Marathon Training Run

August 1, 2010

Santa Fe Trail

26.2 miles

4:47:21

10:58 min/mile

This is my last long run before Leadville and I really want it to count so I elected to do a marathon distance. My plan was to get leg turn over and stay away from hills for this run; therefore, I decided to run down the Santa Fe Trail 9 miles, return and continue past the trailhead for 4 miles before heading back down for the last 4 miles and a downhill finish.

Starting at the Baptist Trailhead, I ran down it to North Gate and beyond for my 9 miles. This took me down through the twisty, windy, hilly part and past Ice Lake. I really enjoyed it except for the humidity once again. The rain in the late afternoons is really making the mornings humid and I'm feeling it today.

After using the porta-pottie at Ice Lake and running a bit beyond to give me a full nine miles, I turned and headed back up the trail. On the way down earlier so many runners were heading up the trail. Trust me, they were smarter than I was since they went up first and then went down and I still had 13 miles of uphill staring in the face. I elected to practice my powerhiking on the hills in the Academy and that worked great.

Once back at the Baptist trailhead, I refilled my camelback, got part of a sandwich and continued up the trail for another four miles. Man, I'm glad I got out at 7am this morning. The weather was actually pretty nice and I could not fault the Santa Fe today.

Finally, a little past the four mile point, I turned and headed back down. My pace did not improve all that much and if it wasn't for the first 9 miles, my pace would have been pretty poor. I blame it on the rising heat and the altitude of yesterday. It would be easy to get discouraged after a run like today; however, I know there will be days like this and I hope this is the last of them before Leadville.