May

It is finally starting to look like spring around here!

May is finally over... close enough at least. This has to be the coolest and wettest May that I can remember and definitely of the three springs that I have spent here in Aspen, especially so.

But things are going well.

Mileage for May - 357 miles with 59:11:49 running time. I'm too lazy to figure out the actual vertical but it is good. But the monthly mileage is not a great concern or metric of mine since I have broken down my training until Leadville into specific blocks or cycles with this, the second one ending on 19 June... I'll see where I am then.

Last week was my best week yet this year though... 94.2 miles, 12,900 in gain, in 15:36 running time. Pretty good weekend with a 25 miler where I ran to the top of Indy Pass and Melissa picked me up then we spent Saturday and Saturday night in Leadville. "Easy" 14 mile run on Sunday morning from town down to the lake and back detouring through all of the campsites. TQ Lake trail still has a bit of snow on it BTW.

Finished the mother of all track workouts this morning. I have been working on 2-Mile repeats the past few weeks. (Thanks Kiki and Wade!) I started doing a 2M WU, 3x2M with .25 RBI, then a 1.25 mile cool down or so. I was doing 4x2M and today jumped up to 5x2M. My splits are off (but not significantly so) from the past couple of weeks but I am attributing that to the fatigue carrying over from last week. Still an awesome workout and I am feeling a touch beat up at the moment which I guess is the desired result of such a thing.

Sort of backing off this week and throwing some rest days in there. I really don't know if I really need them or not but I would rather take them and not need them than find myself so cooked that a break becomes non-negotiable.

But things are looking up... starting tomorrow we are supposed to be seeing 70+ degree days on a consistent basis so hopefully it will finally and really warm up around here. There is still a crap ton of snow that needs to melt in the back country before it is runnable.

Planning a 42 Mile trail/dirt road training run on June 25. I guess the average elevation for the day will be around 11K. If you are interested let me know and I can fill you in on the particulars. A couple other guys from Aspen will be going along too. Figure about a 12 hour day.

Leadville 100 Training Block #1 - April 18 - May 19

Keeping it short...

I trained up solid for the Salida Marathon in March. Kept up the miles somewhat after that and at the beginning of April devised a plan for attacking Leadville.

In a nutshell I worked backwards, creating four different training cycles or blocks.

I April 18 - May 19
II May 20 - June 19
III June 20 - July 19
IV July 20 - August 20 (August 20 is race day)

Each training block (or month) has target mileages and within those target mileages for the month, mileage targets for each week. That last block I really can not predict how it will look as my targets for those weeks will be very structured, as well as the rest for that matter. Basically I plan those last few weeks going into Leadville to closely mimic the last few weeks going into Run Rabbit Run last year... That could change but that formula worked fabulously last year so why eff with it if it ain't broke...

As of today I'm a bit off course but in the right direction.... :)

Training Block #1 Miles Planned = 250
Training Block #1 Actual Miles Ran = 358

I am playing with a few new concepts here... first, since I was able to hit a plateau of high mileage weeks I intend to stay there as "in theory" it is easier to maintain a plateau than the work it takes to get there.

Of course I can NEVER talk about any serious race preparation without whining and bitching about my weight, losing weight, and dieting... So the other and really right now primary reason for such high mileages is to promote calorie throughput so I can go into this thing in August carrying the least amount of body weight needed to get the job done. I am at 145 today. Ideally five more pounds to go to reach my goal.

Structurally I am feeling fine... sure some aches and pains here and there but all manageable. There is some fatigue but that is to be expected but I am far from being a zombie day to day.  Since I more or less got my sleep pattern dialed in last year, I am taking full advantage of that to aid in recovery from day to day.

I am pushing for something here... To either break down or to breakthrough, and whichever happens in training this year, either one is a win.  If I break down... just hit a run that I can not finish no matter what... great... I found my breaking point and I pushed myself to my limit. I will rest and back off accordingly then get back at it... What I am hoping for is a total breakthrough where I just keep "ascending" in my training and ultimately show up at the line on August 20th a completely different a runner than I have ever been in Leadville.

My other goal for this summer is to just have some fun too. I live in an awesome place with so much more for me to explore and run on. That is as soon as the snow melts! :)  I am hoping for my first foray from Pitkin County over into Gunnison County (Taylor Park) sometime around the third week of June.