Last weekend I felt my fitness returning. Wednesday last week I got in another killer road ride to the tune of 95 miles, 9000 ft climbing in five and half hours. With the solid training I’ve gotten in over the last several weeks and decent showing at the Firecracker 50 the previous week, I thought I had a better than average shot at winning the next Mountain States Cup race in Snowmass. So Thursday and Friday I decided I needed to take it easy with some swimming and easy spinning to rest up. Good call.
Saturday I woke up feeling tired after sleeping in a tent (Aspen is not known for it’s affordable accommodations) and not 100% to be honest. I had my usual pancake and egg breakfast and large 2% latte at the Main Street Cafe in Aspen, CO. Good stuff! Later when warming up on the bike I felt OK and was excited to race.
Breakfast in Aspen
All smiles at the start
The course at Snowmass is a tough one. Two laps, each 12 miles long, 3000 feet of climbing and at 9000+ ft elevation. Sick!
Once the gun went off it starts straight up hill for 30+ minutes. My favorite. I made my way to the lead group which dwindled down to just me and two others half way up the first climb. I patiently let my co-leaders set the pace the rest of the way up the climb, through the technical forest singletrack, across the several stream crossings and fast switchback descents. Near the end of the lap there is another leg-busting climb up some switchbacks and up some steep doubletrack. I was right on the lead duo and anxiously waiting to make my move. With about 500 meters left of the climb I couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped around them with a sharp acceleration. Once over the top I looked back and there was no one in sight. I flew down the final ripping descent back to the start/finish area with sole ownership of the lead.
After grabbing my bottle in the feed zone I put my head down and rode away, back up the climb and soloed it all the way back around the course and cruised in for the finish with a 5 minute gap over second place. Super-Sweet feeling! It felt effortless and I was smiling the whole way. Days like these happen once or twice a season. Now I can only hope I can build upon this as I head into the second half of my Xterra season.
All smiles on the podium
Sunday was a chill errand running recovery ride day. I feel like I recovered well, but heading into more intensity this week it made more sense to take it easy so I can go hard in the coming days. Monday I hit the pool, got in another recovery ride and weight session at the gym. Today I made it to the running track for some speed work: 200′s, 400′s and 800′s were on the menu. I felt pretty good and was able to hit most of my time goals.
I’ve decided to put a little more emphasis on my run training over the next several weeks as that area seems to have left me as of this season. I will be incorporating speed work, tempo runs and of course hill intervals into my weekly routine to hopefully find my running legs again. I’ll back off a bit on the bike to allow for more run volume and see how my body responds. I’ll keep you posted.
The last two weeks have been all about re-establishing my aerobic base. I spent a lot of time putting in long miles with big climbs on the bike and long miles on the trails in my running shoes. I can already feel the fitness coming back from my mid-season meltdown, err…peak period.
I’ll sum it up quickly by saying I got in 4 trail runs of 1:45-2:00 in length with at least 3000 feet of climbing each, 5 long 85-105 mile road rides with 8000-11,000 feet of climbing each, several swims (although really not as much as I should), and several other shorter maintenance/recovery rides and runs. I also revisited the gym five times for some strength training to polish up the guns.
Another highlight was doing one of my favorite races, Firecracker 50, in Breckenridge on the 4th of July. This marathon mountain bike race consisting of 50 miles and 11,000 feet of climbing kicks my ass every year and leaves me a stronger rider mentally and physically for the second half of the year. Once again, it was the National Championship Marathon Event, and once again I just narrowly missed winning the thing. Last year I finished second, this year third with nearly the exact same time. I think next year I may make this race a priority and actually taper a bit before it so I can have a shot at winning it, unlike this year where I did a 100 mile, 10,000 foot day two days prior. I REALLY want that National Champions “stars-n-stripes” jersey!
Anyway, progress is being made. This weekend I will race another mountain bike race in Aspen. This is another tough ass-kicker and will make for a nice conclusion to my second-half-of-season base build up. I’ll try and get some pics and let you know how it goes.
CW
Here is my “almost” proven method to the Firecracker 50:
Step 1. Order a big pancake breakfast……..
Step 2. Eat the big pancake breakfast……….
Step 3. Finish on the podium
Simple yet effective. It will be “officially” proven once I’m standing on the top step!
Last week I got back into the training groove a bit. This week I feel as if I have found my lost training mojo. I’m ready to hit it hard as my friend James likes to say.
Including this week, there are 7 weeks left leading up to the next big Xterra in Ogden, Utah. Those of you who know me, or have been reading this blog since last season, know that Ogden has historically been my best race of seasons past. The course suits me very well and I really enjoy all aspects of the course. I will once again be making this one of two top prority events of my season (the other being Xterra Nationals in Tahoe).
How do I plan to get my A-game back in the second half of my season? It seems to have left me high and dry at the bigger races this year so far. This is my plan:
Last week I made my serious return to training. I got in some good workouts and treated it as an early season prep week to get back into the groove and work out all the kinks from the previous weeks of minimal training. I got in a few good long rides on the road bike and mtn bike, a few solid swims and a couple of long trail runs. By Sunday I was already feeling much better. My body craves volume and the more I train, the better I typically feel. I think this comes from years of 30+ hour weeks on the bike back when I was racing bikes full time. I often had some of my better perfomances going into races with high volume training and expecting to be tired.
This week and next will be a return to Base. Translation: high volume, low intensity training with an emphasis on aerobic conditioning and strength. This means big rides with lots of climbing and big run miles (relative to me, anyway) with hill and tempo work and a few longer transition runs.
Following the two weeks of base, I’ll move right into two weeks of Race Prep training (Friel Build). Lessen the volume a bit to make room for higher intensity intervals at and above LT on the bike and run and frequent transition runs at speed.
The fifth week will be a well needed recovery week.
After that it’s time to peak with Peak Workouts and frequent recovery sessions. Followed by Race Week preparations.
So there you have it. Operation Ogden from last season, revisited. Solid results followed then, so I’ll be sticking close to what I did last year in hopes of somthing similar.
Below are some photos and a video of the long Mt Evans ride I did last week with buddies Rob, Luke, Adam and Danielle. Eighty miles and 9000 ft of climbing. That’s a good start towards the second half of my season. Check back frequently as I intend on keeping things updated on an every few days basis. Thanks for reading!
CW
On the road to Mt. Evans, 8600 ft elevation. Nice sunny day.
At the summit, 14,200 ft elevation. Brrrrrrr. (l-r: rob, me, luke)
If you’ve never been to the top of Evans, this is what it look like descending the highest paved road in North America…….
It’s a little sketchy as I was riding one handed, holding the camera out in front of me, making hairpin turns and dodging potholes. Probably not the safest thing to do…. hopefully my mom isn’t reading my blog…. if she is, maybe she’ll buy me a helmet cam for my birthday….
