Manitou Springs Incline - Slew of PR's

I ran the Manitou Incline on Monday, March 30. It's not often I get to go down there, but I had some errands to run in that area of Colorado Springs, so arranged my eating around a gap in time that would allow me to run it.

I had a previous effort last year, and did fairly well at it, but I knew that with all my recent training on Quandary, including several PR's there, that I could do a PR on the Manitou Incline Climb.

Facebook Video at the top of the Manitou Incline:

PR on the Manitou Incline - actually 11 of them according to Strava. Felt great. Up the new Incline then booked it down the new connector to the Barr Trail. Loved it. Elbrus Race 2015? How about the Inner Circle?
Posted by Seven Summits Body on Monday, March 30, 2015

I didn't realize at the time that I'd set 11 PR's. DOH! Strava allows you to create a "Segment" and make it public,so there are a lot of unnecessary and probably meaningless segments on the Incline. The most important two, to me, are the Bottom Step to Top Step, and the Barr Descent.

For the ascent I shaved 3 minutes off my previous best. That's quite a bit for what amounts to a tad over 3/4 mile. On the way down though, I chopped off 15 minutes. Dang! That's an amazing amount of time. I am not very fast on the way down. I have been training the down at home and on Quandary. On Quandary I worked on my descent PR and have been hitting it fairly regularly. It helped a lot on the Incline.

My stats are down below the scenery pics here, from Movescount and Strava, if you're interested. I'm going to put together an article analyzing what this all means in the big picture.

One, it's encouraging for my Elbrus Race 2015 training, since I'm coming in at such a high level compared to previous years.

Two, I think I have something important to share with all of you, and my Inner Circle Training Group. Subscribe to the NEWSLETTER HERE and I'll let you know the details as I formulate them.

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Some pics from the Manitou Incline and Barr Trail:

Some Stats Screenshots from Movescount (Suunto) and Strava:

Note: The heart rates on the way up, with the high and low, fast and slow zones but still maintaining a relatively high HR. Then there is the pause as I rested and shot the video above. Then see how high I was able to keep my HR on the descent of the Barr Trail. That was pretty fun, actually, but ended up being difficult to recover from.

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Note: The top speed on the descent of 6.9 MPH. Over an hour in HR Zone 4 (Very Hard). The "Recovery Time" of 31 hours, which is actually quite low for an effort like this.

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Here are some stats pages, in case you want to see the maps, heart rate, etc. for yourself.

On Movescount:

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move57600832

On Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/276708420

Time Management for Athletes - Finding Time to Train

Finding Time to Train - Available on Amazon

While training for Elbrus Race (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and now 2015) I had to make a lot of changes in my life.

The most important was that I needed to up my training into the 4-6 hours per day range. This was in keeping with the routines practiced by my triathlete friends. I learned how to be very efficient with my non-training time.

Training for the Vertical K on the Manitou Incline - 11 PR's in one attempt (via Strava)

Every year I get more efficient with my training time too. When I went to Elbrus Race 2013 I had been training for only 2 hours a day average. Now that I'm working up to Elbrus Race 2015 I am also doing 2 hour training days.

If you want to become more efficient, this book is a great deal and I highly recommend you get it while you still can. My contract with Amazon expires in about 6 weeks and I can't promise it will be renewed.

I also want to suggest that you attend the webinars. When I wrote the book it was based on a series of webinars originally titled "What's Broken in Your Training" and the feedback I got was put into the writing of this book. I'd love to bring the webinar series back and be able to charge only $5 per session. If that's interesting to you, please subscribe below video and I'll let you know by email when it's being produced for you.

Time Management for Athletes Announcement Video from Facebook

Time Management for Athletes - who wants to attend a webinar for $5? Get the book on Amazon while you still can http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NU4KMAG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00NU4KMAG&linkCode=as2&tag=imbizwebcom&linkId=QW4VZFA3PLM7IBQ6
Posted by Lose Weight Gain Muscle Newsletter on Thursday, April 2, 2015

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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

Multiple PR's on Quandary, Colorado Fourteener

I've been blowing away all my previous best efforts (PR and PB) on Quandary in the past couple of weeks. That's on the Winter Route, which is somewhat different from the Summer Route.

Here are some screenshots from Strava:

Quandary Ascents on Winter Route

Quandary Descents on Winter Route

That puts me just about 2:00 out from 2nd place overall out of 13 for the ascent. That's really encouraging as I make up my mind toward Elbrus Race 2015. Am I going or not?

It's pretty tough to get that many PR's in such a short time. Going all-out once or twice a week for a few weeks on end can really be draining and have difficult recovery issues. I'll post more about the recovery aspects in an upcoming article, but first, here are some of my photos from the past few weeks on Quandary:

My Books from Elbrus Race

My list of books that evolved from my own experiences training and eating for Elbrus Race 2010, 2013, and is it true I might do 2015? Stay tuned for more exciting details...

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Author Page on Amazon for Charles Miske

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Riding the Treadmill with a 12 lb. vest

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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