Monday, August 4, 2008

Sunday 20

This past weekend was a serious motivator for the back half of the racing season. Even though I have just begun to ramp the training back to an acceptable level after my injury, I was feeling good on my long run and decided to make the workout a real test of my fitness and the strength of my knee. A group of runners have been organizing for long runs at high altitude recently, so I joined the Sunday morning effort and drove up Hermosa Park above the Purgatory ski resort for the run. The run begins at 9,900 ft. and immediately climbs to almost 10,500 ft., where it contours at the base of several big peaks in the San Juan range. I wasn't feeling 100% after racing a sprint triathlon in town Saturday (1st, 53:56) and following it up with almost 3 hrs. of solid riding with some friends, but after about 25 minutes I settled into a more comfortable rhythm and began to enjoy the scenery up high. I was expecting to suffer even more than usual at that altitude, but at mile 8 when the group decided to flip it and head back to the cars, training partner Jesse Vondracek and I opted for a bit more. Initially we planned on going out to 9 miles and turning back, but we talked each other into the full 10. Because the last 3 miles coming back were almost entirely downhill, we also decided that we would up the tempo at the end and try to lock in some speed at the critical time when the legs were the most fatigued. I started to suffer a little bit at mile 14, but stayed focused on my form and efficiency until we crested the rise before the long downhill. I was able to click off 6:15's for the last 3 miles and held an overall average of 7:41's for the 20 miles. Most importantly, my knee held up just fine and is ready for the rest of the requisite Ironman training. I'll be heading to Gateway, Colorado this weekend for some more racing with the Chocolate Factory cycling team, with a 40k time trial on Friday, 162k road race on Saturday, and a 142k road race on Sunday. Happy training.

4 comments:

Barrett said...

Hey man, this may sound kind of crazy but it's really interesting reading about some of your training and getting inside the head of a professional athlete. Keep up the good work!

-Barrett

dad said...

Sorry your team didn't make it with you to Gateway. That would have put a different spin on the results, and given you support. It's great that you are putting it out there. Keep it up.....the training& blogging. dad

dad said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
grandma said...

I am so amazed how committed you are to your training! Keep it going! May I come to Hawaii with you?
grandma