Up a big notch - Quandary Winter Ascent 2nd Place

I finally got that freaking 2nd place for the Quandary Winter Ascent Route on Strava.

I did a reconnaisance of the East Ridge Route on Saturday, April 11 after climbing the Cristo Couloir route with my good friend Todd Gilles, a figure skating coach from Colorado Springs. ARTICLE HERE

Todd Gilles and I on the descent of the East Ridge of Quandary

Todd Gilles over my right shoulder as we ascend the Cristo Couloir of Quandary

I noted that the route looked fast, with some great firm snow up high. Unfortunately, the snow down low was wet granular with Swiss cheese postholing around 12,000' but overall it looked like I could get my PR and possibly 2nd place.

On Monday morning, April 13, I dropped the kids off at school and went to the DMV to take care of business in a hurry to get to the route before it warmed up too much. Sadly, nothing at the DMV ever goes according to plan, right? I was held up nearly 90 minutes and almost bailed. I was a little off in my nutrition timing. I quick chugged a half protein shake and hoped it would settle in the half hour to the trailhead.

On the descent of the East Ridge. After removing the vest.

It was warm, and I was dressed lightly. I wore a Columbia Omni-Heat (reflective dots) tech tee with a Patagonia R1 fleece up top. On the bottom I wore GoLite Windpro tights. That's about it. I tried to set a pace about 24:00 or better for the first mile, 30:00 or better the second mile, and 35:00 or better that last mile. It's a little over 3 miles to the summit. I kept the throttle pressed down at those levels and tried really hard not to rest.

At the summit, my watch reported 1:44. Previous 2nd place was 1:47, so I was pretty sure I'd done it. I put on my TNF extremely thin vest over my TNF BTN wind shirt hoodie. I was wet and cold. I put down a Hammer Gel and chugged some NoXplode. Seriously needed the energy for the descent.


I hung out for maybe 5 minutes, chatted with some skiers as I added layers and fueled up.

DID IT! Strava has me at 2nd place on the Quandary Winter Route. 1:43:34 - 5.5 minutes faster than my previous best. I'll have more news about this later so stay in the loop, okay?
Posted by Seven Summits Quest on Monday, April 13, 2015

Gas in the tank for the Descent PR?

I wasn't sure if I had enough gas in the tank for a PR on the descent. Not after cutting nearly 6 minutes off the ascent. I took off downhill at a fair pace, and slowed a bit for the steep hard snow. I tried staying in the slightly more loose snow so I could step with less concentration. On the hard snow you have to place your foot and make sure your spike points are set to avoid a potentially hazardous slide. With loose snow you can just "run" and your feet will settle and find footing as you transfer the weight.

I kept an eye on the time, trying to stay with a 20:00 pace for the first 2 miles where it's steep and either hard or loose snow. By the time I got to the "Restoration Area" sign the snow was softening up into granular over ice and I picked up the pace to about 15:00. I hit the car at about 1:10. Another 5 minutes or so off my previous best for the Winter Route Descent. This is a private segment so I don't have a comparison with others, but I'm thrilled to be so far ahead of where I was in the past.

Check out that Zone 4 HR!

PR's listed bottom center EPIC 429 Sufferfest

Feeling like a champion

I'll write some articles soon, maybe do some videos, about my training protocols, recovery protocols, and the mindset necessary to suffer greatly for a few hours in harsh conditions while underdressed, underfed, dehydrated, and knowing that there is a whole week of stuff to deal with after.

Again, Elbrus Race 2015? Who wants to hang out with me and enjoy the ride? Subscribe to this blog. Especially I want you to subscribe to my training newsletter. If you do I'll send you a copy of the vertical treadmill goals chart I use in my own training. Then I'll send you a video explaining how to use it. SUBSCRIBE HERE

Summit after Cristo Couloir on April 11

Strava counts time within the GPS bounds of the segments and cuts off when you step outside. I rested outside the segment to the West Ridge route area, so it wouldn't be counted. Movescount kept tabs on that until I crossed over to the descent, hence the extra 5-ish minutes of "ascent time" compared to Strava. That's also why Movescount has my descent at 5-ish minutes shorter, since it waited until I was actually moving downhill after traversing the summit area, while Strava started counting when I crossed the GPS coordinates for the actual USGS summit.

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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