Altitude Relapse

So after my good runs on Sunday and Monday, I took Tuesday off.  On Wednesday I did some more running in the Hokas on the east side trails near the house, and of course got lost again, and ended up on the mineral belt as usual.

While I was working on Thursday, a local girl named Christy stopped by.  She had recently completed her first 50K, and was going straight to the 100 as well.  So I talked her into taking me on a night run around Turquoise Lake later that evening when she got off work.  She ended up having to stay late, and we didn't get started until sometime after midnight I think.  This is a portion of the race that I will do in the dark at the beginning, and hopefully in the dark at the end as well, so I needed the practice there, and did not want to go alone.

Based on the fact that she had just done her first 50K (like me), and hqs signed up to do her first 100 (like me), I thought she would be a good training partner.  I was thinking we were on a similar level.  Nope.  She is apparently a pretty great mountain biker, and she waxed me out on the trail.  To my defense, I could not breathe.  I am having some sort of relapse into getting acclimated.  Even if that weren't the case, there is no way I could hang with her.  Afterwards she tells me that she is getting some help from Carmichael training (Chris Carmichael was Lance Armstrong's trainer).  This only made me feel minimally better.

On Friday, Peter (another new guy at work) and I went out to run Lodgepole.  Again I could not breathe very well.

So on Saturday morning Christy picks me up at 6:30 AM to hike Mt. Sherman.  This is a 14,000ft peak in Leadville.  She says that this is an easy and fast one.  I had to stop a lot to breathe, but we did eventually make it to the top.

I looked up just in time to realize she was taking a picture of me sucking wind.

It is pretty awesome up there, but I had to be at work, so we hustled down.

This is basically 2 1/3 miles up from sea level.

Going down was great.  Many people talk about coming down hurting more than going up, but I disagree.  Use what mother nature gives you, and just go.

This guy is using what mother nature gave him:

This is Christy's dog Crush.  This is how he decided to eat the snow, by straddling it.

I am hoping this acclimation issue subsides overnight, and I can get out there tomorrow and  Monday and lay down some long runs.