Hill Repeats Up Silver Fork Road

Monday January 16, 2017

After my great adventure just the day before running Long Hill Repeats at Saint George, Utah, I decided to do some more. This time up American Fork Canyon, on the Tibble Fork Reservoir side of the canyon, from the parking up toward the gate near the Granite Flats Horse Trailer parking. I've done this repeat sequence before a few times. Run from the gate at the parking lot to the gate at the fork to Granite Flats.

That's right, 10F. Dang cold compared to 24 hours prior in Saint George

I wore my New Balance Leadville shoes, and my Kahtoola Microspikes. It was colder than yesterday by about 30 degrees. Yes. 10F was the temperature. It's difficult to judge how warm or cold you might be under those conditions. When running downhill you have to flip up your hood or otherwise bundle up, and running uphill, unzip a bit to let the heat escape.

Running shoes by New Balance. Microspikes by Kahtoola

Three laps is a bit over 5 miles and that's what I normally do up here with the time I have. That gives me almost a thousand feet of vertical and a pretty good workout. I wore softshell fleece pants by Sporthill with Saxx boxer briefs and Columbia baselayers. I wore a Pearl Izumi softshell hoodie and Columbia vest. One nice addition to my collection is an Icebug buff that kept the lower part of my face warm.

I got in 5.2 miles and got my Strava PR for the first uphill segment. [STRAVA]

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Saint George City Half Marathon Info

As I've mentioned previously, I need to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent next August by completing a half marathon under a time goal of 2:25:00. That might seem easy to lots of "real runner" but as I've stated several times already, I'm not one.

I've been training during the week on a treadmill to hit my Pace and Tempo goals, and on Saturdays I've been doing my long runs outside, mostly in the early morning hours.

Black Diamond Spot Headlamp Review

Under Armour Gore Windstopper Tights Review

Race Weather & Climate
Located in Utah’s southeastern corner, just over 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas, St. George typically experiences very hot summers, but moderately cool to cold weather conditions in January, when the city’s average monthly temperatures range between 29°F and 55°F.
On race day (Jan. 16), the average low is 29°F and its average high is 55°F, while rainfall totals average just under 1.3 inches and snowfall totals average about 1.5 inches for the month, making January the city’s wettest month of the year on average. From Half Marathons .net

I've been cycle commuting between my home and the Lehi Frontrunner train station, 9+ miles a few days a week. The amount of snow recently has slowed me down some. When I was much younger I was a year round cycle commuter, riding nearly 30 miles a day 4 days a week through the winter, rain, snow, ice, hail, whatever. I was much younger then. I'm much more fragile now.

I've had to dig around on the net some to get a course map and elevation profile, since the link on the official Half Marathon Website is broken.

Still no info on aid stations, etc, but I am planning on going self-sufficient, just like in training. That being said, the Pikes Ascent is best done self-sufficient due to the spacing between some of the aid stations. Unless you're doing a 3 hour ascent there will be some big gaps there.

Too Much Treadmill!

As you probably remember, I've been healing from an injury so I'm working on the treadmill to help my knees get back in shape for my outside running and mountaineering goals.

I have been outside a few times.

Trail Running in foot deep powder snow at -1F - STORY HERE
Quandary in a Snow Storm - STORY HERE
Ice Climbing Solo - STORY HERE

But I have been on the treadmill a lot. I wear my SUUNTO Ambit 2S and keep track of my stats, and use my Incline Treadmill Calculator (HERE) and record my training logs. Here's a sample for you:

Monday 10th
ITM:
Time: 15:54
Distance: 1.001
Incline: 1.5%
Elevation Gain: 79.28'
Average MPH: 3.777
Average Pace: 15:53
Vertical/Hour: 299'
Vertical/Minute: 4.99'
VAM: 91.2

ITM:
Time: 32:18
Distance: 2.202
Incline: 3%
Elevation Gain: 348.80'
Average MPH: 4.09
Average Pace: 14:40
Vertical/Hour: 648'
Vertical/Minute: 10.8'
VAM: 197.5

Tuesday 11th
Ice Climbing:
3.0 mi Distance
24:14 Moving Time
589 ft
(going too slow to register in Strava)

Wednesday 12th
Outside:
Gulch
5.1mi
1:19:58 Moving Time
15:35/mi Pace
114 Tough Suffer Score
Elevation 619 ft
Calories 863
Elapsed Time 1:27:13

Thursday 13th
ITM:
Time: 63:09
Distance: 5.017
Incline: 1%
Elevation Gain: 264.90'
Average MPH: 4.767
Average Pace: 12:35
Vertical/Hour: 252'
Vertical/Minute: 4.19'
VAM: 76.7

That's a good mix I think for a normal winter. So far this week.

