Final Workout

Wednesday, September 6th

A real short run today - I ran for about 5 minutes at speeds of between 9:00min/mile and 11:00min/mile. Just a final tuneup for Saturday.

The weather report on Saturday is now a high of 56, with scattered thunderstorms. Could be pretty cool at higher elevations. Assuming it's not pouring rain during the start, here is what I'm planning on taking:

Lightweight rain jacket
Skull cap
Liner Gloves
Fuel Belt with 2 6oz bottles of gatorade
1 Cliff bar
3 Cliff "shots"
extra bandaids
a couple of safety pins
disposable camera

The rain jacket I can tie around my waist, and everything else will fit in my fuel belt. There are 6 aid stations on the course, but they could be as far as an hour apart depending on how fast I'm going, so the food and gatorade is really just backup, I'm not counting on them as my primary source of water/food.

I'll wear running shorts, a long sleeve capilene t-shirt, and wool running socks.

If the weather is bad, I'll probably end up carrying my camelback with an extra layer, some rain pants, and a heavier hat and gloves.

Penultimate Workout

Tuesday, September 5th

I did 1/2 mile @ 7% today, at a pace slightly faster than 12:00min/mile. With warmup and cooldown, the workout was exactly 10 minutes. Hardly long enough to get through 2 topics on "Around the Horn". I didn't want to get back to work too quickly, so I did some stretching afterwards.

The 55 minute mountain

Sunday, September 3rd

Went up to the Mt. Evans area and climbed Mt. Spalding (A centennial peak) from Summit Lake. Summit Lake is at 12,850ft, and Mt. Spalding is 13,842, which makes the climb just under 1000 feet of elevation gain. It was cold and windy when I started - but very clear, not a cloud in the sky. My goal was to summit in 30 minutes or less, and I just barely missed this, making the summit in 30:54. I jogged a bit on the way down, to make sure I did it in under an hour, and did the return trip in 24:00, for a total time of 54:54 - just under 55 minutes! Total house-to-house time was 3:45 - only in Colorado!!

The Mt. Evans road leaves a little something to be desired. It's the type of road that as a kid would have me screaming "Dad, you're too close to the edge, I can't see the white line! Dad - you're too close!!!". Of course, there is no white line, and in some places there are visible chunks of the road that are falling off. They must have to do a lot of work on this road, and I really wonder if it's economically feasible in the long run. Of course, I'm sure the $10/car doesn't hurt the bottom line.

Another 20 minutes

Thursday, August 31st

Went to the rec center today - did 1 mile @ 10:00min/mile pace, then did some walking @ 15% grade, with speeds increasing from 16:12min/mile to 15:00mile. Total workout was 20 minutes, including warmup and cooldown.

I like these short workouts - I left my house at 4:45 and was home by 5:15. I like the strategy of keeping up the intensity, just making the workouts shorter. I still feel like I get a hard workout, but I can tell I have a lot more energy left over afterwards. Next week I'll put a time limit of 10 minutes on these workouts, and my plan is to do my last one on Wednesday.

Now, the weather just needs to cooperate. weather.com is predicting showers on Saturday and Sunday for Ouray. Same thing for Telluride.