Monday, August 9, 2010

13 weeks to My Leadville Build-Up

Just because some day I hope to grow up and be fast runner like Nick. I thought I would do a breakdown just like he did before Western States in the post that I just linked to. Of course my goal at Leadville is just to finally finish this race not be competitive like Nick was at Western States. Nick, I hope that is OK that I copied your format, it makes for straight forward and non-confusing reading which is something I am not very good at doing.

So here we go, the dates are the end of that week. The numbers in the (') is the vertical gain for that week followed by a note or two.

1. 5/16- 72.4 miles (9,950'); 25 mile long run
2. 5/23- 38.85 miles (3,870'); Got married on Saturday so took the weekend off
3. 5/30- 80.25 miles (11,550'); 20 mile long run
4. 6/6- 82.45 miles (13,850'); 31 mile long run (Dirty Thirty 50K)
5. 6/13- 75.3 miles (9,400'); 3 days of over 15 miles each
6. 6/20- 70.6 miles (10,950'); 18 mile long run
7. 6/27- 64.3 miles (5,500'); 26 mile flat long run (sick 3 days this week)
8. 7/4- 62.3 miles (12,350'); 3 days over 15 miles each, went to Nebraska
9. 7/11- 74.1 miles (18,800'); 47.5 mile long run (Pacing Hardrock); mini-taper
10. 7/18- 76.5 miles (9,700'); 3 days of over 15 miles each
11. 7/25- 70.75 miles (13,350'); 35 mile long run and Grandpa passed missed 2 days.
12. 8/1- 71.35 miles (14,000'); 25.5 mile long run and 15.5 mile back to back
13. 8/8- 55.45 miles (8,150'); 15 mile long run- just a crazy busy week at work

I hope that I was able to put in enough long runs and time on my feet. As of this posting I have ran 1750 miles this year with 277,00 feet of vertical. By the time that the taper and Leadville is done I should only be about 500 miles shy of my total miles from last year. It would have been nice to be over 2000 miles on the year right now but that did not happen. Due to daily family obligations, the trips to Nebraska, and all the stress this year I have not gotten in as many long single runs as I would like but instead would run 2-3 times in a day to hit the mileage. There were many days where I would run 4-9 miles before work, 4-6 miles at lunch, then some nights do a track workout of 7ish miles after. I just had to fit it in where I could. I really wanted to do a week or two over 100 miles like I did in Feb but found it very hard to fit it all in. Would I have liked to do more? Yes of course. Was it feasible with family and the new job this year? No.

Another thing that I was trying to balance at the same time was dropping a few pounds but still eating enough calories that I could train worth a darn. By using the free website Livestrong.com (they have a great iPhone App that I used) to track all my calories in verses what I was burning I was able to drop about 15 pounds over the last 4 months. This takes me to the starting line at Leadville at the same weight that I was when I attempted it in 2008 at 173ish.

I also went back and compared the 13 weeks leading up to my last 2 attempts at running a 100 miles with this attempt and discovered that in fact I did cover more total miles leading up to the taper this year. Hopefully that pans out good in a few weeks at Leadville, only time will tell.

These last 2 weeks are going to be filled with a couple of morning runs up Green Mountain but mostly I will be sleeping in, with easy running at lunch during work week, and some hiking up high on a 14er next weekend. I was even thinking of backpacking up to 12K or higher during the week to sleep then getting up early to make it to work in time. Any thoughts on this? I can drive about 30 mins west of the house to Indian Peaks and get some high sleeping in. Is it worth it?

Hopefully this all takes me to the starting line ready for another grand adventure!

Wish me luck!

6 comments:

  1. I too am debating the Indian Peaks sleepover, likely in the truck. But I debate the value versus a better night's sleep at home.

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  2. 15 pounds in 4 months! Whoa! Nice.

    I don't think the body does a significant amount of adaptation on one night's sleep up there. And, I agree with Brandon ... you might actually be setting yourself up for a bit of a crash with a poorer night's sleep.

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  3. I was thinking of going up there 3-4 nights between now and race day plus the 14ers I am planning this coming weekend. You don't think that would be of a benefit? Hmmmmmm.

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  4. I think generally there is some benefit, although small, post a couple of days up there.

    I think Carpenter talks about about a 2-2-2 effect. Effect at 2 days, 2 weeks and 2 months. Not purely scientific but seems about right.

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  5. You're not at high altitude for much time at Leadville. I'll personally be doing 1-2 hours a week of fast hiking in the 4weeks leading to bear. People overlook the importance of this.

    Have a great run!
    Tim

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  6. Spent all day yesterday (over 10 hours) over 12K on Quandary. A buddy and I took a group of 14 first timers up there. He went up with them while I ran up right over an hour. I hung out at 14,265ft for over 3 hours while waiting for them to show. I then walked down slowly with them which took all afternoon it seemed. Hope that helps shock the body a little for next weekend.

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