Seek Out Guidance
While moving up through the ranks within the training world, from a low level first hire, to fitness manager, to gym owner, I always felt like I had to blend the line of figuring out how to do the job, while not blatantly asking for help. Admit that I don’t know something? NEVER! I’ll just take twice as long to sort through the obstacle with two left feet.
Maturing into the mindset that asking for assistance/help/guidance seemed similar to the lesson I preach when people say they feel silly in the gym as a beginning; No one is watching you or keeping score. They are too carried away by themselves to even notice you exist.
All that to say, I knew I needed help in organizing my thoughts around the Leadville 100 challenge, so I didn’t hesitate to google around who to ask. Enter an individual named Brian from Hypoxico.
Hypoxico is a New York based company that, according to their website, has been “Pioneering the Science of Simulated Altitude SYSTEMS SINCE 1995”. These are the folks you call when you plan on climbing some of the tallest mountains in the world. I actually own their Sierra 100 model and used it to help in my early acclimatization for Leadville in 2024 when I ran the 50 miler.
While there may have been a tiny part of me that was awaiting a response in line with, “You’re seriously asking this? How do you think you’ll ever finish this race if you don’t have a semblance of a plan?!” that just wasn’t the case. Brian eagerly responded to my inquiry about any tips or tricks to help with taking on the Race Across the Sky.
A little bit about Brian and why he was the right man for the job. He has participated in this race 3 times himself, but has also coached roughly 20 other individuals through this course. These athletes range from everyday Joe’s and Jane’s, like yours truly, to professionally sponsored athletes looking to finish in the top 10.
While we chatted about all things Ultra running, he dropped some knowledge bombs that I’ll share with you:
Working Inclines is IMPORTANT: I brought up the fact that during the 50 miler I never really felt aerobically deficient, but just generally beat up. My quads, my back, my shoulders all just felt crushed. Brian piggybacked off this realization and brought in his observations specifically from the 100 miler stating, “most people will bow out at the half way point since they just climbed up and over Hope Pass, realized how physically and mentally challenging it is, but then they need to do it again on the way back.”
For those of you who don’t know (I’m assuming everyone), the race is 50 miles out, and then 50 miles back along the same track. However, at the midway point, you need to go up and over a mountain pass named, Hope Pass. The outbound ascent and descent is equivalent to the Mike Tyson quote, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. The Winfield aid station, situated at the 50 mile marker, is a dismal pit of low moral and anxiety by everyone mustering up enough courage to summit Hope Pass AGAIN on the inbound portion of the race.
So Brian suggested, at least once a week, get on a treadmill and power walk anywhere between 45 min. to 2 hours. This will help build physical AND mental resiliency toward this long winded climbs and painful downhills. Nothing like logging onto a treadmill for 90 minutes and zoning out!
Speed Work is Important for Leadville: So normally, for ultra training, speed work can be seen as an after thought, or something to sprinkle in here and there IF your other bases are covered. Unless you’re an elite runner, how fast you run a 800m may not have a huge impact on a 30 hour race, but Brian shared a piece of wisdom that I had not read in any previous posts about Leadville.
The Hope Pass summit and trail portion is part of the USDA Forest Service Land, and the race directors have set the cutoffs so that you need to be on your way back into Leadville faster than you think. They do not want people summiting Hope Pass in the dark.
So Brian suggested keeping speed work in the training program for much longer than other Ultra marathons may suggest, and to rethink my pacing strategy on the way out in the first half of the race so I don’t get caught off guard. This was a huge tid bit.
Never Underestimate Elevation: With Hypoxico being based in New York, Brian also trains in a lower elevation atmosphere, so he was adamant about the utilizing the elevation machine whenever possible. Sleep in it EVERY night and find ways to train with it on a treadmill, stair master or stationary bike. Elevation will come to destroy those who aren’t prepared, and will make your life very difficult even if you are.
Wrapping this up…
So while the days tick by, my training plan continues to evolve with the more information I get. At some point I’ll just have to lock in what I have and run the plan, but I think I still have a few days left to tinker with a few of the details.
Major thanks goes out to Briank, and Hypoxico, for establishing some guidelines to work by so I can set myself up to complete this endeavor. Again, I have no time goals for this race, so all this training and planning is to help my future self deal with any curveballs that will most certainly happen on race day.