Weekly Totals:
Miles Run: 27.1
Hours Run: 4:43
Running Elevation Gain: 3,953'
Miles Biked: 88.1
Hours Biked: 5:06
Biking Elevation Gain: 2,493'
Total Power: ~4,000 kJ
Total Training Time: 10:19
Total Elevation Gain: 6,446'
Summary:
How do you workout only 4 out of 7 days and still get 10.5 hours? I have no idea. This has been a wonderful rest week to allow me to recoup my body from all of the hard training. Ironically, I started the week with a cold that my wife and I acquired from our son. I suppose of all the weeks to be under the weather, this was the best one while I allowed myself to recover. It was a few days full of sinus pressure so heavy it was irritating my ears and teeth and had its share of sore throats. After taking a full 2 days completely off, I started the week with a progression run on Wednesday. This week ashamedly marks the first time I succumbed to the treadmill all year and hopefully the last. Running inside is so boring, it hurts, and there is no wind but feeling sick, I didn't want the cold weather to make me sicker. After my first and only appearance to the CRUD Thursday morning Cheyenne Canyon runs and indoor bike the following day, the weather finally got nice after 2 horrible weeks on Friday. I was just planning to do the incline to keep my hours low but I soon found myself riding to and from the incline to make for an over 5 hour day. To respect the "rest week" I took it easy the whole way. To some biking 50 miles round trip and hiking up the world's greatest stair master probably hardly sounds like a relaxing rest day but for me it was and I know so because I wasn't sore at all. While I greatly wanted to resume the bike commutes the following night, I refrained with great restraint. I was already pushing higher hours than I wanted for the week after the day prior's adventures so I held off. What was the result? I sneaked in a little run this morning so I don't go too many days without running and the results were astounding. All I can say is I AM BACK!
I was in the best shape of my life last Jan before I fell off the wagon and have been trying diligently this winter to get back to that. Since I started hard training a couple months later this later than last, that is natural and actually what I wanted. I didn't want to to like last year and burn out too early. How do I know I am back? Well, I train off of the Maffetone method and measure my progress by the Maximum Aerobic Function Heart rate. For most the simple formula is a heart rate that is 180 - your age. For me that would be 149. Maffetone says if you train successfully for a couple of years without injury or too much sickness, you can raise it 5 so I should be at 154. Last year the 155 round number was nice so I tend to stick with that mostly still. So at the same 155 heart rate, I measure my fitness by the pace I can run after being warmed up. Today, after warmup, I ran my fastest mile at 7:25 at a 155 heartrate which is exactly what my best splits were last year. In a short race like a 5k, that means I could do much faster and even in a flat marathon, it would probably be acceptable to hold a 165 to 170 HR. For longer than marathon, that is the heart rate I would want to maintain to not go into carb depletion too fast and maximize on fat burning to get the best MPG and economy. Anyhow, whether you believe in the method or not, It has kept me injury free and it is a good comparison point. Normally, you would want to run several miles and see how it drops for the first 5 or so miles for a full comparison but I only had a small window this morning.
Either way, this is the perfect mental boost before Salida this coming weekend. I am hoping for some great results with my goal being sub 3:45. Depending on how I feel and the weather (which is looking quite nice), I suppose I will range anywhere from the low 3:30s to definitely sub 4 even if it is a bad day. After crunching all sorts of scenarios on spreadsheets, I can run the first climbing half slower than last year and feel good enough to run down faster and still go sub 4. The reality is that last year, I didn't train almost at all for over a month leading up to the event so I have a much better shot this year. I won't probably be pushing the 3:30 end of the range because that requires a fully good race from start to end and basically risking going out too hard. I could go out harder and hope for the best but it could make my time actually worse so I would like to play it conservative the first half and make up what I can feeling good the second half rather than limping in. So come the hard learned lessons from a guy who is notorious for going out too fast and blowing up. There is no excuse for not having a negative split on this race with 90% of the climbing in the first half. For those that don't know, a negative split is running the second half faster than the first. It may be a bit trickier this year because they have opened up the race from 250 runners to 450 runners. After the first 2 miles, the race quickly goes to singletrack up S mountain and will constrict to a walk if you go to slow. The problem is with so many going out fast, you have to go a bit fast (kind of like Pikes Peak). The trick will be to go out fast but not so fast I cannot recover and then remember to slow down. If I get slowed up a bit, I know it is ok because a handful of miles later, the trail opens up to a road with a long climb for several miles that will allow for plenty of climbing followed by several miles of jeep roads and double tracks. It is better to be slowed a bit as long as it isn't walking but not too much so I think I will go out hard but not too hard. Seemed to put me in a good place on Pikes last year so I am hoping for similar results again.
All in all, I think I will be faster all of the way around than last year and most importantly I will have tons of fun. This race is the big milestone for this year for me to say "Yes, I have built the base required to build upon to be successful at Leadman this year." Will I get my goal of big buckles at both events (La Plata Grande)? I hope so but I do know I will have the right base if I can put it all together all of the while knowing it was several years until even one person achieved this and still only a handful of folks who have. It will be an adventure of a summer for sure and I look forward to all that it presents including all of the friendships that will be made, the comraderie that will be shared on the trail and the experience of the unknown that the outdoors brings where you have to be prepared to endure just about anything! Thanks for reading.
Until next time...
See you at the top!
No comments:
Post a Comment