PP Marathon training - tempo test

According to my self prescribed (don't know if I really have much of a clue of what I am doing) training schedule for the big race - this week began the taper period.  On second / third / fourth look at it - going from 50 miles per week to 40 for this week ain't much of a taper. 

Side note - I plan on only 20 miles during the week before race day next weekend.

Another side note - long range forecast has chance for showers next Saturday, dry on Sunday:

Back to the point of my post..... This week I am running less overall miles, yet focusing in on some good hard runs.  Tuesday I got back up to the Summit and went down 4 miles, wiping out (minor, just a little blood here and there) only once (hmmm - I sense a theme of what happens when I lose concentration for a moment).  Then turned around and went back up.  Good, improved pace both directions.  I really think the high altitude training has been good for me.

Yesterday early evening I went back to the Greenland trail, have not been there since May, for my last 8 mile tempo run.  But also with my eye on seeing if I could break my previous best time there: 61 minutes, 22 seconds.  An 8 mile loop w/ over 500' elevation gain = good test.

However, before I even started I was already making mental and physical excuses: too hot (upper 80's), too tired (day before had over 2800' vertical gain - all above 11,000'), too bad.  I needed to try hard, putting forth a good effort and get this run in.

Result: despite really suffering, especially towards the end in the last 2 miles and slowing as a result / not having anything left to push with - I beat my old best time by a whopping 6 seconds.  Still, pleased with that and was kind of left thinking if I wasn't quite so tired I should be able to beat that time too - yet not really caring about trying to anytime soon.  So, the new PR is 61:16.  Still don't think I can get under 60 minutes, but sub 61 is doable.

On tap is another tapering suffering run this afternoon - doing the one minute madness repeats up Barr Trail from the Cog Railroad.   Then the real taper begins, albeit after a testing 10 miler back up on the Summit on Saturday.

PP Marathon training - A Frame

Less than 2 weeks now till race day, so Saturday morning was my last long training run.  The plan: 20 miles on Barr Trail beginning at the race start line and getting up to A-Frame and back.

The result: made it without crashing like last time 3 weeks ago.  Not only did I not fall over going either up or down - I made it up to A-Frame over 10 minutes quicker this time.  I also ran the entire way down at a 9 minute average.  Actually - most of the way down I was going slower than that, but I gradually picked up the pace through the W's to get down to a 9 minute per mile average descent.

The big issue of the day was lack of food / resulting in lack of energy.  Silly me, I need to learn and plan better as this has happened before (more than once) - but I took with me only one Gel / GU and about a dozen jelly beans, along with 2 bottles of water.  Hydration was fine however as the temparature was fantastic to run in.  Lack of food was evident - on race day I need to must bring more / eat more.

I really think that if I had more food early on the way up I would have done much better - especially above Barr camp, the trip down would have been better too.  But still - made my best time up to A-Frame (2:34:20) and a 90 minute trip down for a total time just over 4 hours, covering 20 miles and over 5700' elevation gain.

In an encouraging sign of fitness - I recovered very well post run and next day was able to push out a good 6 mile (flat) tempo run.

Now - it is taper time - still plenty of miles and vertical to run - but coming off 5 weeks of averaging nearly 50 miles per week, with over 45,000' vertical gain in that - my body is tired and needs some revitalising.

With the hard training behind me - I still don't know what to expect or what I am capable of on race day.    Wishful thinking says I will summit in under 3 1/2 hours and descend in under 2 hours.  Reality may be worse than that - or better.  I just don't know.  2 weeks of mental gymnastics could be fun (or not).

I am very pleased with my training - this same time last year, due to July knee surgery, in the month of August I had run 2 (very, very slow) miles, on a flat treadmill.  So, a lot different and a lot better prepared going into it this year.

PP Marathon - Summit Training

The drive to the Summit yesterday afternoon featured an awesome thunderstorm starting at Glen Cove which stuck with me till the Summit.  Heavy rain, hail, lightning and thunder resulted in a slow(er) drive up.  Summit temp was barely 40 by the time I got there and waited for the storm to pass - which wasn't too long of a wait.

After the rain stopped I scouted around, could see other rain clouds in the area - none seemed too threatening - so I got going and while running, fortunately no thunder or lightning came too close - just getting wet with some rain for a while was the worst impact.

From the Summit: went down 3 miles, then back up 2 miles, back down a mile, then 2 miles back up to the Summit.  Grabbed a quick snack then went back down a mile, and finally - a tough mile back up to the Summit - there is just no way for me to try get through the 16 Golden Stairs quickly, especially when tired, going either up or down. 

Summary: Totalled 10 miles with 3600' elevation gain - all above 11,000 feet, in about 2 1/2 hours.   Good to put that in the bank.

Nothing blazing about the speed and who knows how it will play out on race day - but I am getting much more familiar with the trail, specifically what is runnable vs walkable, where the most difficult spots are (answer: just about all of it), and getting more excited about race day with only about 10 more training runs left.

PP Marathon training - 7.8 miles sign

Coming off the 26 mile training run on Saturday I was curious to see how effective I could be at a moderate or better effort on the run from PPM start line up to the "7.8 miles to Summit" sign - which is just a bit under 6 miles.

I started at an easy pace through Manitou Springs accompanied by some light rain, rumbles of thunder and noticeable humidity.  After the Hydro Street turnoff I upped the effort and got to work.  I would call the effort and result a few notches below the desired goal on race day - which for yesterday I am okay with, cause it turned out my splits to the Top of the W's, No Name Creek and finally the 7.8 mile sign - were tracking a summit time of 3:26.

I went a few yards past the sign to round up the distance to 6 miles, then turned and came down at an 8 minute per mile average - which seemed to come fairly easily.  Total distance 12 miles, 2 hrs 10 minutes and just over 3200' of elevation gain.  Quite pleased.

A monthly summary of note (to me at least).  July was my best month of training ever.  195 miles (19 runs) and over 35,000' of elevation gain (my previous best was about 21,000').  Yesterdays run bought me up over 122,000' of gain for the year to date - in doing so gave me more vertical than the whole of last year.

What does it mean? 
1) I have trained more and more effectively than last year. 
Therefore 2) It should hopefully pay off. 
3) I'm really looking forward to see how it pays off.
4) More work to do yet though - still 2 1/2 weeks till race day.
5) I still need to run a smart race (especially at the beginning, but really for the whole thing I need to be mentally sharp).