Rut Training Run - tapering was an option?

Tapering? I normally don't taper well. I experimented with it off and on over the years. Right now I'm watching my stats in both Training Peaks and the Stryd Power Center so I can see where I'm at in readiness to race. I experimented with tapering for the Broken Arrow VK and I think I was a little flat for that one. Could I have finished 10 minutes faster? I don't think so with the technical terrain, especially the snow.

Scenery at the start of the Broken Arrow VK in Squaw Valley

This week I'm experimenting with tapering for the Rut Training Run. I'm pushing my stats for three runs in a row of greater than 220 RSS (Stryd) or 150 TSS (Training Peaks). This is done on the treadmill at roughly 3.1 miles in about 64 minutes (5k) at 22% incline (a little over 1000m of climb).

There's my Stryd Race Readiness from the Metabolic Fitness graph in the Improvement tab. It's right on 65.

40-65 Skill means you are prepared for a half marathon race.
55-70 Skill means you are prepared for a marathon race.

I'm currently at a little over 7,000' of vertical for this week. Tomorrow I will be over 10,000' and then I'll be done running till Saturday at the Rut Training Run. I'll be doing some cycling tonight, Wednesday (OTB Trainer so lucky to get a mile or two in) and Thursday.

I think I made a mistake for the Broken Arrow VK by not getting in any appreciable vertical early that week. We'll see how I feel on Saturday and apply the lessons learned for my next race. Possibly another "C" race in early August.

All in all it's been awesome to try to come back to running, such as it is with all the vertical. Yes, it's fast vertical, but it's slow running. I've felt it when I've been out doing 10:00 miles out on the road. Ugh.

Map My Fitness (Map My Run, by Under Armour) has a 1000 km challenge every year. I've entered it for a handful of years running (pun) now, and every year was so totally lucky to get in even 300 km. This year I'm way ahead of pace. I'm over 800 km already, putting my solidly in the top 5% of registrants. Super duper. I'm actually on pace (according to Strava) to exceed 1000 miles this year.

Catching Up With My VK Training

Today was interesting, to say the least. Work has been a struggle, as we're moving into a new building which is apparently an owners' wet dream, but downgrading the employees even more than in the current building, if that's at all possible. I won't go into details, but right now we're sitting elbow to elbow at kids picnic tables holding hands, singing Kumbya, and getting nothing at all done. The Google studies this nonsense was based on used interns (slave labor) and they believed that if they were super productive they'd get their own offices, but instead were let go at the end of their counter-intuitively productive runs.

That stress has been difficult to overcome, and has led to a reduction in recovery, which is an expected result. 

On top of that I've bumped up my outdoor running, shooting for various VK-Like ascents in the afternoon. In spite of the snow and slime and mud and muck and 30 degree spring weather. In both cases of recent attempts I've had to bail after 2400 to 2600 feet of ascent. One for a creek running down the trail and the other for slushy snow over slimy mud at the edge of a seriously 500' vertical drop onto Hwy 92 up the Alpine Loop Road.

On Saturday I ended up riding the Eagle Race Course on my mountain bike, leading a group slowly around on a warm-up lap for a Time Trial attempt at the Varsity Team. Oddly that resulted in some awesome heart rate bumps, since it was effectively a maximum exertion full body workout that I wasn't much used to. I haven't ridden outside since December, except for the bike skills classes I lead for the Utah NICA League.

I've been doing a lot of Zwift, and even that has taken a hit lately with the outside steep runs added into my training. I've noticed that running up the hills, trying to emulate a VK, that I start getting slower and weaker in a couple of steps at 60, 75 and 90 minutes. I need to train around that, so looked at my Stryd to calculate what a good gap would be for a 90 minute effort, and decided that if I could get on the treadmill at 21% and hold it there at 220 watts for 90 minutes I'd be filling in one of those gaps.

[Stryd Power Center screenshots to think about]

Like I said, I had a bad night and worse morning, without really good quality sleep so I decided not to get up at my usual 4 AM and instead slept in till 5:15. Nice. But I'm really pretty well behind. So this afternoon after work I did it. Did 3.8 miles and 4200' in 90 minutes at 21% averaging pretty dang close to 220 watts.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take my daughter to her Gymnastics Regional Meet in San Diego. While there I got to run at precious oxygen rich sea level and hit a one mile PR. Nice. It was inspirational. I also got to do some serious hill climbs in the area around Sunset Cliffs. 

