This project began with a team from the Rocky Mountains of Utah and Colorado at the International Elbrus Race on Elbrus, one of the Seven Summits, an 18,500' volcano in the Caucasus of Russia. We took 3rd and 5th place in Fall 2013. Follow training, test races, goals, technique, theory and fun as we work to achieve our dreams. Right now I'm alone here [Charles] so this reflects my own races, runs, training, and challenges. Please subscribe and comment when/if you can. Please share.
I'm sure you've seen them on Instagram and Facebook, etc, but it's common for runners to post pics of all their stuff laid out or being packed, with all the cool kid hashtags. I took some pics, but they aren't really all laid out and I didn't do all the cool kid hashtags.
Here's my suitcase almost packed, and a few other baggies I'll be putting into my personal item carry on. I'll be carrying on this suitcase too, as I don't want to pay the exorbitant fees for checked luggage. Though I guess technically I have airline points that would earn me a freebie checked bag.
That being said, it took me quite a bit of effort to get my gear together. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll be able to pause enough in the hotel in Reno to get some better gear spread pics and maybe explain a few of my choices. I was hoping to encompass a broad range of potential weather conditions.
I was thrilled to find out that much of the ridge will be clear of snow, except for a few of the usual spots for the Vertical Kilometer (VK) race on Friday June 21 2019. The organizers posted a video of the famous Stairway to Heaven section of the course, showing a little bit of snow to be traversed at the base of the stairs. Check out their video:
Here is a shot of the advanced weather report for you.
Just yesterday evening I did a big push up the trail on Box Elder Peak, and surprisingly was able to push 700 VAM in spite of much of the trail being under water and scary rough crossings like so.
This is final bridge that stopped me from going further. It was too dangerous to cross.
The Broken Arrow Sky Race organizers have posted on their Facebook:
VK drop bags will be available on top of Squaw Peak (at the finish line). It's helpful to pack a warm layer here so you can hang out and cheer on the other finishers.... but please note that these bags have to be left at the registration tents no later than 830am! Remember ... you'll be cruising down to High Camp (another mile) from the top of the peak too.
I was curious about the descent, and that sort-of a little-bit answers it.
There are patches of dirt for sure and the entire Stairway to Heaven ridge line are dry .... Remember that while there is a LOT of snow on the course it's likely to be 80-degrees on race day. Essentially you're feet will be on a winter surface while the rest of you will be experiencing summer.
So let's see where I am in my training over the next few days. Remember that to me this is a "B RACE" which means it's more important than a mere fitness-test race, which is coming up for me in July, but not as important as an "A RACE" which is my August event.
After doing long hill repeat workouts two days in a row, I decided to mix it up with non-running. That pretty much leaves the Stairmaster Stepmill. An hour VK on the stepmill requires that I go at 85 steps per minute for an hour.
Anything over 1000 VAM is better than an hour VK (by definition, meaning that 1000 meters is a kilometer, and an hour is 60 minutes - DOH!)
Oh, don't forget I was wearing a 12 lb vest too
Just let me tell you. It's dang tough. I don't recommend this to anyone of reasonably normal sanity. That being said, and hour VK is a totally admirable goal. [ Heart rate on STRAVA ]
Shots of the console readout after the workout
BTW: I was wearing a 12 lb weighted vest. Just sayin'
The schedule for US Skyrunning has been announced. Here are the VK races coming up. These are my primary interest. I'll share them with you here.
VERTICAL K:
1. CALIFORNIA: Tahoe VK – Lake Tahoe – June 16
2. NEW YORK: Whiteface VK – Wilmington – July 8
3. COLORADO: Audi Power of 4 VK – Aspen Snowmass – August 5
4. MONTANA: Lone Peak VK – Big Sky – September 1 (SWS)
5. ARIZONA: Flagstaff Sky Race VK – Flagstaff – October 7 [LINK] to more info Training:
So what am I recommending for training?
Right now I'm doing decline treadmill 5K's with a target less than 30:00. Over the next few weeks I'll be evolving into alternating with 25% treadmill 5K's with a target of less than 72:00. That will be tough, I'm sure.
Additionally I'm cross-training with Cycle Commuting, with a general target of about 80 miles per week, with the occasional off-road MTB ride, maybe 15-30 miles total. If the weather isn't cooperating, or just for some power endurance, I'm doing trainer work, trying to get in at least 16 miles in 60:00. That's tough because we have a Kinetic Trainer, so there isn't an "easy" setting.
