Running for miles and hours

I have a friend that rides a road bike, a lot.  He also rides a mountain bike but his "thing" is biking on the road.  He occasionally races, he trains a lot - covering hundreds of miles each week.  He eats well, he recovers well.  He loves to bike as much as I love to run.  We hang out frequently and often talk about training, biking, running and life.

One thing that is different with us is how we measure our training.  He measures training by hours.  I measure it by miles.  Each has merit.  Each gives results that bring satisfaction, data to review and journeys to remember.

One thing I have noticed more with my running schedule and subsequent logs - is that I go into each week with a rough mileage goal for each week.  But by weeks end I often look at the hours and minutes and then compare with previous weeks. 

Due to a 6 week long break from running due to a very frustrating ankle sprain, I have only been running for 12 weeks since.  With 2 weeks to go until the Pikes Peak marathon - my running miles and running hours will drop off as I start to taper.  But looking back at the past 12 weeks this afternoon, I have noticed something......

Without going into too much data overload - as I started back running, for the first 7 weeks I gradually built up my miles each week and with that the hours also built up.  At the end of 7 weeks I had just run a 40 mile week, having run 5 times and it took me about 6 hours, 20 minutes.

Week 8, I added another 5 miles to the weekly total - but the time to do this went to up to 9 hours, 11 minutes.  An almost 3 hour increase difference.  The next week I added 5 more miles, the running time increased an additional hour.  For the remaining weeks from then till now, I have been running 45 to 50 mile weeks with running time being between 9 hours and 10 1/2 hours (aside from one "easy / recovery" week).

Why the bump up in hours?  Simple answer is increased vertical running.  In the past 5 weeks while running 25 times, my average distance has been 9 1/2 miles, it's taken me an average of 1:52.  (Certainly has not been speedy running).  I have also run up over 47,000'.  That results in the extra time on the trail.

Why post all this info?  Because I am looking for an excuse as to why yesterday it took me well over 4 hours to run 20 miles on Pikes Peak and be frustratingly almost 15 minutes slower than I wanted to be.  Yesterday I wanted to be speedy, I wasn't.  Yesterday I ran for a longer amount of time than I thought I should have.  I was frustrated.  I felt okay, I had enough fuel and fluids.  The weather was perfect.  The trail wasn't too busy (for a Saturday).  I just didn't achieve what I not only wanted to do, but thought I was capable of doing.  I was a little defeated - especially mentally.

My lesson that I learned: running up Barr Trail to A Frame and back is hard, it is over 5600 feet of climbing and Pikes Peak never takes a day off from being unrelenting.  I learned and relearned that any amount of confidence I may have going in to the race needs to be tempered with a huge and healthy dose of respect for the mountain.  Not to mention that the race has another 6 miles and 2200' of going up and down more than I did yesterday.

I have some confidence that training will pay off, along with being mentally prepared, running a smart race, being properly fueled and hydrated will all contribute to some measure of success on race day.  Each finisher will have one thing in common, running the race requires completing roughly 26 miles.  One thing will be different for almost every runner: time taken to complete.  I'm just hoping that the 46 hours of running, walking and hiking during training over the last 5 weeks pays off.

I have no idea how long that will be for me - earlier last week I was thinking great things, but after yesterdays run - a slower time than last year is possible.  Come race day - who knows.  I guess that is part of the adventure and journey and that journey is guaranteed to take me a while, hours and hours.

Barr Trail 7.8 miles sign training run

As mentioned in the last post - in these last 3 weeks leading up to race day I will be on the trail for almost all of my training runs.  Started this morning at the race start line and went up almost 6 miles to the 7.8 miles to the summit sign.  That for me has always been a good measuring point, always gives me a better idea than the top of the W's and No-Name Creek checkpoints.

Of course there is still soooooo much more trail to cover between there and the summit, the wheels fall off more times than not - but, it is a round trip just shy of 12 miles, certainly better than running 12 miles on a flatter surface (although that often sounds more appealing during the W's).

I had been perusing the pacing calculator last week and had some splits in mind for todays run, which I was hoping to do at, or very near to, race day effort - on the uphill part.

The results - about 20 seconds ahead of the goal at the top of the W's, about 20 seconds behind at No-Name Creek and about 25 seconds behind at the 7.8 sign.  So, I am pleased with that, but not banking too much on it - because in reality I was giving a strong effort knowing that I was turning around and not having to go the extra 4500 or so feet up.

I turned and came down and a slightly faster than moderate pace.  The W's on the way down were crowded and it also seemed like there were so many more rocks sticking out trying to get me. Fortunately I made it through unscathed for the 11.75 miles, 3100' gain - and finishing it just under 2 hours, 10 minutes.

PPM pre-taper taper week

With now less than 3 weeks till race day -  I am ready to start a taper - but really need this week to get some more tough training runs in.  So, cutting out a day from running this week and next - going from 5 days a week to 4.  Building in an extra recovery day each week will hopefully help balance the training.  My goal is to get to the start finish line healthy and in one piece.

So, not really tapering - more like 4 very course specific runs for this 45 mile week.  In fact, almost all of my runs in these 3 weeks will be on the course. 

I drove to the summit this morning and had an 8 miler on tap.  My goal - down 4 miles at an easy (10 min avg) pace, then work hard on the 4 miles back up, trying to keep the average under 20 min miles.

What I can't simulate is all the other runners being on the course on race day.  The reality is on an out and back course, or more properly said in this case: the up and down course - is that you get to see all the other runners in the race.  Some places on the trail are just not suitable for 2 way traffic - traffic that is in a hurry, at high altitude, on rocky sections of decomposing granite.

I can't train for that really - so I don't really bother thinking about it.  I just need to be as smooth and steady through the other runners, those coming down when I am going up, likewise with those going up while I am maneuvering down.

Today there were a good amount of people on the trail - lots of hikers and no doubt other runners getting some high altitude training in.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - the 16 golden stairs are almost as tough going down as they are going up.  They require a lot of focus, rock hopping and oftentimes I am using my hands for balance on the side rocks to get through. 

Below there though it opens up and today I was feeling peppy so I switched to cruise mode all the way down to tree-line and then the 3 miles below the summit sign.  That next mile below there is another section that really requires focus with lots of rocks, roots and the shadows are always an issue for line of sight.

I slowed through these and eventually made it down 4 miles, approx. 2800 feet below the summit.  It's a tough transition to go from downhill to uphill in this fashion - today my legs immediately were complaining.  Slow grind gear was engaged - and I plugged forward.

After about a 1/3 of a mile I started to get into a rhythm and managed to make some better progress.  I was pleasantly surprised to be able to run significantly more than I have in recent memory for the next 3 miles - so much so that my average pace was under 20 min miles. 

But then came the stairs and I slowed noticeably.  Changing my mind that even though they are hard to go down through - they are definitely worse to go up.  But I made it eventually and summited in a time under my goal of 2 hours.  A successful training run in the books.

Running Problems - solved

I don't think a trail runner would stoop to making something like this.

Of course - watching that video then brings this to mind - which I have posted before - but still brings a smile to me... And then this video kind of reminds me what it is like to run down Barr Trail on Pikes Peak = this one being on a bike in Chile. Which then leads to actual downhill running - Emelie Forsberg in New Zealand. Ahhh running - so simple every child that learns to walk, wants to run - some grow up to be better runners than others. Others supply products to runners....

Happy Friday