Run Rabbit Run training week sixteen

Number sixteen was my peak volume week. My biggest training week in three years (not counting the Bear races of 2023 and 2025).

• 17 hours, 27 minutes all training

• 52.2 miles hiking and running

• 14,938 ft D+ hiking and running

I went out on steep mountain trails five times to prepare for the big initial climb, high altitude, and big finishing descent of Run Rabbit Run (RRR). I did more power hiking than running on the climbs, and worked on descending with fast feet and momentum. I'm not planning to use poles at RRR, so I left them behind all week.

Tuesday I hiked and ran up the Round Mountain trail in the Big Thompson Canyon. 3,000 feet of climbing in less than five miles is a good simulation of the climb up Steamboat Mountain. There is some very pretty scenery on the trail, too.

Wednesday I did some D+ grinding around Arthur's Rock in Lory State Park. 1,400 feet of climbing (and equal descending) in 5.3 miles.

I went to Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday and Friday for an alpine mini-camp. Thursday I hiked and ran by myself up to the top of Flattop Mountain from Bear Lake. That's 2,800 ft D+, starting at 9,800 feet. I saw a Peregrine falcon and lots of pikas and marmots. Not many hikers on top, though Bear Lake was quite busy.

Thursday night I stayed at the cabin of my friend, Dana, and Friday the two of us ran and hiked into RMNP's Wild Basin, following a ridge to Mount Orton (11,729 ft) and then to the summit of Chiefs Head Peak (13,579 ft), the third highest summit in the park. From there we dropped down into the drainage containing Snowbank and Lions Lakes and along North St. Vrain Creek to the trailhead. Over 5,700 feet of climbing and twenty miles. We ran almost all of the return, and I felt pretty strong. It's a good sign for RRR.

Sunday I went back out for a little more D+ grinding on Towers Trail. I hiked and ran at the very end of the day to beat the heat. The lights of the city on the way down was something I hadn't seen in a while.

On the Some Work, All Play podcast this morning the Roches said that ten hours of training is near the productive limit for most athletes. They are not counting active recovery, that's my understanding. My count of more than 17 hours includes three hours of easy cycling and my usual mobility and core routine, and no more than four hours of zone 2 effort. Everything else was quite easy. I wouldn't want to stack too many of these weeks, but this one on top of a pretty big week fifteen is not too much. I've got plenty of recovery time before RRR.