BTW: I was watching Anime on Amazon Prime Video while on the treadmill and in the sauna. 

Anyway, just thought I'd take a few minutes here to catch you up on what I've been doing lately. I'll try to spend more time here in the next few months as I prepare for my most important races and events this year.

Please subscribe and don't miss the next few posts, okay?

Stryd Tech Support Question About Incline Speeds

I have been curious about using a Stryd pod for a little while now, especially with Zwift, since it might pair more consistently than the Zwift Pod, or my Wahoo Tickr Run, or my Garmin Pod or my Adidas Pod, none of which are really accurate, or connect consistently.

As a side bonus, if I use the Stryd App and sync to Strava, I can get in my usual steep treadmill training and out in the hills maybe figure out a way to more efficiently move in the mountains. You know, with the Run The Rut Lone Peak VK coming up in like 30 weeks.

Question:
After reading this

https://support.stryd.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002319913-How-do-I-set-incline-in-the-Android-app-

I was curious, is there a maximum incline or minimum speed that Stryd will accept for incline training on a treadmill?

It might be typical for me to set a treadmill at 22% at 3.2mph give or take a little.

Thanks!

Charles Miske

Response:

(Stryd Community and Help Center)

Jan 23, 09:36 MST
Hi Charles,

Thank you for contacting Stryd. Let me try to help you!

The Stryd app allows an incline from -50% to +50% and there are no restrictions on pace. At 22% incline and 3.2 mph, Stryd will still work!

Let me know if you have additional questions!

R

+++++++++++++++++++

So yes, it looks like it will do what I want it to do. More later folks!

Catching Up With Some Stats

In January I pre-tested working on a new goal. I started by trying to do the rough equivalent of 3 x 1.5 VK's a week on the incline treadmill while I build up my strength. Some of them I had been doing with a 12 lb weighted vest. I should probably also work my way up to a 25 lb backpack.

[Weighted Backpack Treadmill Training Guide]

To be honest, it's a pretty hefty expenditure of energy. It's apparently not recoverable while also getting in 100 mile weeks on the Cycle Trainer and outdoor mountain bike riding.

---

1.5 x VK = > 4.66 mi and > 4921'

 Following screenshots from my Wahoo Fitness App, connected to my Adidas Foot Pod

The footpod calibrates itself whenever I run outside with the GPS on. It's usually off a bit. I'm not terribly keen on it, but it's what I have that connects between my phone and foot.

---

Above are examples of the type of stats I accumulate from my workout. It's pretty strenuous, and I am not able to do it completely hands-free at this point.

Where did I get the idea to do 4.5 x VK in a week?

Let's examine the details about what a VK means. A VK is about 1000 meters of vertical gain over the course of about 5k of distance. Multiply that by 1.5 for the daily goals and you get 4.66 mi with 4921' of vertical gain per workout.

Multiply that by 3 and over the course of the week you get in a bit less than 15 miles and a bit less than 15,000 vertical feet.

A well-known author on mountain fitness has expressed that training goals in the 15,000' per week range put you in an elite group of successful mountain sports folks, and I thought that sounded pretty cool. When I was training for Elbrus Race 2010 and 2013 I was doing between 10k and 15k per week regularly so it sounded about right.

Example stats from a recent trainer ride showing energy expenditure

---

Sadly, my position as a certified Mountain Bike Coach requires me to be able to ride with my team for most training sessions, which requires me to maintain a high level of riding fitness. So right now I am not able to sustain that level of training in the time period I have.

By time period I have, I mean that I only have about 90 minutes per day average to complete this workout, so I have to maintain a speed that gets my vertical in while also getting in my approximate VK simulated workout.

I pretty much took February off from the treadmill and just recently added in Stairmaster workouts to at least break the monotony of sitting on a trainer for 90 minutes per day.

I did some math and think I have an idea of how to at least get in the vertical, if not the miles. I'll report back here when I get that tested out.

