Rubber Side Down

Mile High Club - Training at altitude

It was perfect weather up at Lake Tahoe this weekend. I went up for a friend's birthday party, but it was the perfect place to kill 2 birds with one stone. Saturday morning was bright and clear and a temperature that felt neither warm nor cool. Liz was running her first 10 miler, and I was hoping to accomplish the 18 that was in the training schedule.

Most of the other people in the cabin were heavily sleeping off the late night party from Fri. while we picked our way through the sleeping bags and air matresses trying to wake up fully. The anaerobic training seems to have helped, the high altitude didn't seem to affect my sleep at all, but the real test would be once we hit the road.

We stayed in a little South Lake Tahoe neighborhood about 3 miles from the Nevada state border. I didn't have a plan, just my gps and a primary goal of 10 miles. We wended our way through tree line streets going at a temperate pace. The shade was very pleasant, the sunlight was very strong, even though the air wasn't warm, and we made our way into the mall-like area near the border. We hit Nevada at about mile 4 and the sign said 6250 feet of altitude. A bit higher than I thought, and the pace was not stressing out my cardiovascular system, so I was pretty happy at this point.

We turned around and made our way back to the house, took a quick break for more water and then ran the neighborhood to make up the last 2 miles in 2:14. That was a loooong 10 miles and my legs and feet were starting to feel the build-up of the steady punishment. I filled up my bottles and set off again on my own. At this point I was thinking I'd be fine if I could just put in another 4 miles/40 minutes and I headed back to the Nevada border. I ran along the lake front for a short while, but the path wasn't long and kept getting broken up by private beaches so I went back to Hwy 50. At mile 2 (12) I committed myself to try for 6 total. My breathing was pretty fast for a 10 min/mile pace, so I was finally experiencing the altitude. Mile 3 (13) was right at the border and I turned around to head home, mercifully the way was slightly downhill, so my pace picked up to around 9:15. My feet were really starting to hurt and the bursitis in my left leg was starting to bug me, I was ready to be done for sure.

So there it was, I finished the 6 mile loop in bright sunshine in just under an hour. The views of the lake were magnificent, and running among trees is nice, even if you are still pounding pavement. I got to spend the afternoon swimming in the lake which felt great on my legs. I even tried a few laps of free style, but if I'm going to do a triathlon, I'm going to need a _lot_ of practice!

posted by Patrick el Coyote @ 10:13 AM