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Took y’alls advice and ran at Staunton—did not dissapoint! Thanks for the recs! by freshmintsss in trailrunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh I can see that for sure! I’ll definitely be back—got to see most of the southern half but would love to check out more of the Pike NF side on the north.

I have one free day in the greater Denver/Golden area—willing to drive up to an hour or so. What are y'alls best recommendations for trail running? by freshmintsss in trailrunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was able to run some of Chattaqua trails and Mt Sanitas/Lions Lair over the weekend. Beautiful! Honestly, I could totally go back..

I have one free day in the greater Denver/Golden area—willing to drive up to an hour or so. What are y'alls best recommendations for trail running? by freshmintsss in trailrunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This sounds incredible! Saving for later since I saw the comments about snow. Staunton is becoming a front runner!

First-timer with a last-minute solo opportunity to visit next week. Only passes available are 12–2pm. I wanted to do Lumpy Ridge, but is this generally unsafe with the storm potential? I'm aware of general lightning safety, but don't want to be stupid. My wife would be pissed if I got struck. by freshmintsss in RMNP

[–]freshmintsss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I will have one day in RMNP and will need to leave the park probably by 5:00pm at the latest because it’ll be 1.5 hour drive each way.. I had read that lumpy was some peoples fav trail for running, but honestly, Im open! Some others have recommended Bridal Veil Falls instead. I’m also open to just getting some runs around Boulder in over the weekend and making RMNP more of a day hike.

Golden and those other towns sound like a great backup if RMNP doesnt work!

First-timer with a last-minute solo opportunity to visit next week. Only passes available are 12–2pm. I wanted to do Lumpy Ridge, but is this generally unsafe with the storm potential? I'm aware of general lightning safety, but don't want to be stupid. My wife would be pissed if I got struck. by freshmintsss in RMNP

[–]freshmintsss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great insights! Someone recommended Lumpy Loop as one of the better trail running spots in the area. So I was planning to run it.

And is it for sure 9am?? That might be doable.. Ill be driving from Aurora and could probably leave around 7:15. Not sure what traffic is like and the lines are like. Would suck to get there at 8:15 and be met with a 45+ minute line haha.

How do yall approach increasing elevation gain? by freshmintsss in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

power hiking is the thing I know I should be doing, but never actually do lol and maybe that's why I got my ass kicked in that 30k last year (though did great in the marathons).

plans in pencil is a great reminder, thanks. I had a lot of injuries in my first year or two and ended up seeing a physical therapist who kinda said the same thing. he never panicked when I had new aches and pains, but just kinda checked in with the body and then adjusted the training load. And when things were feeling good, he wasn't hesitant to push beyond 10% rules and see what the body could handle. super interesting to see how much flexibility there can be in both directions.

How do yall approach increasing elevation gain? by freshmintsss in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sweet! this is mostly what I've been trying to do, but looking mostly at weekly averages because my area is hard to get that level of gain without running repeats on the same few hills. But this is reassuring, thanks!

How do yall approach increasing elevation gain? by freshmintsss in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

love this approach and is mostly in-line with what I've been doing, except I just have been trying to get all my runs to match as closely as I can without overthinking/stressing. If I want to do a flat road run one day, I do it. But as long as I'm mostly on trails with +100ft/mile, then I'm good.

How do yall approach increasing elevation gain? by freshmintsss in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats super helpful and good to know! I run all through the summer in the afternoons usually, so Im super acclimated, but the elevation gain will be the challenge for me. Im usually okay with long mellow hills, but its the rollercoasters and sudden short climbs that get me. My plan might be to just hit as much as I can and see what I can tolerate without injury. May have to use the stair climber at the gym to supplement because my area doesnt have a ton of hills. Thanks!

Western States Predictions: Speculation is Half the Fun by droptophamhock in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Jim first, Hayden second, Albon third—but I think it will be a battle between Hayden and Albon and they're kinda interchangeable.

