Altitude Training in Alpine, AZ

So, it was off to the family cabin for 5 days of R ‘n R over the 4th of July weekend. Typically, there is nothing like lounging around in the cool pines, going fishing on Big Lake, going hiking, imbibing on copious amounts of red wine, consuming a glass (or two) of Johnny Walker Black Label, sleeping in, and spending quality time with the family. This time, much like in 2010, I was in full-on IM training. Of the activities mentioned above, which do you think were the ones that got eliminated? Anybody? Beuller? Beuller? The correct answer is, “sleeping in.” All of the other activities were done, and done well I might add, but if you recall, when I was summarizing my experiences after completing IMAZ 2010, I had this to say:


“You will be in bed a good 2-3 hours before your spouse. If you go on “vacation”, you will bring your bike, running gear, or swim gear.”

The same held true for this vacation. Here are the workouts that Carlos & Sue had planned for me while I was at 9000’:

Wednesday, July 4th – 30 min easy Altitude Acclimation run
Thursday, July 5th – 2 hour bike ride that included various RPM sets and a 5x5 set in the big gear
Friday, July 6th – 1hr 10min worth of hill repeat runs
Saturday, July 7th – 2hr 45min Z2 bike ride
Sunday, July 8th – 1hr 15min Z2 run

Since I wanted as much family time as possible, I had to knock these bad boys out at the crack of dawn. In Alpine, the temperature at the crack of dawn was between 48 – 50 degrees, so I had to pack some winter cycling gear. Imagine that, winter cycling gear, in Arizona, in July. While the cycling community back in Phoenix was waking up to 90 degrees, I was donning a base layer, jersey, wind vest, arm warmers, bibs, leg warmers, and socks. I thought about wearing my long fingered gloves, but decided not to. My alarm was going off around 4:30 so I could grab a banana, some peanut butter, and a cup of coffee before I headed out. I had the rain soaked roads to myself for about an hours’ worth of riding before any sign of life presented itself. On Thursday, I decided to take care of my intervals on the only relatively flat road around. It runs through town, past Luna Lake, and heads over towards New Mexico. As I was turning a bend in the road, Luna Lake presented itself with a huge cloud of fog nestled around it. I almost stopped to take a picture, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it long enough to stop. It was beautiful and eerie at the same time. There wasn’t any fog anyplace else. In fact, it was so thick, you couldn’t see the other side of the lake (and it’s not that big). After my warm-up, I got down to business and took care of my intervals. Once those were done, I realized that I had some time left for the rest of my ride. I decided to head back up towards the cabin and continue on the highway up the side of the mountain. Once there, I had to stop and snap the obligatory bike pic with a sweet background. In the background, you can see Luna (just above my top tube) and the road that runs by it:

Once back to home base, I had to get a pic taken of my helmet hair. I don't know what's worse, the helmet hair or the facial hair! Not sure why I had to, but I did and I present it to you:

Saturday’s ride was pretty simple really. Stay in Z2 unless ascending a hill. When ascending, it was OK to slip into Z3 and give ‘em some efforts. I decided to do that same OAB that I did in 2010 and then again with Kristi in September 2011. Only this time, I was going to cut it a bit shorter to fit into my prescribed time. Not much to say about the actual ride that I haven’t already said in my July 3rd, 2010 post (http://dansimaz.blogspot.com/2010/07/06272010-07032010.html), but I did experience a “stop and smell the roses” moment on the way back. It’s one of those events that Mother Nature allows you to check out maybe once in a lifetime, so I had to stop and enjoy. As I was coming down the hill from Nelson Reservoir, doing about 28 mph, I noticed a car parked on the side of the road with somebody looking at the field directly to my right. When I glanced over to see what it was, I saw this:

A herd of about 75-100 elk running at full speed across the grassy field! As the elk in the front grew their lead on the rest of the herd, the ones in the back started talking and bugling. Presumably it was to tell the leaders to slow down since they stopped in their tracks, turned around, and rejoined the rest. For the next 10 minutes, they stood in a huge group and talked to each other. Until that moment, I had never heard elk bugle before, let alone almost 100 of them. It seemed as though they were trying to figure out where to go next, as some took off up the side of a mountain, while others followed along the base. They ran back and forth a few more times producing that distinct stampede sounding thump on the ground before they settled down and I took off. All told, I was there for about 20 minutes before I thanked them and continued on my ride. For the next few miles, I literally said, out loud, “WOW! I will never forget that moment” about 10 times.

My runs were fairly mundane and not very exciting. Just pounding the trails while dodging mud and trying not to slip on wet grass. The only item of note was that I saw, and heard, my first coyote while up there. While coyotes are a daily sight in Phoenix, I had never witnessed one in Alpine. I was running down an access trail with my iPod in when I heard something in the distance. It was loud enough for me to take an ear bud out and listen harder. When I heard the distinct howl again, I immediately turned to my right to catch a glimpse of it running parallel to me. Was it tracking me? Playing with me? Checking me out? Maybe it was none of the above, because after that, the coyote was gone for good.

What a great Independence Day vacation!