I’ve been holding off on telling you, but now that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, I’m excited to to tell you that I’ll be running BolderBoulder!
When I was in my early 20s I spent two summers in Idaho Springs, Colorado working at a summer camp on Mount Evans at 10,200 feet. I have some great memories from those summers, but they were a lifetime ago.
I remember taking a little time every day to look out on the Rockies and try not to be blind to the beauty around me.
It’s scary to think I’ve lived more years since I lived in Colorado than I did before I lived there, but that’s the reality.
Okay, enough of my history, on to the race!
I’m excited to be back in Boulder and spend a few days hanging out in Colorado, but to be 100% honest, I’m scared to death of the altitude. As I said, when I lived there in the past, I was super young but I don’t remember the altitude being an issue, and I’m no spring chicken. So as a flatlander, living in the northeast for almost my entire life, and the last 22 years in NYC, I’m a bit freaked about running at altitude.
But, living in the age that we do, finding out how to best prepare for the race is just a few key strokes away. And I think I’ve come up with plan.
But wait, there was a surgery . . .
Now, to back up a bit, I’m still recovering from my knee surgery back in January and have been back to running since late February. It’s been super humbling and has really had me taking stock in how I think about running. I’ve come to realize that speed isn’t the end all and be all of running. I’ve also come to grips with the fact that it’s okay to go out and just run a 5K (I used to think it wasn’t worth getting my running clothes sweaty for less than a 10K – boy has that changed). I’m still going to PT (more on that later) and working on strengthening my legs and body in general, but what I really need to concentrate on at this point is training for altitude.
This is what wakes me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
Okay, not really, but I am concerned about it. But a little Googling, a question on Twitter and Facebook and voila! I have a plan that will at least get me to the finish line without embarrassing myself.
Here’s the BolderBoulder plan
Hill repeats and glute/quad work at the gym.
Every article I’ve read, every person that posted answers to my questions on social media has said virtually the same thing.
Hill repeats
Hill repeats
Hill repeats
They also said hydration is key (which I actually know from when I go out to Utah a few times a year for my day job).
I figure I’ll add glute and quad work to help strengthen my lower body. Oh, and core work of course.
I don’t have a lot of time to train, but I’m gonna do what I can to make the race really memorable!
Who else running the race (I mean, beside Kara and my friends at Nuun)?