What's just around the bend? Hang on, come back soon, and I'll share how I'm going to mix this into sport specific training for a VK.
I just got an email from the race organizers and I'll share some of the most pertinent information with you here:
oCARPOOL and arrive no earlier than 4:30pm to allow the parking lot to clear out from guests skiing during the day. If you arrive early it is possible you will be held at bottom of mountain.
oPre-Race meeting takes place at 5pm in Hart Prairie Lodge.
oRace starts at 5:15pm from the KU arch at the base of the Sunset Lift.
oHeadlamps and water bottles are highly recommended.
oNo pets or alcohol on the race course.
oRacers will be chipped for timing purposes. YOU MUST go through the FINISH ARCH to have your time recorded.
oAgassiz Course. AZSB reports that the upper mountain terrain is open with natural un-groomed snow. The route is technical and hazards do exist for skiers. Skin and ski with caution and know your limits. AZSB reserves the right to make the Agassiz Course “traction only” based on changing conditions.
Additionally, in a few more risky sections they've set up gates with skiers to the left and foot traffic to the right.
I'm packing my gear this morning. Here are some weather screenshots:
Thank you Weather.com. The snow report from Arizona Snow Bowl HERE says that it's spring conditions, which is usually a euphemism for rough and variable, with slush during warm hours and chopped frozen slush in the cold hours. That ties in with the report from Kahtoola.
Note: I tagged this with vertical k, even though it's not, because it has some of the same characteristics and I've done a VK there in the past on the same course, and will do one again this fall.
That's actually an incomplete description. The text on the web site, as well as the email I received from my Kahtoola Rep was just a bit vague about it. It's actually round-trip. I emailed and asked about it.
Race Time is Round Trip Time
As you can see, there are three different courses. What you can't see, is there are open and masters categories, as well as team and individual. I registered as a Masters Individual. You're allowed to use a slew of uphill traction devices, and must take your uphill motivators downhill. Um, if you want to ride a snowboard down, it has to be the split-board you shuffled up on.
Uphill Travel is allowed at Brighton Ski Resort
Since I'm training for Elbrus as my long-term goal, I'll be ascending in spikes, and I guess descending in spikes. Unless I don't make the cutoff and have to ride the chairs down. That would be sad. So I'm training outside a bit, within the range of recovery I know I can handle right now. I'm also on the treadmill and stairmaster quite a bit since it's easier to manage recovery.
Uphill Travel Restrictions at Brighton Ski Resort in Utah: CLICK HERE
There are cutoffs for the Agassiz Climb
Please note to ensure racer safety, the Agassiz Climb has two cut off times enforced by Arizona Snowbowl staff. You will be disqualified if cut off times are not met.
1st Cut off Agassiz Climb 50 Minute cut off – Ridgeway and Upper Ridge split – If you are not to this point in the course 50 minutes after race starts you will be disqualified and will be required to follow the Midway Course back down to the lodge.
2nd Cut off Agassiz Climb 1 hour 15 minutes cut off- Top of Agassiz Chair Lift – If you are not to this point by 1 hour 15 minutes after race start you will be disqualified and berequired to download on chair lift.
Trail Running Winter Training at Silver Lake, up American Fork Canyon
Here is the list of Suggested Items, Rules and Gear 2016
Suggested Items
Helmets for Skinning & Splitboard strongly suggested.
Water
Headlamp
Hiking Poles
Appropriate Clothing for conditions
Traction Options
MICROspikes® footwear traction
Snowshoes
Crampons
Skis with Skins (skins can come off at top of mountain to ski down)
Splitboard
Rules
What you use to go up the mountain, you must use to come down.
I arrived in Flagstaff right at rush hour, just a bit before the sunset, which left me blinded facing into the sun while negotiating traffic in an unfamiliar town. I dropped into Safeway and stocked up on supplies for the night, the next day, and some post-race goodies for recovery. The primitive camping area up the road near the Arizona Snow Bowl ski area was up a very rough, very rugged dirt road but my trusty AWD wagon got me to the end of the road and back well enough. The spots were all full. Some were obviously homeless people living out in the national forest to spite the time limits, which was frustrating.
Agassiz Peak (just right of center) from the hwy north of Flagstaff
The gates were closed at the ski area, but there was a spot suitable for guerrilla undercover camping, so in the dark, in the forest, it was possible to set up camp and make it work.