Training Goals for Pikes Peak Ascent

I've been wanting to do the Pikes Peak Ascent now for quite some time. I'm in the process of qualifying with a half marathon time of 2:25 or better. I'm shooting for the St. George City Half Marathon January 16, 2016.

As soon as that's done I need to start training for the Pikes Peak Ascent. I managed to get hold of the results from the past five years and compiled them into a spreadsheet of goal times.

Key	Age	Top 10 Finish	Top 10 Pace	Top 3 Finish	Top 3 Pace	Top 10 VAM
Averages	56.58	3:28:44	0:15:40	3:12:57	0:14:29	688.02

The above row is from my spreadsheet, and represents averages from the previous five years, 2010 - 2015 as found on the Pikes Peak Marathon WEBSITE. Now I realize fully that I am not in a position to train as much as necessary for a top three finish, let alone a top ten finish, but it makes for some admirable goal setting for training.

As you can see below, hitting a half marathon distance on an incline treadmill set at 12% requires about a 13:38 pace, slightly better than the average top three finish pace. It's been a long time since I've run at 12% so I can't say right off how doable it is.

On the other hand, if you look at the Stepmill calculator results, hanging out at 65 steps per minute for three hours is quite doable. I've done it several times while training for Elbrus Race. The problem of course is adding in the extra effort of moving forward, since the Stepmill comes in about 12 miles short of a half marathon.

Stepmill Training Goals: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Steps/Minute: 65
Vertical Feet: 7800.00
Miles: 1.66
Average MPH: 0.554
Average Pace: 108:18
Vertical/Hour: 2600.00'
Vertical/Minute: 43.33'
VAM: 792.5

Incline Treadmill: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Distance: 13.2
Incline: 12%
Elevation Gain: 8363.52'
Average MPH: 4.4
Average Pace: 13:38
Vertical/Hour: 2788'
Vertical/Minute: 46.46'
VAM: 849.7

Vertical K (Kilometer) Training Goals

The Vertical K or Vertical Kilometer, is a standard Skyrunning event. Basically you ascend about one kilometer, or 3,281' on as steep and rugged a route as the race organizers can come up with. Most that I've seen listed, at ski resorts, cover a distance of about 5k, or 3.1 miles. In essence, the Qualifier for Elbrus Race is a Vertical K, ascending 3,570' in approximately 2.5 miles. In fact, as I've been told, the Fox Elbrus Race, typically held in May, uses the route of the Qualifier as their sanctioned Vertical K.

Kilian Jornet, one of the best in the world at the Vertical K

Since the Vertical K so closely emulates the Qualifier, it's an excellent training goal. In the Big Sky, MT Run The Rut race of 2014, results ranged from Kilian's win at 46:12.79, to the last place finisher at 2:55:07.56 for the men, and 1:02:13.51 to 2:27:18.57 for the women. I created a training goals spreadsheet for the Incline Treadmill, shooting for completing a Vertical K (3,281') in 40:00, 60:00 80:00 and 120:00 minutes. All but the first and last columns show target Speeds for the Inclination in the far left column. The far right column then is the total miles to achieve the Vertical K. Since most runs are in the range of a 5k, or 3.1 miles, an Average Inclination around 20-24% would be a good target training range.

