Signed up for the Imogene run...

Anybody here ever done it?

http://www.imogenerun.com/course.htm

Going to be interesting. Especially because I'll be training at low altitude. How many days ahead of the race do you guys think I should get up to elevation for training?

I'll take that as a no

Any thoughts/opinions? Advice for altitude training?

i went snowboarding in colorado, i was in pretty good running shape when i went up (running 5 miles in under 35 minutes) and had a decent sprinting pace, but i went to the top of a bowl in breckenridge (around 11,000 feet) and i felt like i couldnt catch my breath.

i had to hike about half a mile to get there, and when i got there i sat down, enjoyed the view and booted in, and i felt like i wasnt getting any worse, but i was taking deeeeeep breaths and not slowing, id say train in altitude as much as you possibly can.

I did some hill running in Banff. I think the mountain I climbed was about 7500 feet. I did it with no altitude training at all. However, this run is higher and longer. When I went out on the Columbia icefield it was around 10000-11000 ft in elevation. I could feel the effects in the form of a headache, but I didn't have shortness of breath. Mind you, I wasn't running either.

I would get there as early as possible. I've heard that it will take you a couple days to get used to it.

Make sure your shoes are appropriate for you terrain and that you keep well hydrated on your run.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. Looks like it is a gorgeous trail.


edit - I want to add that you can try some low altitude hypoxia training. It shoudl help you adjust quicker.

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Posted by Rush

I did some hill running in Banff. I think the mountain I climbed was about 7500 feet. I did it with no altitude training at all. However, this run is higher and longer. When I went out on the Columbia icefield it was around 10000-11000 ft in elevation. I could feel the effects in the form of a headache, but I didn't have shortness of breath. Mind you, I wasn't running either.

I would get there as early as possible. I've heard that it will take you a couple days to get used to it.

Make sure your shoes are appropriate for you terrain and that you keep well hydrated on your run.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. Looks like it is a gorgeous trail.


edit - I want to add that you can try some low altitude hypoxia training. It shoudl help you adjust quicker.

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Yea I was about to mention that as we had a thread discussing just that sort of thing.. not sure if it will help but I do not think it would hurt if done properly...

Yeah I had considered the low altitude hypoxia training, but I don't really want to mess around with that stuff without a qualified trainer watching over me.

As of now I really don't think I'm in much shape for this run. I kind of signed up for it

A) Because it will motivate me to get my running back to where it once was

B) Because my mom and step dad do it every year and I'll be damned if I'll let a couple 50 year olds show me up

Anyway, I planned on trying to show up about 6 days in advance. Not sure how much of a difference it will make or not, but I know when I go on my snowboarding trips up to Telluride, Colorado I'm usually feeling better by the third day up there (I stay at around 9,000 ft.)

As of right now I'm running about 15-20 miles a week and I plan on ramping it up gradually 5 miles a week at a time. I'll probably cap out at about 40-45 miles a week since I don't have much time to get ready and I don't want to re-aggravate the ol' ITB syndrome (which I'm sure will get aggravated anyway)

Here are a couple pictures of Imogene pass-




This one is the box canyon at the end of Telluride. This is where the trail comes down the mountain and eventually ends in town.

and this is why i dream about moving out to colorado every day

Jackelope, don't increase you weekly miles that much. I wouldn't increase more than 15% of your weekly milage at a time, especially if you are fighting IT band syndrome.

For your IT band, try getting a pool noodle or rolling pin. Lay on your side with the noodle or pin under your IT band. Pull you body up and down to massage it. Make sure you stretch it well. It took me a couple weeks to release my IT band and I've tried to keep it loose since. So far so good, but I know it could easily go and tighten up again.

Also, you are running more weekly milage for this race than you need to. I would reduce it to about 20-25 miles a week and focus on hills, both up and down at least one or two days a week. Make extra sure that you stretch well on days you run hills. Your Achilles tendons and knees will thank you for it.

