Monday, August 4, 2014

Weekly Training Wrap - 7/28 - 8/3

Oh, what to say this week.... First thing is that I am so very thankful that my wife and kids like to travel with me and support me. It has been quite a year! (And it is not over.) I have raced five times already and have two races remaining (one is questionable). The long weekends and recovery periods are starting to make me wonder if I am over racing a bit. I guess time will tell....

This weekend was the Power of Four 50K in Aspen, CO. Being a high altitude, big vertical race, it isn't exactly in my wheelhouse. But, I signed up knowing that I need to accumulate as much vertical gain as I can in August to prepare for The Bear. They advertise the race as being "almost 10K" of vertical gain, but I tracked it closer to 8500 feet. Either way, it was enough to tax my quads and my glutes and help me get prepared. The first climb was a nice Bear simulation with almost 4K of vertical, very similar to the first climb at Bear 100. I split that first 10 miles in 2 hours, or about half an hour faster than I hope to in September. The second climb was steep (more than 1K of vert in a mile, or about 20% grade) and fairly hot, but it was short. And the final climb was just a long grinder that lasted nearly 8 miles with only a little relief. The bonus of the last climb was the beautiful single track trail. Overall I am happy with a 6:32 finish and feel like that was within 15-20 mins of my current potential.

My family got to take the Gondola from Snowmass Village to Elk Camp and play while they waited for me to come in. They did a rock climbing wall and several other games before they witnessed my suffering. Hanging out in these ski towns is a ton of fun during the summer. Too bad I was here to race!

I am satisfied with where my training is right now. However, I am feeling a bit exhausted and somewhat unmotivated from a busy, long summer. My kids start school next week and the addition of a routine to daily life should help things settle in a bit. My goal right now is to keep grinding but do my best to make training fun and enjoyable. I am in the "no man's land" portion of training and need to get a little closer to the race before I really get excited about the task in front of me.

Walking into the mile 25 aid station, hot and grumpy!

At the finish, just relieved to be done.

Day Miles Notes
Monday OffRest
Tuesday 9Easy
Strength Training
Wednesday6 McMillan - "The Pyramid"
TM Hill workout
Thursday9Easy/MAF
FridayOff Rest
Saturday 6Easy/GA
Sunday 31Power of Four 50k
Total 61About 10,900 feet of vert

1 comment:

  1. Ok I don't think your training is anything to sneeze at :). I signed up for that race but had to drop out because I had to take my son to a birthday party - I was hoping for a full blown race report from you! either way I think I luck out because I'm within 20-30 minutes driving of the front range trails and I have only one kid - but I always love to see how you do it with two! I can't wait to see how you do at Bear!

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