So You’re Running the Leadville 100? | The Work

TL;DR: I crushed my 8 week training plan. Scroll down for the graphs. 

Nothing in my training plan really made sense. I wasn’t planning on running enough, yet I was planning on ramping up my not enough too fast. I wasn’t sure how my calf (or the rest of my body) was going to respond to the heavier load, but I figured that I either needed to get busy living or get busy dying.

Week 1: 44.9 miles / 8025′ of gain / 8.01 hours / 10.7 minute pace

My first week took me back to where it all began, southern California. I started off with a few short runs with my brother David who was really the first trail runner in my life. At the time I didn’t understand why he preferred running slower in the hot mountains as I chased Boston on the morning roads.

I then met up with two of my friends from the OC Trailies who I ran R2R2R with in 2015. Mark, Branden, and the crew inspire me daily and keep me motivated through our daily Facebook group chat. It was great catching up with them and filling each other in on the crazy twists and turns of the past 2 years. A special shout out to Branden, who just took second overall (and 1st solo) at the Angeles Crest 100.

I then settled in at my Mom’s where I got to return to my most familiar trails in the increasingly unfamiliar blistering heat of the 909.

Week 2: 50.1 miles (48.2 bike miles) / 8632′ of gain / 11.1 hours / 13.29 minute pace

I got back to CO and jumped on the saddle for Bike to Work Day in which I first rode downtown to November Project (16 miles) so that I could rack up some free stuff from the Aid Stations and then to work (15 miles) before heading home at the end of the day (17 miles). This was a great recovery from the long week before heading out to the mountains for the weekend. 

Since I was loading miles in quickly, I was happy to share the trails with others to help limit my pace and not try to push too hard. This led us to the Indian Peaks Wilderness for my third annual circumnavigation of the High Lonesome Loop. This time with Franny and Kaitlin. 

It was great to get back to high elevation after the half marathon and have a long day on my feet. I gave it a few hard efforts on some of the climbs, but mostly cruised. 

Week 3: 55.1 miles (34.5 bike miles) / 12680′ of gain / 11.3 hours / 12.34 minute pace

Speaking of annual events, two days later I was about to restart the tradition of the 4th of July Freedom Run. I initially started doing this in Riverside with Matt Wolak to celebrate his birthday before over consuming in the afternoon. I ran up Ptarmigan Peak alone in 2015 and it was much better with friends. 

Because this wasn’t enough I then used my free Friday to head up Mt. Massive with my new friend Alex. When I first got to Colorado I was turned off by everyone’s fascination with the 14,000′ peaks in Colorado. I have stayed away for the most part, but I needed to get my climbing legs activated and my lungs acclimated to high elevation.  We gave it a medium effort and our dreams of doubling up Elbert were crushed by thunderstorms.

Week 4: 62.5 miles / 12,350′ of gain / 13 hours / 12.48 minute pace

Soon after learning that I had gotten in Leadville I marked my peak training week on my calendar in mid-July. I would be lying if I didn’t say that it was more important for me to be fit for these 9 days than it was for the race. 

The trip started in Crested Butte where I was joined by the Kaitlin and the Gravinas, and then I would continue into the San Juans alone before looping home through Crested Butte. 

The fields of wildflowers that greeted us on the trails were out of this world! It gave me a little bit of closure for missing out on the SoCal Superbloom this spring. 

Our first day we climbed up Teocalli Mountain and the second did the 401 Loop. Kev and Meg are all-star runners so it was nice trying to put a little more effort in chasing them around the 401.

Week 5: 68.8 miles / 22,044′ of gain / 18.58 hours / 16.02 pace

I was then left to my own devices with slightly shaky legs and an endless list of trails to squeeze in outside of Ouray. Based in the beta of those who have come before me, I marked off four main trails on my itinerary: Mt. Sneefles, Ice and Island Lakes, Columbine Lake, and Engineer Mountain.  Each night I did a dance around my campsite to keep the rain away the next morning and was fortunate to have clear skies all week. 

