Dewey Peacock's "15 Minutes of Hell"

Dewey put on quite a show at the Outdoor Retailer Uphill Challenge (co-sponsored by Inov-8) on August 9th where he ran a solid 1.54 miles at 15% incline in 15 minutes on a treadmill finishing with the 4th fastest time overall for this event. Read his hellish report below.


15 Minutes of Hell

While not quite a “race”, the 2008 Uphill Challenge at the SLC Outdoor Retail Convention certainly felt like one, and a very challenging one at that. I’ve read about this race many times before, I never thought I’d be in it myself. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s basically a dual race between various athletes and reps on a treadmill where the goal is to cover as much distance in 15 minutes at a 15% incline. I can certainly say it wasn’t like I thought it would be, and truthfully a pretty “fun” event.

I had a kind of up and down racing season for May and June, I have been doing my best in July to bring myself back into a more balanced routine and undo some of my previous training’s undoing. So most of my July for me had been a lot of just running (with some x-training in the mix), with very little hard work, other than a few easy tempo efforts and some light speed and short hill sprint workouts mixed in. I ran a low-key uphill only race up in Alaska, one that climbed over 2000’ feet in around 3 miles (most of that in 2.5 miles), so I figured I had a good idea of the pain to come.

At the OR I had a good chance to watch some competitors duke it out, so I had an idea of what it looked like and what the whole process was going to be. My allotted time was at 12:30, so I got an easy warm-up around Noon on the outskirts of the building, and headed over to the venue site. I felt a certain amount of personal pressure wanting to represent Inov-8 well, seeing how they were a co-sponsor. I had a chance to meet my competitor early, whose first name of Drew caused the announcer to repeatedly swap our names back and forth. I think she actually had a harder job than we did after such a long day!

My game plan was to start conservatively and aim to break 1.5 miles, something I though manageable and looking at last years winning distance (1.58 miles) I thought it might put me in good contention for a top spot. That plan was thrown out when my competitor started off at a very fast pace, and with my wanting to be a competitor in this, had to match his pace. I was able to match him until around the 11 minute mark, and actually dropped my pace for about 1:30 to “catch my breath”, but kicked it in at the end. I finished with 1.54 miles to his 1.58. I’d like to think I could have eked out another .01-.02 miles, but truth be told that was the longest 15 minutes I could possibly imagine.

In trail races you generally get to quietly suffer on your own on the mountain or in the woods, but in this event it was in front of a huge mass of people cheering you on, watching as you and your competitor’s heart rate reaches absolutely maximal levels. There is no hiding, there is no reprieve, just a revolving hell that promises to spit you out the back if you don’t hang on. I’m glad to have been pitted against someone so competitive because we both pushed each other to really give it our all. After the end of the day I finished as tied for 3rd, something I’m definitely proud of considering I’m not the best uphill runner and relish in technical downhill and rolling trail terrain. But this was certainly good motivation to keep working on my uphill!

This entire convention was amazing, both for spending time with the wonderful people behind Inov-8 and to be around such an amazing energy of outdoor enthusiasts. I loved the competition and the chance to meet and share stories with other runners and retailers that I met. Although it might take a year of repressed memory to want to punish myself on the treadmill again, I would eagerly take part in it. HeHe