Day 148: Litmus test...

Today was a bit milestone in my preparations for the Mt. Evans Ascent.  My trainer, Natalie, and I made our first visit to what will be our battle ground next month.  Heading up there I'm not sure what was more daunting.  The thought of attempting to run up a 14,000 foot mountain or driving my SUV along what I would have to  described as "the most dangerous road in America".  Given we only have a few weeks before the race, it made sense that we start higher up on the course, mostly to get the experience of dealing with the altitude.  It's one thing to be fit for a half marathon, especially if you're at 5,000 feet or below.  But training for a race up at 14,000 feet is another thing.  We worried about how we'd adjust to the altitude.  Some of the most fit people in the world will succumb to altitude sickness (headaches, dizziness, nausea).  Today's training run was going to tell us whether we had a fighting chance to complete this race.




So it was another gorgeous Colorado morning, with the sun overhead, bright blue sky and stupid cold temperatures.  Holy frickin' rolly.  I had visions of the ice bath dancing through my head.  Now remember, Natalie is crazy fit and I've got a good 21 years on her but that's no reason for me not to man up and try to keep pace with her.  It was pretty damn cold and windy but I think we both adjusted fairly well with the exception of my hands which quickly became blocks of ice within the first mile of the run.  At first we just tried to sustain a steady pace that would hopefully carry us up to the top.  But after a little over a mile or so we decided it would make more sense to run "intervals", meaning we would jog for two minutes and walk for one.  That actually worked out really well and we knocked out the miles relatively quick.  It wasn't until we got near the top that our plan started to basically fall apart.  Eventually it became, "Ok, let's run to that pole and then walk..."  Natalie and I can typically talk a lot of smack about pushing ourselves, being all tough and what not.  I thought it was kinda interesting that there was none of that today.  I think we were both happy when the other would say, "ok, let's walk a bit." 

The only thing I really didn't like about today's run, and I knew it before we even started, was the multiple switchbacks between mile 12 and 14 (the finish).  You could see the finish and it practically looked like it was a rock's throw away but you knew you still had a couple of miles to go.  Natalie is a tough little cookie, the epitome of the "little engine that could", and she blazed right up to the finish.  For me I was just thrilled to make it to the top without fainting from the periodic dizzy spells.  Again, it was the whole "man up" thing, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of my fitness mentor.  At the top we allowed ourselves a few minutes to recoup and drink some fluids.  We still had the run back down to the car and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered asking someone for a ride back.  But no, we kept true to our plan and worked our way back to the car.  Dizzy spells and a little nausea wasn't going to stop us.  Within no time we were back to the car and more importantly, HEAT!  It actually took me several tries to start the car because my hands couldn't grip the keys.  Hey guys, have you ever tried to pee with frozen hands?  Not the most fun thing to do and I really wouldn't recommend it.

Natalie played photographer today so I thought I'd share some of her pictures here.  We'll be coming back up again next weekend and every weekend after that until the race on the 16th.  Next time I'm driving the smaller car.  You have NO frickin' idea how scary that road is.  Think Johnny will be having some nightmares tonight.