Update: Did a test run at 24% on the Incline Treadmill ARTICLE HERE

Vertical K Incline Treadmill Training Goals

	60 minutes	40 minutes	80 minutes	120 minutes	Total Distance
Incline %	3,281	3,281	3,281	3,281	3,281
9	6.90	9.21	5.18	3.45	6.90
9.5	6.54	8.72	4.91	3.27	6.54
10	6.21	8.28	4.66	3.11	6.21
10.5	5.92	7.89	4.44	2.96	5.92
11	5.65	7.53	4.24	2.82	5.65
11.5	5.40	7.20	4.05	2.70	5.40
12	5.18	6.90	3.88	2.59	5.18
12.5	4.97	6.63	3.73	2.49	4.97
13	4.78	6.37	3.58	2.39	4.78
13.5	4.60	6.14	3.45	2.30	4.60
14	4.44	5.92	3.33	2.22	4.44
14.5	4.29	5.71	3.21	2.14	4.29
15	4.14	5.52	3.11	2.07	4.14
15.5	4.01	5.34	3.01	2.00	4.01
16	3.88	5.18	2.91	1.94	3.88
16.5	3.77	5.02	2.82	1.88	3.77
17	3.66	4.87	2.74	1.83	3.66
17.5	3.55	4.73	2.66	1.78	3.55
18	3.45	4.60	2.59	1.73	3.45
18.5	3.36	4.48	2.52	1.68	3.36
19	3.27	4.36	2.45	1.64	3.27
19.5	3.19	4.25	2.39	1.59	3.19
20	3.11	4.14	2.33	1.55	3.11
20.5	3.03	4.04	2.27	1.52	3.03
21	2.96	3.95	2.22	1.48	2.96
21.5	2.89	3.85	2.17	1.45	2.89
22	2.82	3.77	2.12	1.41	2.82
22.5	2.76	3.68	2.07	1.38	2.76
23	2.70	3.60	2.03	1.35	2.70
23.5	2.64	3.53	1.98	1.32	2.64
24	2.59	3.45	1.94	1.29	2.59
24.5	2.54	3.38	1.90	1.27	2.54
25	2.49	3.31	1.86	1.24	2.49
25.5	2.44	3.25	1.83	1.22	2.44
26	2.39	3.19	1.79	1.19	2.39
26.5	2.34	3.13	1.76	1.17	2.34
27	2.30	3.07	1.73	1.15	2.30
27.5	2.26	3.01	1.69	1.13	2.26
28	2.22	2.96	1.66	1.11	2.22
28.5	2.18	2.91	1.64	1.09	2.18
29	2.14	2.86	1.61	1.07	2.14
29.5	2.11	2.81	1.58	1.05	2.11
30	2.07	2.76	1.55	1.04	2.07
30.5	2.04	2.72	1.53	1.02	2.04
31	2.00	2.67	1.50	1.00	2.00
31.5	1.97	2.63	1.48	0.99	1.97
32	1.94	2.59	1.46	0.97	1.94
32.5	1.91	2.55	1.43	0.96	1.91
33	1.88	2.51	1.41	0.94	1.88
33.5	1.85	2.47	1.39	0.93	1.85
34	1.83	2.44	1.37	0.91	1.83
34.5	1.80	2.40	1.35	0.90	1.80
35	1.78	2.37	1.33	0.89	1.78
35.5	1.75	2.33	1.31	0.88	1.75
36	1.73	2.30	1.29	0.86	1.73
36.5	1.70	2.27	1.28	0.85	1.70
37	1.68	2.24	1.26	0.84	1.68
37.5	1.66	2.21	1.24	0.83	1.66
38	1.64	2.18	1.23	0.82	1.64
38.5	1.61	2.15	1.21	0.81	1.61
39	1.59	2.12	1.19	0.80	1.59
39.5	1.57	2.10	1.18	0.79	1.57
40	1.55	2.07	1.17	0.78	1.55

Updated Incline Treadmill VAM Training Targets

When I updated all of the statistics for the current course records as of Elbrus Race 2013 it revealed a need to update the incline treadmill training targets.

% Incline/VAM	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
3	4.14	8.28	12.43	16.57	20.71	24.85
6	2.07	4.14	6.21	8.28	10.36	12.43
9	1.38	2.76	4.14	5.52	6.90	8.28
12	1.04	2.07	3.11	4.14	5.18	6.21
15	0.83	1.66	2.49	3.31	4.14	4.97
18	0.69	1.38	2.07	2.76	3.45	4.14
21	0.59	1.18	1.78	2.37	2.96	3.55
24	0.52	1.04	1.55	2.07	2.59	3.11
27	0.46	0.92	1.38	1.84	2.30	2.76
30	0.41	0.83	1.24	1.66	2.07	2.49
33	0.38	0.75	1.13	1.51	1.88	2.26
36	0.35	0.69	1.04	1.38	1.73	2.07
39	0.32	0.64	0.96	1.27	1.59	1.91
40	0.31	0.62	0.93	1.24	1.55	1.86
Top 10 Classic/Extreme
Record Qualifier/Extreme
Finish Qualifier/Extreme
Finish Classic
Record Classic
Top 10 Qualifier
Women's Record Classic
Women's Record Qualifier = 900
Women's Record Extreme = 650
< 4000 M Overcompensation Training