The views and the flowers inn the San Juans almost made me lose my mind. I was happy that my goal was slow and easy, because it allowed me to take it in, smell the flowers, touch the flowers, and be with the flowers. 

It took until day 5 of this trip for my legs to simmer down and accept that I was spending my week as a professional runner. Wake up, coffee, run, eat, rest, recover, sleep, repeat. With the stresses of every day life out of cell phone range I was able to realign my body with the natural world. 

I knew that it had been a good trip when I was running along the Continental Divide outside of Pagosa Springs sticking my nose up at some of the best wildflowers I would have seen had it been a fortnight prior. I laughed and rambled on. 

Week 6: 72.9 miles / 13,609′ of gain / 19.6 hours / 16.15 pace

The following weekend we were back on the road for a camping trip with the Bs and KG.  It was great to be able to spend so many tent nights with friends ds this year, because it removes all of the distractions and allows you to connect over multiple days and runs. 

The goal for the weekend was the 4-Pass Loop, but the weather seen in the photo below altered our plans. We still woke up at 5am hoping that our collective will would push the clouds away, but after 3 hours of coffee talk under the canopy we decided to change our plans and head to Conundrum Hot Springs. 

It was still a great weekend and we still got 18 moose filled miles to a muddy, warm pool and back. 

We closed out the weekend with a short hike to the first of four passes (Buckskin) on a day that would have been perfect for the loop. 

Week 7: 50.5 miles / 10,007′ of gain / 11.3 hours / 13.4 minute pace

The final week of training brought me to one of my Colorado Bucket List runs. I learned of the Pawnee-Buchanon Loop during my first summer, but hadn’t been able to find the time to fit it into my plans. 

I decided to take a random Thursday off of work, and because my friends are awesome (crazy) I was able to convince Starbuck and Rhode to join me for 27 miles and 7,000′ of climbing with a simple email. 

The forecast was unfavorable as we started, but we ran under sunny skies most of the day before eventually succumbing to the Faye of being pelted by hail and running through lightning clouds. The views and the trail was beautiful and it was great to share it with friends while getting to know them better. I started to feel the wear and tear on my body during this run as I first tweaked my ankle and then tripped and fell to the ground.

I was happy that I had made it this far in my training before my body rejected my ideas. This was confirmed the following Saturday as my calf tightened up on my recovery run on the road (read: roads are bad for you). 

Week 8: 27.8 miles / 3048′ of gain / 5.1 hours / 11 minute pace

And then I was back to real life. A work conference brought me to Portland and with it, the intensity of 8am-9pm days. I was able to share a few morning miles with Michaeline, a friend from Orange County who had recently dominanted the Bryce Canyon 100. She gave me some tips based on recent experiences as we ran along the river to NP PDX and back. The conference gave me an appreciation for the excuses I gave myself for my sub par training this past spring. I had told myself after showing up to my early races undertrained that the mental exhaustion from a full passionate work day had sucked the life out of my training. After comparing this week with 6 weeks of light work, heavy running I knew it was true. I was happy this came at the end, because it grew me time to rest my calf and properly taper for the big event. 

So let’s recap:

Miles

What I lack in consistency I make up for in consistency of inconsistency. Three 16-week “training cycles” for 100 mile races and I totaled 652, 639, and 630 miles. I’ll take this one over the first two because I finished strong in the second half while the other two were a little more front loaded. I also added 1/3 of the miles that I biked during the training cycle, because that’s endurance too right?

Elevation

So close! I had it too, but a tender calf and the fact that I spent my whole week at sea level conferencing led to me defeating the jaws of victory…or something…That being said, I made up 40,000′ of climbing in 7 weeks! I’ll call it a win.

Time on Feet

It turns out when you spend over a day on your feet combined over a 9 day vacation you make up for a lot of time that you weren’t on your feet early in the training plan. With a lot of long days living the dream I have at least surpassed on of my remedial goals.

Pace

Given the elevation and terrain that I ran over, I am happy with the consistency of my pacing. As I noted to my friends early in this cycle, I had two speeds: Long Slow Distance and Short Slow Distance.