67 summits so far this year (49 above 11,000'). That trend will come to an end really soon, but although I love running in the mountains almost more than anything, I'm actually looking forward to "running camp." Running/speed hiking up peaks is great, but I've noticed that I basically have one gear, at least in terms of developing lung capacity. I can maintain this gear forever, but as a result, I really am not improving my overall running ability and V02max. That is where the running camp will come in. If I want to get faster, and become a stronger runner, I need to do speed work - work that forces me to push beyond my high gear. That is simply not possible by running peaks. In fact, I'm still on the fence with just how much vert. one should go for each week/month. Of course it all depends on what you are training for, but simply running peaks or vert runs doesn't seem to make me any faster, nor does it seem to increase V02max beyond a certain level. That is where speed work and other training exercises come in. Too bad, because running peaks is WAY more fun... So, with that I'm looking forward to a forced break from all the vert. running and a focused effort on speed, tempo, pace, etc. I'm sure I'll sneak in some vert. (I've already found some possible runs that gain 1,200'), but it will be hard compared to if I was here all summer with the mountains calling. I'll try and establish some baseline times first thing when I get down there to see how slow I am, and then see what happens over the course of the two months. Then, when I come back, it will be interesting to see if I don't improve my times here on my standard runs (after I re-acclimate). If nothing else, I can always just use some Digital EPO to make myself think I'm faster...
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