Keystone Outback Training Run

Today I "ran" up the Outback area of Keystone Resort, up Keystone Gulch quite a ways. I drove up weaving between mountain bikers, some experienced and friendly, some not so. Testing for Elbrus Race 2012 training possibilities. I wanted to see if the switchbacks I noticed earlier in the week were potentially steep enough to be good training. I think it is a little unsteep, for the most part, with an average grade around 9% as opposed to the average grade of 27% on Elbrus. That means in general I have to go 3 times as many miles to accomplish the same vertical. In this case over 2 miles I ascended 1000'. If I were to lap it, I'd have to do 3.5 runs up and down, which would be over 7 miles up and 7 miles down, compared to the 2.5 miles on Elbrus for the same vertical as the Qualifier.

Above is the Google Earth Elevation Profile, which is based on miles. Below is the graph from Polar ProTrainer software, based on speed. Note the steep angle of the descent, which shows increased speed.

Running up I varied a bit between running averaging about a 15:00 pace, and walking at about a 19:00 pace. On the way down I managed to hit a few intervals of 7:44 to 8:12 with some lighter running at 10:11 and walking at 16:00. The curved roads caused the car to sneak up on me, which was pretty welcome at that time. It felt pretty good, and I think I'll recover nicely. Shoes and socks worked out good. A bit chilly with a mild breeze, there were threatening clouds overhead left over from the thunderstorms earlier in the day.