Lone Tree loop+ 8:00 AM
60s, overcast, dry
mind/body - feeling really good
easy effort
Nice run today with almost ideal conditions again. 7:04 pace with only about 800 ft of climbing. My legs feel fully recovered (as they should) after Pokey. Believe it or not I have yet to make a trip down to Pikes, so this Saturday I will make my debut. I'll get a good 5 hour run with tons of climbing.
Every since coming back from Pocatello my mind has been consumed with thoughts of Hard Rock. I'm #2 on the wait list and will most likely get in, but my mind set is that I'm already in... So naturally I start thinking of strategy. I'm climbing better than I ever have before, while my descending is still the same old conservative approach. Each of the 4 times I've done HR I've continually gotten faster but I feel like I'm pretty close to my ceiling. In order for me to lay down a faster time than last year I need to nail a "perfect" race... but I know there is no such thing as a "perfect" race at HR. HR comes down to how quickly you can resolve the bad spots. Because bad spots will happen. The other piece to the puzzle is how hard to go at San Juan Solstice? People who have raced hard at San Juan Solstice come back to HR and not do too well - don't know why that is but it concerns me. I want to do well at SJS but I'm not willing to sacrifice HR. So I guess for SJS we'll just have to see how things shake out during the race.
3 comments:
Nick C and I asked Nick P this on Saturday, so same question to you -
Poles at HR or no? If you haven't used them in the past, could you get past that ceiling.
That's a good question JM. There are only a few choice places to use the poles, i.e. Handies, Grant-Swamp. So what to do with the poles while not using them? Do I want the extra baggage and are they really gonna help me that much? Karl seems to think yes. I saw Jared Campbell use poles up Bird Camp road last year for the sake of having them on Virginius - he carried the poles more times than he used them. Having said that, I've never even tried poles so maybe I would be more inclined to use them if I trained with them to get me above the ceiling. Which is still a possibility. So to answer your question - I don't know. Stay tuned.
It seems (to me anyway) that you are a good bit faster this year...I would think that would mean a faster time at HR.
Yeah, I don't know about the pole thing. Seems like they could be more of a hassle then anything. I think the key would be to come up with a good way to store them when not in use. The biggest drawback for me is you can't use a handheld bottle with them but that is just my choice in terms of hydration...
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