Over the river and through the woods.........to Hope Pass

On Sunday we completed the second day of training in Leadville. Day 2 we started our run out at Twin Lakes and climbed our way to Hope Pass then onto Winfield station. The total run was around 25 miles, out and back. I was very conservative on the way out, keeping my HR at 120BPM for most of the time. This paid dividends on the return trip back over Hope Pass. The overall terrain on the way up to Hope Pass was a lot of up and downs through shaded woods. A lot of climbing. Could've gone faster but got with a good group of people and just managed a nice pace. Trip out was 3:15 and return was 2:30 as I was able to run hard for the majority of the time, which was aided by my slow pace over Hope Pass. I will use this strategy on race day. The only problem, is that on race day it's 40 miles out to Twin Lakes- so it'll be interesting to see how the legs are on the return from Winfield Station.

The only part of the course left to run is the first 13 miles which I believe is mostly road or flat dirt trails. So here's some simple math on predicting my times out and back:


Mile 1 - 13 2:00 Hrs
Mile 14- 40 6:00 Hrs
Mile 41- 50 3:15 Hrs
Mile 51- 60 3:00 Hrs
Mile 61- 86 7:00 Hrs
Mile 86-100 3:30 Hrs

Total Time Projected = 24:45

This seems plausible on paper, however come game day it could be a different story. I've got 7 weeks left of training to prepare for this race - hopefully it'll be enough. I could be a standard deviation of up to 2-3 hours if the wheels fall of the wagon in the late stages of the race. I also have not yet run the trails in the dark and will need to do this at least once before the race. Still time left to build muscle mass required in the quads and calves for climbing and descending.

Below is the view from Hope Pass. What did I learn on day 2:





1. Need trekking poles
2. Patience on the climbs are very important
3. Hydration and caloric intake are critical - being consistent with timing
4. Running back from Hope Pass is a good thing as it gets the blood flow back to the quads
5. Be prepared for a change in weather - it sleeted and rained on us
6. Stay focused on HR and pace
7. The crew and pacers are critical to my success
8. Must train on hills and speed walking to succeed

This weekend I will get in at least 40 miles - day 1 hills - day 2 10 miles of speed walking and 10 miles of running at a descent pace.

Training regimen will be changed drastically from triathlon to trail running prep.

More to follow