Also, if you ramp up too fast you might peak before the race. As I said, reduce your total target milage and only increase about 15% per week.

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Posted by Rush

Jackelope, don't increase you weekly miles that much. I wouldn't increase more than 15% of your weekly milage at a time, especially if you are fighting IT band syndrome.

For your IT band, try getting a pool noodle or rolling pin. Lay on your side with the noodle or pin under your IT band. Pull you body up and down to massage it. Make sure you stretch it well. It took me a couple weeks to release my IT band and I've tried to keep it loose since. So far so good, but I know it could easily go and tighten up again.

Also, you are running more weekly milage for this race than you need to. I would reduce it to about 20-25 miles a week and focus on hills, both up and down at least one or two days a week. Make extra sure that you stretch well on days you run hills. Your Achilles tendons and knees will thank you for it.

Also, if you ramp up too fast you might peak before the race. As I said, reduce your total target milage and only increase about 15% per week.

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Good deal.. thanks for the advice.

I've never trained for this long of a run. Especially with this many hills. The longest I trained for was the Army 10 miler, but that is done on mostly flat ground.

I know the IT stretch you speak of and I'll have to start using it more often. Luckily the very first instant I decided on doing this run I started stretching. For about 3 weeks now I've been stretching twice a day for 15-20 minutes each time. My hamstring flexibility has already increased tremendously but my hips and low back aren't coming along as nicely as I'd like.

So do you think my leg endurance will be there for the 17.1 miles if I'm not running longer than 7 or 8 miles a day?

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Posted by Jackelope

So do you think my leg endurance will be there for the 17.1 miles if I'm not running longer than 7 or 8 miles a day?

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Well, you have to do a combination of long runs and more short runs in a week.

What I did for my marathon was two runs a week. One was short and one was long. I did about 5 weeks of training (which is not that long for a first time marathon)

I started at 15 miles a week and worked my way up to about 30 miles a week. Mind you the marathon is longer than your run. I think I ramped up too fast and that's why I had some calf problems.

Most marathon plans work to increase recovery (more runs a week) as well as leg endurance (longer runs at once)

Here is a sample to give you an idea. You can modify this one to fit your schedule and total distance.

I'm not an expert, but what I would do is alternate weeks

Do one week with 4 shorter runs to improve recovery
The next week cut it down to two runs that are long and equal to about 10% more than the previous week
Next week go back to 4 runs and increase the total milage.
etc.

Now, if you have more energy than that, I would suggest doing a day of plyo (bounding or jumping) a week. That will help your muscle power and make you faster.

Another thing you can try for one of your runs (in your 4 run week) is doing Yasso 800s - and example of a Yasso 800 would be: Want to run a 3:30 marathon? Then train to run a bunch of 800s in 3:30 each. Between the 800s, jog for the same number of minutes it took you to run your repeats. Add one repeat each week.

How is training going?

Going fine, thanks. No problems with the legs yet. Still haven't done any altitude running since I live at sea level and the mountains are several hours away.

I've been doing like you said and running 1 to 3 miles quickly and daily. I took it a little further and ran 5 miles the other day. I came in at just under 35 minutes and my legs weren't sore at all. I think this Sunday I'll do 7 or 8 miles to see where that's at

So yeah, I did the run 2 weekends ago. Forgot to post about it.

Basically it was very, very, very, very difficult. Honestly one of the toughest things I've done in my life.

In the end I was seriously displeased with my time (finished middle of the pack- ~5 hrs) but I didn't know the hills were going to be so steep. It was more of an Imogene hike and climb than it was run. I was only able to run about 3 or 4 miles total. My 5 mile time was 45 minutes, but then I got these bad boys-

I came away with 'em on both feet

dude if you finished and it was your first time.. congrats... now you know what you are in for next time you can prepare better and improve your time.. and umm get thicker socks..

Good job. People don't realize how hard some of these runs are.