home stretch

If you aren’t already tired of my posts on running, you probably will be soon.

Since 12:37 am Sunday morning, I’ve officially been on my taper for Leadville. Saturday night I did a 23.5 mile group run from Fish Hatchery to the start/finish line in Leadville; since the course is an out-and-back, this was the first and last 23.5 miles of the course. We set off around 8:30 pm and a few hours later we found ourselves at 6th and Harrison in downtown Leadville. There were probably two dozen people, possibly more, out on the trail that night, but I ran the entire way with a guy I met that night who is also attempting his first Leadville. Unlike me, he had already run every section of the course several times, so he was able to guide me through the dark trails. Except for about an hour of rain, it was nice weather. I felt pretty good, but I was eager to get to the finish line because I knew my two week taper awaited me there. At the end of our run, we celebrated with a beer at the Scarlet Tavern.

So how am I feeling about the race? Not surprisingly, I now think about it all the time. About 85% of the time I’m eager for race day to arrive, about 10% of the time I feel anxious, and 5% of the time I feel slightly nauseated—that’s a long way to run! I feel great that I’ve made it this far injury free, and I think my training has been pretty solid.

Although most folks will probably find this overview of my training a bit tedious, I’ve included it mainly as (1) a confidence boosting exercise for myself and (2) for anybody reading this that signs up for a similar event and wants to know the specifics of my training (I’ve spent a lot of time scouring the internet for similar information). Of course, we’ll have to wait until the 21st to judge my training’s effectiveness.

Last October and November I started building up some base miles. Then I started following my training plan in December. Over the last few months, I’ve essentially followed a plan that had me running a 30 to 50 mile route every two to three weeks, with mostly 20 to 24 mile runs in between. For my long runs, I tried to get out the door around 4 am so I could get some practice running in the dark, see the sunrise, and be back home with the rest of the day still ahead of me. Because the Leadville course is anything but flat, virtually all my runs have significant climbing—even the short four milers Adrienne and I run have over 500 feet of climb. I ran the aptly named “Heinous Hill,” a relentless, steep one mile climb in the middle of a ten mile loop near our house that is just level enough to be runnable, probably six or seven times. Far and away, the most lung busting and leg crushing run/hike was the east ridge of Mt. Quandary. When I hiked it for the first time this winter, it took many hours and I had to stop every twenty-or-so steps to regain my breath on the ridge that leads up to the summit (granted, it is a much more difficult climb in winter). Thankfully, I had a much easier time with it this summer. I think I ran/hiked it four times in the last two months but I only summited twice (once I was thwarted by thunder as I started up the final pitch and once a family of mountain goats wouldn’t move off the narrow path halfway up the final pitch). My fastest summit was 1:16 with a roundtrip back to the trailhead in 2:08.

Additionally, for the last few months I’ve been doing P90X—yes the P90X that has been steadily advertised for the last few years via infomercial. If you’re already in decent shape, I highly recommend it. I didn’t follow the nutritional aspects of the program, so I can only speak to the effectiveness of the exercises. It is a really well rounded system, and you’d be hard pressed to find a trainer that could provide a better program. If only I had found this program in seventh grade I could have dominated the Presidential Fitness Challenge. For me the best parts are the yoga and stretching workouts. Distance runners are notoriously inflexible, and I think I was probably towards the more inflexible extreme of that already inflexible cohort. I’m not doing the splits yet, but I’m certainly the most flexible I’ve been since I was Jolee’s age. And I must admit, I always thought yoga was hard simply because I wasn’t flexible, but holy crap, it’s brutally tough. I get sorer from that than from anything else.

So with the inclusion of P90X, this is what my typical week looked like:

Monday: Upper body workout and no running

Tuesday: Plyometrics and run 4 miles

Wednesday: Upper body workout and run 10-12 miles

Thursday: Yoga and run 8 miles

Friday: Leg workout and no running

Saturday: Run 30-50 miles or 20-24 depending on the week

Sunday: Stretch and run 10 miles

Although I only listed stretching on Sunday, I ended up doing it whenever I got the chance; in these last few weeks, I’ve been stretching several times a week. I also managed to throw in a good amount of hiking. Carrying the kids on hikes added to the fun (I only carried them both one time—I learned my lesson)…

Nutrition-wise, I think I eat pretty well. For breakfast on most days I eat oatmeal with ground flaxseed, wheat germ, and some honey. For lunch I eat a lot of peanut butter and jellies and some turkey sandwiches. Adrienne, bless her heart, makes dinner 99% of the time and she feeds us well. She creates a wide variety of meals usually with fresh, local (or as close as we can get to here in Breck) produce. We don’t eat a lot of red meat, but I’ll sometimes have a burger if we go out to eat. I usually have two milk, whey protein, peanut butter, banana, ground flax seed, and wheat germ smoothies everyday too—one within thirty minutes of completing my main workout of the day and one later in the evening. Except for the milk in my smoothies, I pretty much drink only water (I haven’t had a soda or a caffeinated beverage in over ten years). And I probably have two or three beers a week.

For race day, I’m planning on consuming a little more than 200 calories per hour on a liquid diet of Hammer Nutrition’s Perpetuem. I’ll also take one Succeed S!Cap every one to two hours for electrolyte and potassium replacement. Hopefully I can make it the full distance on a liquid diet, but if I’m craving some “real” food, there will be plenty at the aid stations. Before the race, I’ll have a breakfast of yogurt and bananas about three hours before the gun goes off. The night before I’ll have a normal sized meal probably with a chicken breast and baked potato. For those looking for additional nutrition information, check out this article from Hammer Nutrition.

Gear-wise, I’ll be wearing Montrail Mountain Masochist shoes, Dirty Girl Gaiters, Teko Merino Light MiniCrew socks, the Nathan HPL #020 hydration pack with a Camelbak bladder and flow meter (the bite valve on the Nathan bladder is awful) filled with water, a Camelbak Quick Grip bottle filled with concentrated Perpetuem, and the Princeton Tec Apex Pro headlamp.

Additionally, if you’re doing Leadville, here is a great pacer/crew-guide and here is a strategy guide for finishing under 30 hours.

So there you have it in excruciating detail. I think that covers everything. Now I just have to run it.