As you can see, I've included color coded columns for easier reading. I added in a 1200 VAM overcompensation training column. I added in more specific targets for the following categories:

• Cutoff (finish)
• Top 10
• Course Record
• Women's

I've been considering this spreadsheet before every one of my treadmill workouts so I have some motivation to attempt to stay inside one of these categories for training sessions where possible. No, at 1% I will not be going 30+MPH.

Training Considerations:

We'll skip the Extreme in this section. If you're training for the Extreme I'll trust that you can figure out from this next section how to adjust these numbers for your own training. To squeeze it into the Phase 2 training from a previous article, at least once a week you should, at minimum:

• Finish a Qualifier
• Finish a Classic
• Simulate the Downhill Sections

Finish a Qualifier:

Incline Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 24-36% and cruise at 600 VAM for 3 miles.

Standard Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 15% (or max) and cruise at 600 VAM for 3 miles.

In general, a VAM is a VAM and going 1.3 MPH at one angle and 2.6 MPH at another should have some carry-over benefit, though it's not as sport-specific. You should be able to plug your data into the Incline Treadmill Calculator and get more than 2.8 miles and more than 3500' of vertical. These are your targets for a Qualifier simulation.

Downhill: set your treadmill to 1% and cruise at 4-6 MPH for 3 miles. If you want you can do this on the same day or another day, though on the same day it would simulate the same type of load as on the event day. Vertical is irrelevant. If by some chance you have access to a decline treadmill then set it to -6% and cruise at 4-ish MPH (I think that's the max speed at -6%) - adjust accordingly for your own treadmill capacity, but don't set it to -1% and 8.0 MPH or something else tempting and enticing.

Duration: On the incline treadmill this will be about 2 hours for the uphill section. On a standard treadmill this will be about 80 minutes. The downhill section should take 30-45 minutes. If you do this all together in one day it will take up to 3 hours for the whole workout. If you are also doing running training, like for a half or full marathon, this will take the place of one 5-8 mile, or 3 hour day.

Finish a Classic:

Incline Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 24-36% and cruise at 400 VAM for 5 miles.

Standard Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 15% (or max) and cruise at 400 VAM for 5 miles.

In general, a VAM is a VAM and going 1.3 MPH at one angle and 2.6 MPH at another should have some carry-over benefit, though it's not as sport-specific. You'll want to see Incline Treadmill Calculator stats of more than 4.8 miles and more than 6500' of vertical. Adjust your speeds and inclines to make it work for you.

Downhill: Set your treadmill to 1% and cruise at 4-6 MPH for 5 miles. If you want you can do this on the same day or another day, though on the same day it would simulate the same type of load as on the event day. Again, if you have a decline treadmill available set it to -4% and 4-ish MPH and cruise gently for your 5 miles. Don't worry about vertical when you do this. 

Duration: On the incline treadmill this will take about 5 hours uphill. On a standard treadmill it will take about 3 hours. For the downhill it will take 50-80 minutes. If you do it all on the same day it will be a total of anywhere from 4 to 6.5 hours. If you're also doing running training, this should replace your long run day, just for the time investment, if nothing else. You should have about the same physical/cardio load as running at your endurance or long pace.

Warnings:

Be warned that training downhill running can be tough on your joints and soft tissues of your feet. Go slow, use whatever cushioning you need, and if you have to, work your way into it at about .5% decline at a time until you're comfortable.

When going uphill that steeply and that quickly  you'll be tempted to grab onto the treadmill and hang on for the ride. When you are first training like this it's better to just get in the vertical and miles and slowly work your way into Hands-Free Mode. Ultimately you want to not be hanging on. Otherwise you'll be surprised at how weak and slow you feel when you're suddenly out on the mountain without a handrail. Trekking poles will take up some of the load, but there will be intermittent times between placing them when you have no support. Don't get used to hanging on.