Training for the long road ahead: Tips and places to train for long ascent races

January 24, 2021January 27, 2021admin

Back in 2010 I decided to run my first marathon. Unlike most people who pick an “easy”, flat road course, I decided to go the opposite direction and chose one of the toughest ones in the country: The Leadville Trail marathon.
With the starting line at over 10,000 feet, course elevation gain total over 7500 feet (including a 13er summit) and loose, rocky terrain I had my work cut out for me.
When race day arrived I thought I was prepared. I had been trail running for over 10 years at that point, fit in all my long runs and did several 14ers for high altitude training.
However, I distinctly remember my greatest weaknesses on the course: my power hiking skills and ability to run long, sustained climbs. I had done a ton of trail running to train but very little power hiking. “Why hike when I could run?”, I wrongly assessed.

Lauren’s Super Fun Short Format Hill Repeat Workout

February 28, 2018March 1, 2018admin

This is a follow-up post from my late summer post “2 Tough workouts to help you conquer steep hills“. There are many ways to format your hill training workouts depending on your fitness and goals. My last post focused more on training for an endurance event (half marathon or longer) where you would be encountering long hills (1/2 mile or longer). This post is more relevant to the everyday runner, OCR athlete and all looking to improve fitness, strength and running form (and more specifically for trail running)!

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Fort Carson Spartan Super race recap: The good, the bad and the reality check

June 6, 2016June 8, 2016admin

A couple of weekends ago I competed in my first obstacle race of the season and my first Spartan race in the elite category.

There have been plenty of people posting race reports recapping the event so I wanted to compose a post that details more about what worked and what didn’t in my training in the hopes there might be some takeaways that will help others properly prepare and train for such an event.

To start, let me say that you can never be perfectly prepared for any obstacle course race, let alone a Spartan race for that matter. Even if the race is at the same venue year after year, the course and the obstacles themselves can change drastically.

I am also training for some long distance trail races, culminating with an ultra marathon run of the Grand Canyon or the Rim to Rim to Rim. With 42 miles and 11,000 feet elevation gain, this is a Goliath of an event and so running will always take the priority when it comes to training.

My strategy back in 2015 was to train for speed. I was having some pretty major health issues back then so I wasn’t able to really put in the time to build a good running base. So I spent several hours a week doing crossfit classes and speed work on the track. And it paid off, compared to this year I was definitely much stronger and faster.

me at fear the deer — Racing in the Fear the Deer trail 1/2 marathon. I placed 6th overall for females!

Life’s 2 Short Fitness

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