As I've said before, with the Bighorn 100 looming in June, April and May will be the most important and challenging months for me. I'm basing my training this year off of my previous year's training (which I feel went extraordinarily well), just pushing things up about a month; trying to take what worked and making small improvements when I can. Consistency is the key.
Even if my training goes perfectly, I don't think I'll be in quite as good shape this June as I was last August, but hopefully I'll be pretty close. Regardless, I'm very excited for something new.
In other news, last night I set a PR for the most pieces of pie eaten during a workout!
December Plan
‘12: no real training.
‘13: Races: Ha!
25 miles/week. Survive the holidays. Diversify training: add in snowshoeing.
(Mixed. I didn’t quite get in the mileage I wanted. No big deal.)
January Plan
‘14: Races: None.
30 miles/week. Nothing too crazy. Just exercise every day. Two flat long runs. Snowshoe a lot. The two long runs will easily push me over my mileage goals for the month.
(Success.)
February Plan
‘13: missed 7 days; 2 weeks at sea level, 8 bike miles, 2 long runs. Good, but room for improvement.
‘14: Races: Leadville Snowshoe Marathon.
35 miles/week. Again, nothing too different. Exercise every day. (I missed a lot of days in ‘13 due to sickness and travel.) Two long runs (the same number as in ‘13). One of which will be the snowshoe marathon and the other one will be in Florida. Take advantage of Florida vacation to put in a hard training week. (Lots of flat tempo runs.) The timing for the Salida Marathon (3 weeks out) is perfect. Skate ski to stay motivated.
(So far, so good.)
March Plan
‘14: Races: Salida Marathon.
40 miles/week. Nothing too radical, but careful planning for long runs will be required. I want to get in a long run every week. (4 or maybe 5 long runs?) That should get me more than enough miles for the month. Looking at April ‘13 for comparison, my long runs were all easy. Only 2,500 ft of vertical each. The CPTR course (x2) and around town. The Grand Canyon was the only exception. (And who knows how good a workout that really was due to the stomach flu?) Perhaps a snowshoe up Mt. Elbert near the end of the month? A PR for the Salida Marathon would be nice, of course. And a confidence boost for my early season training. Not sure I can really get a lot of vertical midweek in town. Up to Adelade, I guess? Maybe a Mosquito Pass snowshoe? Black Cloud gets me 1,200 ft vert in 10 miles. Fri: Blackcloud + Sat: long run would be a good combo. Hopefully BV will open up as a weekend long run possibility. If not, another flat/fast 20 to Halfmoon Rd might be required. Historically, my first training run in BV was: ‘13 3/7, ‘12 3/23, ‘11 3/1, ‘10 2/27. So, there’s hope, but-- damn-- we have a lot of snow right now.
April Plan
‘14: Races: None.
45 miles/week. This will probably be the month that will be the most difficult for me to hit my training goals. There’s just a lot going on and conditions will still be snowy in town. I want April ‘14 to look like May ‘13. ~225 miles, 27,000 ft vert. Except, I want more vertical on my long runs. I was only getting 3,500 ft vert with each long run in May last year. So, maybe 30,000 ft vert total for the month as a goal? I won’t have to taper like I did in May ‘13 because I have no races in April ‘14. I’ll need to take advantage of high vert midweek runs (1,000+ ft vert). However, with Christina in the field for a week, it will be tough to get in adequate miles. There’s also our family vacation to Fruita/Moab… I will probably have to take a few midweek days off from work to get in my long runs. Maybe throw in some two-a-day workouts? Maybe I can get some vertical doing sections of the Colorado Trail + 14ers down near Salida? I also kind of wanted to do some speed work in April prior to CPTR. That would not help with the vertical, though. Maybe total vertical shouldn’t be the emphasis for April… Sure, maybe get in 1 high vert long run, but the rest are my normal spring long runs (CPTR course, Clear Creek Road, Twin Lakes, etc.). I could tack on Midland Hill for more vertical during my BV long runs… Fri: quality + Sat: long run will be important.
May Plan
‘14: Races: CPTR 25, Quad Rock 50, Sage Burner 50K.
50 miles/week. I want May ‘14 to look like June ‘13. ~250 miles, ~50,000 ft vert. Racing in warmer climates will help (BV, Ft. Collins, Gunnison). I have 3 back-to-back weekends of racing planned. I only need to go on non-racing long runs twice. Memorial Day weekend will be my final uber long run (Mt. Elbert + Mt. Massive: 26 miles, 10,000 ft vert). Due to all the racing, and the warmer weather, my May goals actually seem more doable than my April goals.
June Plan
‘14: Races: Bighorn 100.
June will be: taper, race 100 miles, and then recover. I’ll run Native Lake (18 miles, 3,500 ft of vert) 3 weeks out. Then a 10 miler the following weekend. Then Bighorn 100. Fill early June with lots of power hiking leading up to Bighorn. No hard downhills. Try to run every day, just get slower and shorter as Bighorn approaches. Take care of knee. Stay loose. More power hiking and biking for recovery after Bighorn. Due to the race, and all the hiking for taper/recovery, I will probably match my ‘13 levels for total mileage and vertical for the month, I think.
July Plan
‘14: Races: None.
An easy week at the beginning of the month, for sure. More power hiking. More biking. Continue to recover. Maybe run (not race) the Silver Rush 50 if I’m feeling good? That would be 3 weeks after Bighorn. Then two weeks of quality training (probably do Hope Pass at least once, if not twice) and then my taper for the Leadville 100 begins! Due to Bighorn recovery, I will not be able to match my monthly totals from ‘13.
August Plan
Races: Leadville 100.
Same as last year. Taper, taper, taper. Then race Leadville. Goin' solo: no pacers this year. 5-10 minutes slower to Twin Lakes, hydrate better, make improvements over Hope Pass, both out and back (goal: 3:30 each way), and from Mayqueen to the finish (goal: 3:00-3:15). Finish strong. Another PR would be nice, of course, but I'm doubtful that I'll be in better shape than last year. Most importantly: just enjoy it.
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