PM: 5 miles (1,000'). Falls easy.
Tues - Noon: 9 miles (1,900') easy. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderberg - home long. A little lethargic, but generally felt decent. Really no soreness to speak of.
PM: 9.5 miles track. TNT workout: 800, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400 w/200 jog between 4, 6, 800s; 400 jog before and after 1,000. 3 mile w-u, 2 mile c-d. Didn't get after these at all, but still got some turnover. Digits: 2:51, 80, 2:04, 2:50, 3:38, 2:53, 2:09, 72.
Weds - Noon: 11.5 miles (2,600') easy/worked the downs. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long. Tired legs, but worked the Audra/Southridge descent.
Thurs - AM: 14.5 miles (3,700') hard downs. Double Towers with Pete and Slush. 5:30 start for this one. Plan was to go easy on the climbs, hard on the descents. First climb was 39 minutes or so, second about the same. Pete was on a mission on the first descent, dropping a 5:09 middle mile. I was in no shape to be keeping up with that kind of lunacy, but ran at a steady clip. Second down was a little calmer, but still a good hard-to-steady effort. Legs seem to be holding up well post-Jemez.
PM: 6 miles easy at Pineridge with FCTR. Opted out of racing the downhill mile (6:15). Nice BBQ with family and friends in the park after.
Fri - Noon: 11.5 miles (2,600') easy/worked the downs. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long. Some heat at least. Worked up a mighty sweat with the jacket, hat and gloves. Pushed the Audra/Southridge drop.
PM: 5 miles (1,000') easy. Falls long. First rattler of the season coming down Soderberg, just below the bench. No girly screams, but certainly an extra few beats to the heart rate.
Sat - AM: 24.5 miles (3,600'). 3:35. Bluesky to Devil's Backbone from home w/ Indian Summer both ways. With Jason O. Felt flat pretty much the whole run.
Sun - AM: 5.5 miles (1,800'). 3:00. Pete and I tried to scout the Sullivan Gulch route up Crosier Mountain. Trail tapered out at the top of the gulch (1 mile & 920'), and then we got completely lost for a couple of hours in the fog. Visibility was terrible, which made route finding with no trail very challenging. Once we re-found the gulch, we decided to put our tails between our legs and head back down to the car. Instead of the planned easy 18 miles with two summits, we got 5.5 miles and cold, wet feet. Was feeling tired heading up the gulch as we were getting going anyway, so no biggie on the lost mileage. Still got 3 hours on my feet (got to count for something).
Just as the fog was lifting, we headed back down Sullivan Gulch. Mission failed!
Week petered out a bit on Sunday, but that's alright. Felt better the first half of the week than I did the second half. Probably some delayed fatigue from Jemez after getting back into things too quickly early in the week. Either that or it was the extra push on the downhilling Wed, Thurs, Fri. Will probably look to go fairly easy this week then hopefully push out a steady effort at the Dirty Thirty 50k in Black Hawk on Saturday.
Camping in Minturn Saturday night with the family after the race, then will check out the Teva Mountain Games in Vail on Sunday. Hopefully get to see some of the 10k action in the morning. I might find some time for a run, but we'll be up there for the kids events, so if no run, I'll just call it the beginning of the taper. To be honest, I think I'm mentally there already, so I'm not going to sweat missed runs from here on in. The work is plenty done.
Take a look here for Scott's account of pacing Jemez last weekend. Possibly the longest 14-mile run report you'll ever read, but plenty of good comedy in there.
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3 hrs, 5 miles, half lost with cold wet feet...sounds like some perfect hardrock training to me ;)
ReplyDeleteNick - Exactly what I was thinking for much of the morning.
ReplyDeleteWell, for a true experience, you guys should have jumped in a cold stream - oh wait, I think I am the only one who needs to incorporate that part into training!
ReplyDeleteSo all training now needs to be done with either rubber sweatsuits or ice in the shoes.
ReplyDeleteI love that you've got the smart speedwork, quad-hardening downhills, and heat training...and then still spent a morning exploring a new route in the fog when you could have just as easily mailed it in on a known route. Well done!
ReplyDeleteGeorge - yeah, tough spring for heat training. Weatherman says 80+ for tomorrow, so I'll be sure to get out in the midday sun for that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike - yeah, a little bit of everything. Keeps things from getting too tedious.
Hi Nick, another good week! I have a couple of questions for you that are related -
ReplyDelete1) since you did your 1st marathon have you gradually increased your average weekly mileage year on year or had any big jumps in volume?
2) have you ever had any overuse injuries like ITB in the hip or knee for instance due to increasing mileage?
I did the marathon in April and followed it with two weeks of 20 and then 25 miles (unwise on reflection) and got ITB in the hip which is proving difficult to get rid of.
Thanks alex
Alex - 1st marathon I ever did back in '03 (I think) I probably maxed out at 50 miles per week, with most of my weeks in the 30-40 mile range. Subsequent marathon buildups, the mileage got gradually higher. I think I was running 60-80 miles per week before I got injured shortly after moving out to Colorado 4.5 years ago. I was sidelined for 7 or 8 months, and then at the end of '08 I started getting back into running with a singular focus on trails and ultras. I'd never run a 100 mile week before prepping for Bighorn in '09. I think I may have run 4 weeks at or above 100 miles getting ready for that. I didn't start hitting really heavy mileage until last year when I was getting ready for WS. So, yes, the buildup to what I've been running recently has been a gradual 8-year process - no major jumps that I can really think of.
ReplyDeleteNo ITB issues ever, but certainly had my fair share of niggling injuries (as is the case for most runners). I usually tell people to run through the niggles, but I'm sure that is terrible advice, so take it with a liberal pinch of salt. But honestly, if you're interested in running ultra-distance events then running through pain and discomfort is something that you need to become intimately familiar and comfortable with.
Hey Nick (or anyone else familiar with Ft. Collins trails), I will be passing through town next weekend and as hoping to log some miles on the trails. I'm training for Tahoe Rim 100 in July, so I'll need some good vertical. If you had to pick one or two "must see" trails in the area, what would you suggest? Thanks in advance!
ReplyDelete--Brian
Hmmm, where to start? Horsetooth, I guess. The classic outer loop starts at the Horsetooth Mountain Park lot, then straight up to the Horsetooth summit, across on Westridge, down Mill Creek and into Lory State Park, up Howard to Arthurs Rock summit, down Timber (via Westridge) to Lory visitors center, south on valley trails (or Overlook via Well Gulch for a little more vert/technical), back into Horsetooth on valley then up Sawmill to Stout and back to parking lot via Stout/Spring Creek/Falls: 22/23 miles w/approx 5.5k of vert. Google H'tooth Mtn park & Lory State park for trail maps. H'tooth maps available at the TH.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to go longer, then check out the Chubby Cheeks 50k course (29.5 miles if starting at the H'tooth parking lot). That's good for 7,500 feet of climbing. Check sidebar under 'labels' for Chubby Cheek maps and links.
Many other options depending on how far you want to run or drive. Snow level right now is between 9,500' and 10'500 depending on aspect, but by next weekend should be higher with the current bout of hot weather.
Feel free to email (on my profile page) for more info. Oh, and check out Pete Stevenson's blog (link on sidebar) for some good routes and maps.
Nick thanks for the response. The speculation about who will win WS is hotting up! Quite a few have you as the winner which must be great for the confidence. They seem to think kilian will blow up and is not up to it, and I think he may surprise them all. You must be hoping for top 3 at least!
ReplyDelete