Part 1 of a 10 part strategy to finish Leadville

Start to May Queen
Total miles 13.5, miles running 12.5, miles walking 1.0
Cutoff time 3:15, planned arrival 2:28:30

Before starting, an undertaking as big as this, it is critical to convince
yourself that you can do it.  Sure you may have doubts, but in your heart you
need to believe you can do it!  That one aspect is the biggest factor in making
the difference between finishing and not.

There are parts of the course to make time and parts to lay back and go with
slow and steady progress.  This first section is one of the gentler stretches
and offers opportunity to get ahead of the cutoff times.  As noted in my
preface, the assumption will be 40 miles of running and this already accounts
for 12.5 of those 40 miles.

Because of the altitude, and many who are coming from much lower elevations,
it is critical to start slow in the first few miles to warm up and become
aerobically efficient.  Fortunately, the first 5 miles are either gently
downhill or flat.  Great for a warm-up but easy to make the MISTAKE of
starting too fast.  There will be a rise in the pavement after the first 1/2
mile for a few hundred yards, this should be walked.  To make sure you don't
start out too fast, check your watch as soon as you hit the dirt road.  This is
roughly 1 mile, you should be no faster than 10 minutes at this point, preferably
slower. The next 2.5 miles are gradually downhill on a wide dirt road called the
Boulevard.  When you take a sharp right, look at your watch again, you should be
no faster than 35 minutes.  You'll then make your way towards Turquoise Lake,
when you turn right onto a trail for the first time under powerlines, there will
be a very steep hill.  Check your watch it should be 55 minutes.  The point of
the watch checking is to make sure you are not going to fast.  This will get you
used to running 11 minute pace.  Remember the pace and try to keep it until the
first aid station.  At 11 min pace, you will get there in 2:28:30.

While traveling on the trail around the lake to May Queen, it is a single track
trail and difficult to pass people.  Don't try to pass on this trail unless you
find an easy place to do so.  It is a big waste of energy, you have a lot of
opportunity to pass later.  As you progress, the trail will roll with a series
of small hills, don't hesitate to walk on the steeper hills.  You should walk
about a mile in total of these hills along the way.

When you get to the aid station, check your watch to see if you are around
2 1/2 hrs.  That is 45 minutes ahead of the cutoff, you do not want to be any
slower than that because there are few finishers able to complete the course
in time starting out much slower.

Ideally, you want to be there in 2:28, spend 2 minutes at the aid station and
head out at 2:30.  There will be aid stations later in the run that you should
spend more time at.  This isn't one of them.  You should fill your bottles, take
as much food as you can hold and start walking. You'll be walking after leaving
this aid station and have plenty of opportunity to rest and eat while walking.
The key is relentless forward motion.  It won't be fast but it will be forward.

Hint for enjoyment:  Take the time to look out on the lake as you're running
around it, it is beautiful at night.  You'll see a long stringof flashlights
around the perimeter from all of the other runners.  If the moon is out and
it's calm you can see the reflection of Mt Massive in the water.

Next Segment: May Queen to the Fish Hatchery (hopefully next week)

Dana Roueche
Boulder, CO
danar@us.ibm.com