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! |
.JPG) |
| At the finish, just relieved to be done. |
| Day | Miles | Notes |
| Monday | Off | Rest |
| Tuesday | 9 | Easy Strength Training |
| Wednesday | 6 | McMillan - "The Pyramid" TM Hill workout |
| Thursday | 9 | Easy/MAF |
| Friday | Off | Rest |
| Saturday | 6 | Easy/GA |
| Sunday | 31 | Power of Four 50k |
| Total | 61 | About 10,900 feet of vert |
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!
ReplyDelete