Here is a gallery of my treadmill shots. When my brain is fuzzy from riding it at 90% HR for an hour or half hour or fifteen minutes or whatever, it's a whole lot easier to just take a quick pic of the display. BTW: The vertical feet estimator gets less accurate as you raise the incline. In case you compare the stats in the pics with the above. Also some of these include multiple sessions in a day at different speeds and incline.

Now, mostly I'm showing you all of this so you can form an opinion one way or another. Can you do 25 miles a week primarily inside? Can you do it 50/50? What works for you? Here we have a ton of snow and weather and cold to deal with. Sometimes it's just too dangerous to run outside. Also I find that it messes with my ankles and hips and knees to be on invisible unstable terrain when I'm in soft snow. Even firm snow is tough on the stabilizer muscles now and then. I also tend to slow down over the winter and forcing myself to go faster on the treadmill is a great way to maintain fitness through the year.

That being said I should mention that the treadmill stats include anywhere from about 5 to 15 minutes of slower walking as I warm up, and sometimes a few minutes of cooling down. In 60 minutes of training, going 2.0-3.0 mph for 10 minutes is a major impact on the average speed. Do the math and you'll see.

I'm kidding in the title. You do get tired of the treadmill (dreadmill) and then go outside. Plan it for your own needs and don't stick to one thing only unless you know why.

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Winter Trailrunning Training

One of my favorite training activities is trailrunning on snow. In freezing weather it's probably one of the most directly sport-specific ways to train for an event like Elbrus Race. Footing on the snow can be difficult with reduced traction on ice or deep loose snow. Running up and down hills in these conditions is great training.

From my own experience Winter trailrunning will be done at a somewhat slower pace than on smoother gravel or dirt trails. That depends on the surface of course. Some of my fastest Quandary (Colorado Fourteener) ascents were done on mostly firmly packed snow. Something that you can do on snow that you can't do on more solid surfaces is churning uphill with your feet cranking away in circles while you barely move up a steep slope. It feels a lot like riding a mountain bike uphill with your feet spinning at a 100 rpm cadence while barely making forward progress.

I usually wear spiked running shoes. I've added 3/8" #6 hex head sheet metal screws to the bottom of some Hoka One One Mafate WP (waterproof) and a pair of Hoka One One Stinson Evo. The former have about 50 miles on them, and the latter had about 240 miles on them when I spiked them. I have a pair of Salomon Spikecross CS that are a more traditional style running shoe with solid lugs and embedded carbon steel spikes. These shoes have been pretty good in the dry snow of Quandary and up the Gulch Road, but the last time I did Mount Royal in melting slush they leaked horribly and I don't know if that was coming in through the top or through leaking seams that need to be sealed. I also use a pair of Pearl Izumi Trail N2 that are not spiked. If the traction and ice is an issue I can wear microspikes with them.

I have a few different layering systems I use, including Windpro front tights and looser pants style tights, normally without baselayers unless it's below zero. On top I normally wear a baselayer top, possibly two thin ones, and a hybrid fleece/softshell jacket. I wear a thin running beanie with a baseball cap on my head and on my hands I wear shell gloves, fleece running gloves, or insulated bike gloves depending on the temperature and wind.

I have been running in the winter for about five years now, almost all at altitude in Summit County Colorado, near the ski resorts of Keystone and Breckenridge as well as the Fourteeners in the area, Grays, Torreys, and Quandary. It's an excellent way to get in shape for high peaks and I'm sure it was instrumental in my one-day climb of Orizaba with Todd, and my successful completion of the Elbrus Race 2013 Qualifier and Race, in spite of the stormy conditions.