I wanted to get out and get a feel for what I'll be facing come April. I've never really done any hill training since I started running. This neglect, more than anything, led to my disappointing times in the Sun Valley 1/2 and the Mesa Falls Marathon. Both races had significant climbs that sucked the life out of me and I never really recovered.
Anyway, what I found out was that I'm nowhere near ready to take on the huge climb to Aldape Summit. I parked my car on Shaw Mt. Road about a mile below where the pavement turns to gravel and ran an out and back. There's still quite a bit of packed snow and ice on the dirt road, as well as mud where the ice and snow have melted. This made the climb even more difficult b/c I had to pick certain lines to avoid sloshing through the mud and/or sliding on the ice. The packed snow was easiest to run on, both uphill and downhill. At least 4 other runners were getting their licks in and, curiously, quite a bit of automobile traffic going to the Summit. Temp was just above freezing w/ bright sunshine. Total net elevation gain in the 2.75 miles was right at 700 feet, or a little more than 1/3 of the net gain in the first 8.4 miles of the Robie Creek course! Yikes!
If there was one bright spot it is that the downhill portion was quite enjoyable even w/ the braking for the ice, snow and mud. My legs felt great and I felt like I could go longer if I didn't have to return to the office. If I continue to build my base cardio back up by dropping more weight and increasing my weekly mileage to 45+mpw I think I'll be ok. I'm planning on doing some 1 mile hill repeats later on in the week. | 