14ers.com

Just signed up for the full marathon! Let the training begin! Run for Rob (R4R)!

This will definitely be a difficult race. What an amazing testiment this will be to Rob's character when, even though he's no longer with us, he continues to inspire people to push their limits.

I'm in for the full.

Project Ralphie wrote:I'm in for the full.

Cool! I owe you a ride anyway. We can carpool.

I'm in for the marathon.

Signed up for the marathon!

I signed up for the full yesterday and my GF is going to run the heavy half

Signed up this morning. Really looking forward to this.

A couple words of advice for anyone doing either the full or the heavy half:
- Run as much as you can. Keeping your weekly mileage consistently high is the best thing you can do.
- A weekly long run is the most important thing you can do.
- Forget about speedwork unless you're consistently over 40mpw. The risk of injury outweighs the benefits, and you won't be going fast during this race. Hills (up and down) are much more important.

I'm considering this race as well. I'll find out early December whether or not it will fit in with my schedule. Looks like a good course and and a great way to pay tribute to Rob. Any thoughts on a post-race meet-up?

I'm just about ready to sign up for the half... I'm talking my feet and knees into it slowly.

Thanks for the running advice Mike - and for making me look up what MPW is and then realizing the "duh!" moment when I figured it out - I guess that makes me a running rookie, a badge I wear loud and proud.

I know it leaves a lot to be desired for purposes of trail run planning, but there is a ton of free stuff out on Runners World magazine's website that goes over training plans, tips, how to get started, pace calculators, etc. If you follow this link you can see all this here: http://www.runnersworld.com/channel/0,7 ... -0,00.html

Look down the left side and see all the headings you can click on to get more info on all aspects of training. There is a heading called "Trail Running" as well though I haven't had a chance to look into that one too much yet.

I used this site/tools in the past for Half/Full marathon training years ago in Florida. One really good thing was their "Smart Coach" feature. You can find the link on that site or just go straight here: http://smartcoach.runnersworld.com/smartcoach

The good thing about that is you can create your own training plan. You enter info such as a recent race time/distance (so it knows where you are at), what type of race you are currently training for distance-wise, how hard you want to train, when the race date is, etc. Click the button and it will create a detailed plan for you including what days of the week for rest, which day for your long run/tempo run/cross-train/etc. Again a lot of this is geared towards pure road running so you will certainly want to check out their other links for hill training, trail running and such. At the very least it is a start. The Smart Coach option is one item you do have to register for. That said, the "basic" plan may very well suite all your needs and it is free. The Smart Coach Plus has more features, you can try it for free for 30 days, but then there is a cost. You can see the differences at that link from above.

If anyone knows of resources like these Runners World tools, but better geared towards trail races, post them up.

-Mike

Other good resources for training

http://www.irunfar.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (more geared toward ultrarunning, but good tips and advice for trails, nutrition, injury prevention etc.)

http://www.trailrunnermag.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Denver Trail Runners has group runs on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. Their website also has links/maps to good running trails near Denver http://www.denvertrailrunners.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

my advice:
-try to get some running in above 10,000'
-run hills, hills and more hills and establish a run/walk routine that works for you
-practice your nutrition during runs
-don't increase your mileage too fast, especially early in your training or you risk injury

I will be running the heavy half.