Well I did it. I completed months of zone training through a Montana winter. Sure, I trained inside when the weather was bitter cold, I traded skiing and ski mountaineering for running on 31 days and I managed to squeeze in a few days of mountain biking in southern Utah in April, but I ran hundreds of miles on icy roads and trails and I’ve put in a lot of miles: 850 since early October, more than 500 thus far this year.
Now my moment of truth is fast approaching. My first race is May 20th: The Baldy Blitz. It’s a 4,000-foot climb up 8,700-foot Mt Baldy in 3.9 miles, with a 180 at the peak then a race back down to finish where we started. The trail is steep, rough, and the upper section is guaranteed to be buried under snow and ice. Last year the whole upper half of the course was buried under deep snow and the peak itself was a steep skating rink--I used spikes and trekkiing poles to help keep me upright. This year the snow is quickly dissappearing, but the conditions will depend on the weather between now and then.
Everything suggests that this training is working. I’m running more miles, and slowly but surely, I’m getting faster. However, it’s impossible to tell if I’m faster than I was last year. Another year of age is surely slowing me down, but everything else should be making me faster: I’m 10 pounds lighter than I was at this time last year, I’m putting in more training miles than I ever have and I feel fit.
Comparing this year with any previous year is difficult because I do not follow the same pattern when I run anymore. It used to be that on modst days I ran as fast as I could from the moment I clicked on my stopwatch until the moment I clicked it off. I don’t do that anymore. Every run now starts in Zone 1 for at least a mile, usually more, often the whole run. If I do pick up the pace, it’s a slow process. I work in a few miles of Zone 2, then determine whether to add Zone 3 etc., that day. Near the end, I sometimes slow it back down. The goal is to build endurance, and as I am learning in long difficult races endurance = speed. I do occasional bursts in Zones 4 and 5, but they rarely last long.
I’ve made a few exceptions to this rule recently in my final stages of race training. I’ve completed the first 2,000 vertical feet of the Baldy Blitz climb doing 30/30s twice in the past eight days: 30 seconds pushing into Zone 4; 30 seconds slowing my heartrate down. I’m able to run up steep inclines that I’ve never run up before, but since I’m slowing to a walk between 30 second bursts I am not sure how this is going to translate into race pace.
That last point is huge. In every race I’ve ever been in, I've pushed myself as hard as possible in the days and weeks before race day so I had a pretty clear idea of how well, or poorly, I’d perform. Now, for the first time ever, I’m trusting the program. I’ll find out on race day how well it’s working. I’ll let you know.
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