It was a cold, clear night, with beautiful stars and I awoke to the sounds of trucks, maybe hunters, heading up the switchbacks toward the Arizona Snow Bowl. It was 5:50 AM and the gates at the resort claimed to open at 8 AM, so I broke camp, got out the MSR REACTOR stove and cranked up some herbal tea and oatmeal. I let the oatmeal sit for a bit and then added in some protein powder RECIPE.
I took my time stretching, adjusting my trail running pack from Ultimate Direction and staying hydrated. At a few minutes after 8 I went up to the resort and parked near the Check In Station. There were a few other early-birds, primarily some of the presumed front-runners. It was, after all, the final VK in the US Skyrunners series. I finally changed into my Asics short tights, Zensa compression sleeves, TNF arm warmers, TNF Breck Independence Day 10k Tech-Tee, Point6 Summit Socks, Altra Olympus 1.5, Goal Zero tech cap, and Hestra cycling gloves. I popped in my contacts and added my wife's Julbo sunglasses. I was ready to go. I dropped off a bag for the summit, with my Nike sweatpants and puffy jacket. It was windy and cool in spite of some sun between the clouds.
My number for the Flagstaff VK
It was time to get my Suunto Ambit 2S on, and start "running" the race. The first stretch of uphill wasn't too bad, in spite of several erosion control ditches, some over 4' deep and 4' wide. I was able to jump some, and step in and out of others, but uphill it wasn't that bad. Downhill though was killer. It was like deep scree, dirt, silt, gravel and loose grass to glue lava rocks the size of toasters. I "screed" down quite a bit, fell some and generally was unhappy. Very unhappy. The next uphill felt a bit harder, and the downhill after was even worse. I slowed down to around a 50:00 pace just to stay upright, though I did fall and tweak both wrists. I had wisely decided not to use my poles. I would have broken them by now.
Walking the course before the race, this is an erosion control ditch. 1 of about 20?
Finally the last stretch before the summit and I was up at the top. 1:32:47 on their clocks. I had beat my Quandary PR by 3 minutes. It was dang cold so I snapped a few pics, a video, and then headed down to the lift to get my warm gear on and have some snacks and water before the cold miserable chairlift ride down.
At the bottom they said the tee shirts were delayed by yet another few hours and maybe by 6 PM at the store in Flagstaff. I had to get home because my son has a CX race on Saturday, so I booked it through the night to Utah.
Summit, the finish line for the Flagstaff VK, October 2, 2015
Today, Sunday, I had a chance to mess with my stats on Movescount, separating out the uphills from the downhills. I was really frustrated that the downhills were so slow, much slower than my uphill pace, so I stitched the uphill segments together to create a simulated uphill-only VK, That gave me a finish time of 1:17:27. That's way better than my previous best on Olympus-to-the-saddle of 1:23. That gives me lots of hope for the future.
How about an online Meet and Greet and you can ask me about how I trained and prepared?
Event Schedule Friday, October 2
10:30 AM – Vertical Kilometer Start at Sunset Lift
1:00 PM – Vertical Kilometer Course Closed
2:00 PM – Awards
VK Race Day Packet Pickup
Will be available at the start line at Sunset Chairlift starting at 9:30 AM. Please have your summit drop bag ready to go at 10:00 AM.
VK Drop Bags
Vertical K runners may have a finish line drop bag for the top of the mountain. These must be given to us at the start line by 10:00 AM to be transported to the top of the mountain.
Note in screenshot from Strava that I beat my old minute increment bests by a good 10 minutes and maintained a 644 VAM. My recent training runs on the foothills of Timpanogos indicate that I should be able to sustain about 660 VAM now. I would love to achieve that.
Olympus Saddle PR
My Olympus Saddle Vertical K PR of 780 VAM. A worthy goal, but not in line with recent efforts. Looking to see if my training and resting protocol pulls me through this race in Arizona.
Logistics?
Driving down Thursday, Camping in Coconino National Forest Primitive Camping. Heading over to Ski Area Friday morning. Racing. Leaving after awards to return to Provo, UT.
Weather for camping near Arizona Snow Bowl
Camping Thursday
Location: Off Snowbowl Road on the southern flank of the San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff, AZ. LINK
GPS (Map): 35°17'36.8"N 111°42'10.6"W
Access: From Flagstaff drive north on US 180 for about 7 miles to FR 516 (Snowbowl Road). Drive approximately 2.25 miles on this paved road to a dirt road, FR 522, and turn right. The Dispersed Camping area begins about a quarter mile from Snowbowl Road. Afterwards?
Saturday I will be cheering for my 14 year old at his CX (Cyclocross) Race in Draper, UT.
