Actually less than that now. The Xterra Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek is my first A race of the year. I kept thinking I didn't need to be in race shape yet because it was so far away, but it is approaching quickly. The course is very hilly on both the bike and the run. 3600 ft of climbing over 15.5 miles on the bike and 1300 ft of climbing over 5.75 miles on the run. Yikes!
Although this probably does suit me since I am a good climber on the bike and run as long as it is not too steep. I've included a lot of very hilly trail runs into my training so I feel really good about the run, but it seems to have sapped some of my speed as well.
I was in Michigan to visit family over Memorial Day weekend. As I mentioned in a previous post, I ran in a 10k when I was there. Flying into Michigan at midnight and a 3.5 hour drive to Traverse City and around 1.5 hours of sleep didn't help matters, but my legs felt slow in the race. Despite being tired from training and traveling, during my warmup I felt good and must have looked intimidating because the eventual winner who ran low 38's asked if I was a pro runner. If you can't be the person to beat in a race, at least look the part, right? I was running without a watch (mine broke) so had no clue of my pace but ran as fast as my legs wanted to go. I felt fine, my breathing was fine, I just felt sluggish. I'm not sure if this is a results of living at altitude and not being able to develop the same speed in my legs, my hill training and lack of speedwork, or my general fatigue. Or a combination. I was having visions of running much faster at sea level, but I actually felt slower.Strange. Any way, so I ran 42:47 for 7th overall and 1st in my AG, which is quite slow for me but afterwards I felt like I could run all day, so I guess that's good.
So now I'm doing some speedwork and hills.
As far as the bike goes, I've been trying to get out and ride more and ride more challenging mountain bike courses in terms of climbing and technical difficulty. I have a road tri (Loveland Lake to Lake) in 2 weeks and I haven't been on my tri bike since early March. Whoops! And then 2 weeks after I have Boulder Peak.
So, I'll have to get out on my tri bike a few times before them. I'm not all that excited about racing these road tris now, but I'm sure once it comes race day I'll be plenty excited.
5 more weeks of solid training, a taper, and hopefully some more speed, strength and skill.
2 comments:
Very exciting!! You will really like the Loveland race I think. I do recommend riding the Boulder Peak course before the race just so you know what to expect. Let me know if you need any other tips, I've done both those races. Good luck with training!!
I did Beaver Creek last year, and the 1st half of the bike felt like riding up the steep side of Plymouth Mountain trail at Deer Creek Canyon park for over an hour straight. I think the fastest male pro bike split used a 19 lb cannondale.
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