Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Pikes Peak Marathon 2016 Recap




Pikes Peak has always been a race that grabbed my attention.  Run 8000 vertical feet up to the top of a 14er as fast as you can and then turn around and run back down as fast as you can to where you started..... It's just a great setup for a good old fashion footrace!  Ran Pikes for the first time last summer with scrapped together training due to moving and remodeling our new house and keeping time for the family so this year with life a little more stabilized I was excited to give the race another go with some consistent training under my belt.

Coach

After running Steamboat Marathon in June I decided to look into working with a coach for the summer mountain season to help iron out my training and help to hopefully guide me through a consistent an injury free season.  After reading Jason Koop's book Training Essentials for Ultrarunning I decided to go with Carmicheal Training Systems and was linked up with Coach John Fitzgerald.  For the 2 month leading up to Pikes John dished out intervals, intervals, and more intervals.  I have really enjoyed the challenge and structure of the training and do feel like it has been doing a great deal to help improve my running.  I had always read and been told that every workout should have a purpose, I don't think I ever fully grasped what that meant but having started to work with John and the CTS philosophy I'm gaining a great understanding of utilizing different types of workouts to work different body systems and making my recovery workouts as actual recovery days to be ready to get the most out of key workouts.  So far I have really enjoyed the challenge of the workouts which have included much more focused intensity than I had previously incorporated into my training but have also kept me excited and engaged going into each session with a objective rather  than just running and putting in miles for the sake of putting in miles.  I'm excited to see where this summer leads and have really been enjoying the journey and the team dynamic of working with John so far. Adelante!