One of my other upcoming goals, in addition to the Vertical K in Arizona on October 2nd, is another mountain running event in Utah on October 19 that is quite close in character to the run on Mount Olympus up to the creek and back from the parking on Wasatch Blvd.
There was a great opportunity to head in to work early and run on Mount Olympus. The office I work at is near the trailhead, so it was fairly simple to pack a bag of work clothes (casual is the norm at work) and drive in the dark at 5:30 AM to the trailhead parking.
I got out on the trail about 6:20 AM in the dark. Slowly the sky lit up and the city lights dimmed. Going felt slower than normal up the trail. I've been doing splits the past few weeks. That's a protocol in which you do two workouts a day. I've also been cutting, or trying to burn off some fat to be lighter for the Vertical K. My legs felt really dead. At the creek crossing, about 1.7 miles up the trail I paused to shoot a short video and then returned to the car. I did feel really fast on the descent. It felt really good. I got to work at 8 AM and spent the rest of the day burning fat. Great fun run.
Later I was able to check my Strava feed and while I didn't come anywhere close to a top personal finish for the ascent, I did get a PR for the descent. The Vertical K has quite a bit of descent to it to make up for the relatively short vertical of the Arizona Snow Bowl ski resort at which it's being held. I've been training a lot of descent for this. That felt really encouraging.
Video From Mount Olympus at the Creek Crossing
Mount Olympus at Dawn
Running in the dark, just as the sun rises, along the steep trail to the creek crossing on Mount Olympus. Training for vertical. Skyrunning. Article with pics: http://elbrusraceteam.blogspot.com/2015/09/running-on-mount-olympus-at-dawn.html
Posted by Seven Summits Body on Friday, September 25, 2015
I have a Vertical K race coming up October 2nd near Flagstaff AZ. I've been working hard on my vertical speed and endurance and have had to shift some of my goals around to accommodate it.
The Vertical K, as you might recall, involves an ascent of 1000 meters, 1 kilometer, roughly 3,300' of elevation gain with a maximum distance of around 5k or less. That's only 3.1 miles. Quandary is approximately a Vertical K trail.
I've been working training here in Utah, and a little in Colorado over the past few months. This requires a little less overall distance over the course of the week. Sadly there is a half marathon coming up that is a must-do with a time goal. So that training has to stay in the mix with a long run each week adequate for a half in 6 or so weeks.
More details are coming, so be sure to register at the end of the video for the newsletter so I can share my training with you. If you are a trail runner, skier, mountaineer, or a hiker or trekker, you'll want to come along for the ride and try some of my training tips.
This week I'm cutting down on weights quite a bit and working on trying to keep my legs refilling with essential nutrients and chemicals to be fresh and ready. It's only 2 weeks to go.
I've commented before that Quandary, with 3400' of gain in 3.2 miles is essentially a Vertical K and I've been working hard to make some progress on blasting past my PR's. I posted some articles about how I was working that during the winter and now I have made a summer attempt.
Quandary Skyrunning Vertical K Video
Video report on my Quandary PR's last Saturday. Fun times making it. Don't forget to click the "Sign Up" button at the end to qualify for a super freebie coming your way soon. I can hardly wait for this one.
Posted by Seven Summits Body on Saturday, July 11, 2015
Be sure to click the "Sign Up" link at the end of the video to qualify for a super sweet freebie deal coming up quick that I know you'll love.
I was able to knock 9 minutes off my previous summer best ascent, and nearly 30 minutes off my summer round trip best time. It was really difficult and I feel great. Can I knock off another 6 minutes and come in under 1:30:00? Time will tell. I do know a few spots that added up would be about 2 minutes. Another 4 beyond that would be dang tough.
Summit of Mount Rainier, Columbia Crest, with Liberty Cap behind
I did a road 10k PR on June 6, and a Quandary Vertical K PR on July 4. It's been a week of recovery and some intense alternated with light training to get the recovery process in motion. Next week I get to get back into a more intense longer stretch of training.
BTW: a few weeks ago I also did the Emmons Glacier Route as a group co-leader on Mount Rainier. With all the pro and gear I think my pack was over 50 lb. on the way up, and since one of our group had to be evacuated with HAPE we ended up splitting their gear up on the way down. That was pretty heavy. I could feel that all the way down on Quandary.
Just below the 14,265' summit of Quandary in Colorado
So I'll keep you in the loop for all the training news if you stay tuned right here. Thanks.
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
