A Tumbling Pace

Yesterday I ran my second time trial up Beak Peak via Fern Canyon for my coach Connie at ATC.  She is testing me every 4 weeks or so to see how I am responding to the ATC training and the running.   This is a 4.15 mile, 3065 feet climb, a 14.2 % average grade, the same as Imogene.  I got to the summit in 1:12:35 last time and 1:10:42 this time, almost a 2 minute improvement.   Just like last time I hiked the final 20, 30 minutes of really steep grade.  On the way down the Hokas really helped me descend much more aggressively.  Last time my round trip time was 2:10:00, this time it was 1:57:56.   I also didn’t hardly push the pace on the way down, running a very comfortable pace in the last 3 miles.  So a good improvement.  Judging by this time I can summit in 2:25/2:30 at Imogene, around the same time as last year, I am not seeing massive gains like I did right after I started training serious at ATC.    I want to summit around 2:10 but “wants” have little to do with my fitness which hasn’t fundamentally changed, it seems the best I can hope for is a few minute improvement. 

After this time trial I did another “ski” fitness test at ATC.   Connie let me bring my own soundtrack so I put on some Sir Lucious Leftfoot followed by Jay-Z and got to work on the following:

Broadjump: 91in.  Same as last time

Max Front Squat: 230.  5lbs heavier than last time.

Max Power Clean: 175.  5lbs heavier than last time.

15 minutes of the following: 20 air squats, 20 air lunges, 20 jumping lunges, 10 squat jumps, 30 seconds of rest.  I did 9 rounds.  Same as last time.  In order to get 10, which I almost did, you have to finish each round in under a minute, something I will remember next time.

10 minutes of 70lb sandbag getups - 76 reps, 4 more than last time.

Good improvement all around.  I was coming off a good 3 easy days so felt refreshed.