Gravel Worlds Double Weekend Workouts

Quite the last three weekends workout wise.  After getting sick about 4 weeks ago and being in the ER with severe dehydration I noticed that I felt I had lost some endurance - which I felt on my first long weekend workout 2 weeks after my ER trip.  But with the Gravel Worlds Double coming up August 25th and 26th I needed to get some good work in.

To do this I had planned three good milage weekends all the while keeping an eye on how my right ankle feels as it gets sore after long runs.

The first weekend was Friday July 21st and Saturday the 22nd.  The Friday workout was a comfortably paced 20 miler and as was my first long run since getting sick I went out really easy.  Felt good on the run and legs were good afterwards and ankle was just a little sore.  The second half of the weekend set was a 110 mile ride and was worried a little about this with the heat that had been around, in the high 90's to 100's F but thankfully was cooler - still hot at end but not what it had been.  The ride started well and even went pretty hard in places but paid for it later as the last 25 miles or so were a drag and just finished with an average pace much slower than usual.  That said looking back it was a good ride and a good end to a tough two day set of workouts.

The second weekend (July 29th and 30th) were back to back longer trail runs with Peter up in the Wrightwood CA area on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) so also got in some work at altitude.  Day one was supposed to be a point to point run but when we got to the start we found the road closed so changed to an out and back.  The original run was to be about 13 miles at about 8000ft but due to the change and now was going from Vincent Gap - up to Mt Baden Powel and then out to Windy Gap and back for an 18 miler (See Map Below) with about 5245ft of vert.  The run went well but have to say the downhills killed my thighs and my ankle was sore afterwards.  That said it went well but knowing I had another day of this was a little scary as had not done long back to back runs like this in a very long time.  The next day we ran a 12.3 mile loop (See Map Below) from Wrightwood that went up the Acorn Trail (steeper then the Baden Powel start) then over to the Mtn High Ski Area and down to Highway 2 and back to Wrightwood.  Legs were sore to start and that the run starts up hill right away made for a more casual start but that was good.  Once got rolling felt fine and then the descent down to Highway 2 was a little hard on the legs but finished up good on the 3.2 miles of downhill to town where I ran at a good pace and felt good.  When all done while legs were sore but I was much better than I would be - so the end of weekend #2.

Weekend #3 was not meant to be as hard as the other two but still a good amount of milage and effort.  Also, that week I did two good running workouts with some 20/60’s on Tuesday then a Tempo run on Thursday to give me a Total running milage in the last 6 days at 48 miles.   The 110 mile ride on Saturday was a good one, after a good last 7 days, and was much better than my last ride and got some good sections in and finished feeling strong.  Unlike the last 110 miler I did not slow anywhere as close to as much this time.  To finish out the weekend I did an 8 miler Sunday morning that turned out to be at a good pace after starting out slow.  Other than my ankle being sore it felt pretty good.  

The goal now is to reduce my running miles to get my ankle healed up well before the Gravel Worlds 50K run.  I will still do some intervals but just enough to keep my legs where I want them to be but feeling fresh.  With regards to riding will do what I can this last week at work in So Cal and get in a few Zwift rides next week but as with my running do just enough to keep my legs fresh and ready to race.

Again, after being in the ER 4 weeks ago I think this was a good 3 weekends of running and riding.

Here is the 17.8 Miler

Here is the 12.3 Miler