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Post by tortoise on May 27, 2009 15:44:38 GMT -5
Hi folks, Anyone out there done Leadville? I am thinking I want to do it this year I am not getting any younger or faster so I figure it may be my best shot to finish. I have doing Ultra's since 2005 and have 3 100 finishes so far. Is there anything speccial I should be doing to prep? What do I need to watch for? What type of strategy to use? Thanks!
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Post by nilspedersen on May 28, 2009 20:36:42 GMT -5
I haven't run the Leadville 100 but they added a 50 mile race last year and I ran that.
My race report is elsewhere on this site and that may or may not inspire you.
I did quite a bit of research on how to best deal with altitude. My conclusion was that the better shape you are in the better you can deal with it. I do recommend acclimating before the race.
The weather can change a bit (thunderstorms very likely) but in general the air is cool and crisp with low humidity.
Now 50 is not 100 and the course was not the same so I cannot speak to the course.
There is a yahoo group for the Leadville 100 that I recommend joining.
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Post by johnmnichols on May 29, 2009 12:23:57 GMT -5
While I have never run the Leadville 100, I've run (or hiked) many of the trails in the Twin Lakes/Leadville area. We usually head there for 2 weeks every summer. Even though I'm able to run from day 1 at elevation, I notice an improvement after ~4 days out there and feel really good by week 2. No matter what you do, anything above 10k feet is still harder -- I definitely have to run a little slower than I would on comparable terrain here in the SE.
Good luck with the race. You can't go wrong escapaing our summer heat/hunidity for the magnificent scenery and the cool/dry mountain air (last year they had some snow during the race).
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2009 12:24:57 GMT -5
Tortoise,
I am signed up to do an "I'm not getting any younger" run at Leadville. As Nils suggests, the three most common issues addressed about Leadville are altitude, altitude and altitude.
I won't be able to spend much time before hand acclimatizing and the current conventional wisdom suggests that if you can't acclimatize for more than 2 weeks you should just show up as close to start time as the pre-race schedule will allow. (Before 10:30 the day before for the medical check in.)
A recent article in TrailRunner on training for altitude finished by saying that if you can't do all the other stuff in the article (I can't), you might be OK if you just train hard. Once again, a nod to Nil's advice.
As long as no one else (say, who lives at altitude) trains hard, we should be OK. I mean, who would ever think to train hard for a 100 mile race?
I've been on the Yahoo! LT100 discussion forum for some time. If you search the forum, you're bound to find answers to everything from multiple opinions about everything on the course to equipment to the best way to get cheap housing.
There is also a group called LT100Data. With a little perserverance you will be able to find your way to stats of every finisher who's ever run. From around 2000 on there are even stats on each runners in and out times at every aid station.
If you filter on Georgia you will find that there is, indeed, a member of this group who has experience and a successful finish at Leadville.
I hope she'll be responding to your post.
Kevin
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Post by janice on Jun 1, 2009 9:48:02 GMT -5
i have run Leadville twice and agree that for a flatlander, the altitude is the biggest obstacle. the trail is relatively smooth (althougth around the lake is rooty) and has lots of fire roads that you can really run on
i went out the day before, arriving just in time for check-in. i spent the rest of the day laying in bed and drinking lots of water, and taking aspirin every couple of hours (supposed to help)
during the race, my personal experience was that i did not "feel" the altitude so much (ie i wasn't breathing hard or anything), but it just made me slower than normal. i could not keep up with those CO folks! it was very discouraging at times, so you have to keep reminding yourself that your splits are slower because of the altitude
another thing to remember coming from ATL area is that there is little to no humidity out there (feels nice!). that combined with the altitude will probably increase your fluid loss, so be sure and drink plenty.
it will be cold at night. It snowed on us 1 year on the second pass back over Sugarloaf
and final suggestion is to do what you can to increase you anaerobic fitness. Think speed work. 5Ks. LOTS of hard uphill running. Practice being in oxygen debt.
And enjoy! I love Leadville. Cute town. Very nice event.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2009 9:04:19 GMT -5
Thank you, Janice. I've been PRing 5ks over the last couple of months and even snuck in a few master's wins. Hearing your advice is very encouraging.
I talked with a someone at Sweetwater Saturday after the race. He had run Leadville in about 28:30 and came in about an hour ahead of me in the 50k.
He was helpful, but couldn't stop laughing when I told him what I was up to next.
So, Tortoise, are you in?
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Post by tortoise on Jun 3, 2009 11:49:19 GMT -5
Wow! lots of great info and after some soul searching I am bailing this year. I think I need a bigger mileage base with more anerobic work than I have done to date. Biggest reason though is I talked with my wife about an alternate 100 miler that she could go to. She is not able to camp so Leadville was out. But she is going to go with me to Burning River 100 in August and If that goes well I will fly up on the cheap to PA in OCT and do Oil Creek 50 or 100. I have yet to run 100 in less than 28 hours but after Mohican last year I feel I can with a better aid station and walk/ run plan so I am shooting for 25-26 hours. I hope to do 3-4 100s between now and May 2010 to gain more experience and start saving and planning for Leadville 2010. It is also cheaper to do 2 100s back east than one out west. You input is really hepful Thank! ;D
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