Yesterday I biked 3:30 with a 20 mile tempo effort at the end, which on the heels of a hard weekend left me pretty tanked yesterday. Then my internet went out and I was left with 14 schedules needing to be sent to some of my athletes so I sat and waited for it come back on... 1:40am it finally came back and I was up until 3:00 working. My legs came around after a mile or so of warm-up but never felt strong on any of the climbs. Pretty weak in fact. This was definitely a best effort for me on the day and I can't see running nearly this hard for this weekend's 1/2 marathon. I've accepted the fact that I train much better than I race... which is fine because I hate racing (there's obviously some sort of psychological vicious circle in there)
I ran Walker a few weeks ago in high 53 but never took a split on my watch, it was just math in my head looking at the total time and since I suck at math it could have been +- a few minutes. The
'official' FKT on Walker is Dave Mackey in 54:54 running
counter clockwise. Peter Vail ran 52:15 but ran 8 miles with over 2000ft of gain which means he ran a MUCH harder Walker than I did! Today I ran
clockwise (or up the stairs) which to me is the sweetest part of Walker... they hurt insanely bad when you go easy and today I hit them at mile ~5.5 with a sub 53 in sight... so they hurt worse than usual. Not sure how the directions compare but I think clockwise is much easier than counter.
13 comments:
I can't remember...have you ever publicly dissected the "psychological vicious circle..."? Interested in your analysis of that.
Also, I was thinking this morning about two-a-days vs. single outings and was curious about your take.
Let's say you're going to run 12 miles on a given day (part of a smart training plan mixing quality and recovery, of course) and you are preparing for running an ultra-distance race (50-mile, 100K, 100-mile). Your schedule that day is flexible. Is there any physiological advantage to either breaking the run into two pieces or running it in one outing?
Wait...so this is the course we ran with the steps and everything? EPIC. I'd love to try for some FKT's with you while I'm out there--my track speed is okay right now (unverifiable internet bragging alert: 8x400 in 60 avg with 2min lap recoveries today), and I like going down (probably not the best way to phrase that), but am nowhere near you going up (as much as you might protest that out of modesty, that is definitely true--watching you go up is so much fun).
You're going to be awesome this weekend! I think you're at that point where you only have good days and great days, at least physically. And I know your training concepts/focuses are planned out way ahead of time, but I think (non-expert uninformed qualified statement alert) that at least one recovery day before the 1/2 would tell you a lot more about what it will be like to race this summer, with your new body and approach, than training through and going for that extra stimulus. Hope everything is amazing!
Jim- Ya, I've covered it a few times.
Run doubles and singles. If you're preparing for an ultra then the single is more specific (in terms of metabolism going beyond the 1:30 mark is the sweet spot) so it depends on the goal for the week/ month. Too many variables to say definitively that on any given day a single is better than a double and visa versa.
Dave- I don't think I have much choice but to rest now... I'm kind of wrecked! That was a full on race for me.
1:00 a.m. writing schedules! thats dedication. thanks man!!
Eric- I was pretty groggy at 2:00am, I hope I didn't put anything ridiculous on your schedule! If you see 10 X 40 miles you might want to e-mail me to check on that.
And David- 8 X 400 in 60 is bad ass! We used to do something similar in college and I never even got close to those times. I remember once though finish a ladder with a 52" 400. I was a short distance guy though and focused on the 800 and 1000 (indoor). That's why my favorite track workout is 1000s.
You should jump in to a track meet this Spring out there and run 'open' if you can. Do the 1500...
what race is this weekend? and quit making whiny ass excuses already about how you like to train more than you race....blah blah blah...git after it!!
as for walker, i think it is much easier going counter clockwise(going down the stairs) cause you have longer, gradual descents like through the 'meadow' part.
The Mount Carbon 1/2 down near Morrison. What's wrong with making excuses before the race? The ones after the race are the ones to give me crap about. Maybe I'll go back and look at some of your past race reports so I can get some good ones!
When I ran 5 laps on Walker last year I switched directions every other lap and once I became super tired the difficulty of the different directions became pretty obvious. I think for sure counter clockwise is faster on a bike (carrying your bike up the stairs is much harder) which is maybe why Dave Mackey's FKT is counter clockwise because he raced mountain bikers when he set it. But for running, not so much. He probably would have run 51 the other direction.
Counter clockwise is absolutely harder for me.
Let's run mt carbon in speedos!
Ha! I haven't owned a Speedo since maybe 1997.
who carries their bike on the stairs?? let's race it and i'll even stop and piggyback you down if it's too challenging.
p.s. GG has a speedo or two you can borrow - do you like pink flames or disco ball?
I didn't say that I carried my bike. I've heard some weaker riders do though.
Disco all the way. My legs haven't seen sunlight since October, the silver glitter will match my pallor.
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