Training Log Archive: verticalwanderer

Run 3: 1hr rolling trail run at easy effort, mixing in 6 x 1:00 surges at approx 5K race effort.

Absolutely amazing trail just off I-80 near Truckee, CA. It was SUPER steep and at around 6.5k' so I was pretty smoked at the end......built in the "surges" to push up particularly steep sections of trail very hard. Was really fun running down hard too. The run went through some awesome old growth forests and up and down lots of very rocky terrain including some massive granite slabs.

Active recovery type workout with lots of abs and some weighted lunges, pushups, squats, etc.

Run 1: 4hr Flat/Hill/Flat run. Could be road, trail, or mix. Run the first 1hr flat/smooth at normal easy pace, then run 2hrs on a hilly course. For the ups, go normal effort which could be running or hiking depending on the hill. For the downs, try to avoid unnecessary breaking, but don’t “hammer” the downs like on the hill workout (run 2). Then finish with another 1hr flat and a bit faster than the initial hour.

Ran this one on the western states trail starting at the finish line and going backward.......got a little off track at one point and ran up through Cool, CA, which lead to a lot more climbing that the actual trail which was a great workout. Ended up being about 3.5k' of elevation gain. Did not do the exact flat/hill/flat, but I could not pass up this awesome trail, and still did get lots of ups, downs and flats throughout the run. This got me thinking A LOT about putting Western States on my schedule for some point in the future.....

Felt pretty strong, but fueling should have been better. I did not have any Perpetuem, so I relied more heavily on gels, which made my stomach feel a bit shitty toward the end. I also made my little food bags with sweet potatoes, boiled eggs, but instead of bacon, I used salmon jerky (I was staying with my vegetarian sister and didn't want to "stink" up her house with bacon.) It started out ok, not great, and by the end it was pretty gross. Nothing beats bacon ;)

Run 2: Up/Down hill workout. This hill workout involves the usual hard uphill running, but also hard downhills as this is a different stress on your legs and will simulate the demands of a long hilly race. Find the longest/steepest hill you have and do repeats on it so you can compare your times on each during the session. After doing 15:00 easy warm-up and several flat strides, run hard uphill for 16:00 total with each “hill” being about 2 minutes. For example, if the hill takes 2:00 then you’d do 8 of them. If the hill goes on longer than 2:00, simply pick the spot you get to in 2:00 on the first one, and then go to the same spot on successive repeats. For the uphills, you want to run hard enough that you are really wiped out at the top – hard enough that you couldn’t just slow down to easy effort and keep going but rather you need to stop completely or walk. Then, take 30 seconds to partially recover at the top, and run down hard. For the downs, be sure not to overstride – try let gravity do the work and keep your center of gravity over your feet (don’t lean back). At the bottom, take a full 3:00 rest before the next one. Cool-down enough to make it at least 1:30:00 of total running. You should feel about as tired as you ever do after a workout (so far anyway)!

So when looking for a place to run after I got to my sister's house, I found out that the Western States Trail finish line is about 10 mins from her place!! OF course, I had to go run on it!!

This run was brutal......I found a super steep section of about 5-6 switchbacks and did it there. Pushed VERY hard on the first run to set the 2:00 "mark to beat" I was 100% smoked by the time I got up there. Run #2, I was able to hit it again. Then I fell a bit short for some in the middle. Hit it again on #5 and #8. Did it all jsut as RX'ed....2:00 up, :30 rest, hard down, 3 min rest. Great fun workout!!