Leadville 100 Training Block #2 - May 20 - June 19

Our camp in Leadville last week. Five days of wonderful peace and quiet!

Just completed my second training block for Leadville. Two more blocks to go. You can read how I have broken up my training from April to August and the structure of all of that here.

First the numbers for this training block which was from May 20 until June 19th (yesterday.)

Training Block #2 Miles Planned = 275 (Note: This number became obsolete during training block #1 and pushing a lot more volume that expected.)

Training Block #2 Actual Miles Ran = 391 - 69 hours and 34 minutes of running time.

Training Block #2 Miles Riding the Mountain Bike = 28 (And this just happened yesterday.)

So there is a third number in the mix now and that is the biking and I will explain that in a bit.

This past week was okay... I feel like I fell off a bit but I understand why at the same time. 81.3 miles of running, in 15:41. Throw in the bike for 28 miles of riding, in 2:19. About 13K in climbing running and 4K climbing riding.

So last week... I learned (relearned) a very important lesson in training and that is do not compromise a week's training with a single workout. My Tuesday morning track workout I was bound and determined to nail all of my 2 mile intervals in under 13:00 each. My motto or mantra going into the workout was to make every step count, make every lap count, make every mile count... and I did.

Nailed the workout... compromised the week.

At first after the workout I felt "okay" worked but not bad but as soon as I got home that was when the wheels fell off. It took about four hours to get my energy level back to where it should be and well... shit just hurt... all of it from the waist down. If I had to describe it, it felt more like I raced a hard marathon like Salida as opposed to doing morning workout on the track.

Wednesday I ran here in Aspen early in the morning and felt "okay" but not 100% either. Pressed for time, I shortened my 15 mile morning run to 12 in order to get home and get ready to leave to go camping in Leadville later that morning where we would be staying through father's day. Ran another five up in Leadville Wednesday night and still felt okay but still not great.

Thursday though was when I felt it all hit me. I went to run the section from the treeline towards Twin Lakes, an out and back totaling 15 miles. It was hot, and nothing felt right... I had the stride of a 90 year old man, and I know my form is nothing great but that day it was worse... More or less felt 100% and totally depleted throughout the run.

But I got to do my good deed for the day and that was this... About a mile out (outbound) from where the Halfmoon II aid station would be I ran into two guys who were walking and looked absolutely more miserable than I was... they were lost.

Two soldiers form Fort Carson had climbed Elbert early that morning with their company and on their way down they took a right down the Colorado Trail (instead of left and down to the parking lot/trail head) and subsequently bushwhacked until they found the road where I met them.

After talking to them and figuring out where they were parked, their route that morning, and everything else, I walked them to the Colorado Trail turn and explained to them exactly how to get back. I hope they made it.

I would really like to call/write the base commander at Fort Carson and have a talk with him about sending his troops into the big bad woods so damned unprepared. No maps... no compass... no radio... and relying only on cell phones (which didn't work) for comms? WTF? I won't even go into their gear or lack of. I was friendly of course and helpful as I didn't see this as these guy's fault (totally) but I did tell them that if they have a suggestion box in their unit that maybe suggest the next time they take off on an outing like this they at least have a radio for each team of two...  These guys had nothing and were headed in the wrong direction and with all of those fire roads out there they could have wandered a full day if I hadn't had found them... Anyway...

That run ended about as it started... rough. And Leadville was HOT that day.

Took Friday as a forced rest day. Legs still felt trashed and I was just tired. Spent the day eating everything in sight as I know carb depletion happens much more quickly at altitude plus I wanted to have a good 30 miler on Saturday, which I did.

Saturday I took off from Sugarloafin' to May Queen, up and over to the Power Lines and back for a 30 mile round trip that went pretty good. Did it in 5:54.

But after the run I was still feeling lots of aches and pains decided that now it is time to mix in the bike and since Leadville go so hot so quickly Sunday morning, I decided to wait until I got back to Aspen yesterday afternoon before setting off on the ride.

(Ache and pain inventory as of Sunday morning - left knee, left calf, left hamstring, right calf. Most of which I feel is the result of Tuesdays workout compounded throughout the week.)

Good ride yesterday which is causing everything to feel a lot better today and I mean night-and-day better... So I have plan! :)

This week was supposed to be a 100 mile week running but I am not going to run it all. I have a 35 mile run planned for Saturday but everything else this week I am going to ride. (That is unless I just can not keep myself from the track Tuesday morning as that is routine and habit now. But even then no speed work, maybe just a MAF test for fun.)

So here is the deal... the age old question and debate... how many miles of riding equals one mile of running? How do you compare the two? Some people like to throw numbers out there like it is a 2:1 ratio riding to running or 3:1 but nothing definite, just bro-science and speculation... Of course I could look historically at how many TSS (Training Stress Score) points are used up in a week of running looking back on Training Peaks, and I think that might be close... actually probably pretty damned accurate but I have simpler idea...

Instead of relying on some ratio that may or may not be accurate and instead of relying on TSS points which might be more accurate but still, who knows... I am going to gauge this week by calorie burn mostly.

I burn on average 100 calories per mile so in 100 mile week that is 10,000 (roughly, it's a target) calories burned. My hypothesis if you will is that will also come out to 1400 - 1500 TSS points which is again consistent with a 100 mile week at least by Training Peaks standards.

So between riding a shit-ton this week and Saturday's 35 miler, I still expect this to be my biggest week of the year which will be followed by an 80 mile recovery week next week.

And to be honest I am excited about this week as I see it a challenge to cram in so much time in the saddle for six of the seven days. But it will also allow me to range out further and see a lot more stuff around here that I have yet to see or have not seen in awhile. Plus there is the overall benefit of giving my body a week off from running impact for the most part which as much as I might deny it... I know that I need right now.

I had a pretty bad wreck on my skateboard last summer at the end of July and because of that I could not run (could barely walk) for about a week and half. Banged my right ankle pretty bad landing on impact going about 30MPH.  But I could ride just fine and be totally pain free and when that week and a half was over and I did start running again it was pretty awesome how I felt. I am expecting those same results after this week with such a heavy bike focus.

We shall see...