A Tumbling Pace

Sunday I went out with friends to Pike’s Peak for the famous 3-2-1 training run.  You drive to the top, run 3 miles down, summit up, 2 miles down, summit, 1 mile down and summit again.  It’s great training for that special type of willpower and fitness needed to run up and down off the summit of a 14-eener.  It’s all very runnable on Pikes given you have the legs and lungs for it.  I was strong but coming off 4 weeks of solid training, a week of time trials, and a 15 mile run the day before at altitude, I was distinctly exhausted the next day.   I went out for a little cool down run around Boulder, the first non climbing run I had run in weeks and to my surprise a bit, my legs felt really weak, even more than they should.  More importantly I felt pretty grumpy and unmotivated.  So I decided to take the week off, no climbing, no hard ATC, just a few mild runs and some mountain biking.  I also took 2 complete days off and did nothing.   

Sunday I race the Eldora 11K.  It’s just an 11K and just another trail race.   But I love to do my best and compete and want to see what all the Boulder peak running and RMNP running has put into my legs.    I have last year’s time to compare to when the race was 1K shorter.  Last year I ran 50:25 for the 10K, an 8:08 pace, and finished 35th overall out of 213 people.   This year the race is a bit longer and so I can’t use last year’s time to set a goal.  But my A standard is a top 25 finish.  I also would like an average of under 7:40 per mile if I can but again I don’t know this year’s course exactly (can’t even find the profile online) so not sure what is possible.   I won’t say what a B or C is because I am set on getting an A.