would be close to him with that type of opening climb. I was very worried about being caught by some of the other runners behind me as I knew Bernie Boettcher was a crazy fast downhill runner. Luckily for me, the race was pretty uneventful after Peter dropped me and I managed to not fall or be caught from behind. I think I that I really was focused on enjoying the race as the scenery was beautiful.

You mentioned that you really didn't train for this race. How would you change your training if you were to do more trails?
When I look back and analyze how I trained for this race I would give myself an F! I basically ran in Palmer Park twice and spent the rest of my time running on the roads or on the treadmill at the YMCA. When you are going to run 3,100-plus feet uphill and do no training that prepares you for it you are destined to fail and have a very hard and taxing effort. I somehow managed to not struggle too badly even with my lack of vertical training. The other part of the equation is the downhill running. I have run some races where the downhill is steep, but not to the degree of what I ran. Ten-plus miles of screaming downhill on legs that are not ready for it creates many problems such as very, very painful quads! I also feel that you need to run in places that mimic what you will race, so I should have been running on very technical, rocky trails, not roads. I still am dealing with tore up quads right now and I can’t walk without pain yet.

Do you think we'll see you in any more trail races?
That’s an interesting question that I really don’t have a great answer for. I would like to say yes, but I also know that I enjoy road racing more than anything. The problem that I face is trying to prepare to run two completely different races that require very specific training plans in order to be successful. Over the past few years, I have really enjoyed running the Boulder Race Series which consists of a 2K in June, and 3K in July and the Pearl Street Mile in August. I have won the series twice now and will go for a third win next year. I have also become very fond of mile races on the roads. Who knows, if the right trail race comes around I may give it a go and see what I can do. I might run the 5K at the XTERRA Race next month.

Any more racing plans for 2011, and what are your goals for 2012?
As far as the rest of 2011, yes I still have races that I plan on doing such as our YMCA Turkey Trot, possibly the XTERRA run, some races in Denver in the coming months and possibly USATF Club Cross Country Championships in December if I am selected to run for the BRC/Adidas team. Because I really don’t pick a specific race and train for it I can’t say what 2012 will bring, however I am quite sure that I will run 15-20 races like I have done this year. If USATF Colorado decided to hold a state championship series again I will run that. I guess my goals for 2012 are to continue to run well and try to lower some of my road racing PR’s as well as continue to be competitive across the state.