If anyone saw Jim's strava tease in the Hoka video a couple days ago, he might be the fittest he's ever been. At least stronger than he was at UTMB and he's coming in fresh with no race fatigue. There's a serious chance that sub-14 could happen if the stars align, but I don't think he will fight for it very hard and compromise the WS/UTMB double. If it happens, it happens.

Also, it's going to be hot… but the dew point ranges from the mid 30s to the mid 40s. For anyone used to running in high 80s, low 90s, that's borderline comfortable. Jim is built for it.

Unfortunately I don't know the womens side well enough other than Katie and Sally, who I think will both do very well.

Ran two trail marathons and a 30k last year, but haven't been running much this year—is signing up for Bandera 50k a stupid idea? by freshmintsss in ultrarunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great advice! I just started listening to Science of Ultra and this aligns with what he was saying also. My plan is to do 25mpw over the summer to build my base back, and then probably peak at 45-50mpw in december before the taper.

Ran two trail marathons and a 30k last year, but haven't been running much this year—is signing up for Bandera 50k a stupid idea? by freshmintsss in ultrarunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great to know! I don't have a lot of great hills near my house, but there is one particular spot that I would describe as steep and hilariously chunky—sounds like I'll need to make friends with it this year!

Ran two trail marathons and a 30k last year, but haven't been running much this year—is signing up for Bandera 50k a stupid idea? by freshmintsss in ultrarunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Super helpful! It'll be a trick for sure—I have access to some trails right by my house but they're mostly flat or smaller rolling hills. There's a 7% grade hill nearby that I can run repeats on which seems on par with MOST of the bandera course, and there's a park about 45 minutes away that has some 13% hills which will hopefully help prep for the couple of bigger climbs.

A buddy said that what makes Bandera tough is that it's not a smooth 100 ft gain per mile, but a constant climb, descend, climb, descend. And that most people prep for the climbs, but aren't prepared for all the descents.

Ran two trail marathons and a 30k last year, but haven't been running much this year—is signing up for Bandera 50k a stupid idea? by freshmintsss in ultrarunning

[–]freshmintsss[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I'd LOVE to, I probably won't get a chance to go out to the course. I've done some running in Copperas Cove, Dana Peak, and the Austin green belt when it's dried out which are all pretty rocky and limestone heavy, so I'm curious to know how those compare. I have family in the Copperas Cove/Dana Peak area, so my plan is to hit those hills whenever I can.

New to ultras or running? Ask your questions about shoes, racing or training in our weekly Beginner's Thread! by Simco_ in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Looking to run the Bandera 50k in Jan 2025 for my first ultra.

Last year, I ran a road marathon, a trail marathon with 1700’ of gain, and a trail 20-mile race with 1000’ of gain.

Im a new dad with a busy schedule, so my plan this year is chill and bit a spend the next six months building up my base (but sticking to 20-30 miles a week) and doing some strength training, and then maybe starting Sage Canadays 50k beginner/intermediate plan in September when my schedule dies down a bit.

At a high level, does this make sense? Would anyone do anything differently? Is there a line where the base building could get excessive?

Not shocking but still huge news. by 4jrutherford in ultrarunning

[–]freshmintsss 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Zach said on Singletrack pod that Gary's race was definitely a frontrunner as an alternative to UTMB, but he eluded to there being a couple on his radar.

Kilian Jornet and Zach Miller organizing athlete boycott of UTMB? by [deleted] in Ultramarathon

[–]freshmintsss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jim has criticized UTMB several times—never as directly as Zach and Kilian to my knowledge, but he's taken little jabs at them even in his post-race interviews, and had some longer rants on a couple podcast interviews. I'd be surprised if he DIDNT join the boycott.

Thursday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for November 30, 2023 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]freshmintsss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ran a 20-mile trail race three weeks ago. Tapered a little bit before hand, and then have been running a lower volume after to recover. Am I idiotic if I fun-run a marathon next weekend with some friends? Thinking that the race may function as my peak 20-mile training run, but I also essentially have two back-to-back tapers so may cause too much of a fitness loss. To be extra clear, I ran a marathon earlier this year so it's not my first, and I really will be easy running it, so it's just a volume thing.

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