Hey TrailSurfer Now that you've done one trail race I know you're hooked!! I dont know the terrain (I'm on the East Coast) but I did look at the elevation profile. It looks like one really long climb (about 3 miles) and an equally long descent. Therefore, I would find a long hill in your area that you could train on and do hills repeats once a week. I would run up and run down to simulate race conditions. Racing long downhills can really trash your quads if you havent done any in training. Good Luck My Blog http://breakhearttrailrunning.blogspot.com/

Not much to offer other than good wishes TS.. Enjoy yourself fella

I like to train harder than race conditions, so I would say if you can find a hill longer than the 2-3 miles, that would be ideal. As for effort - I try to push myself in training, but pretty much end up power walking any amount of incline. I think of the uphills as an aerobic training and downhill as technique training - and both as getting the appropriatte muscles into condition. Good luck!

I agree with Oldguy and Trails-train for the downhill. Pound the he-- out of your quads. I should do hill repeats but I hate them so think about what I say not what I do . I agree with walking up the hills-I do it all the time but it's not a stroll in the park. The clock is still ticking so think of it more as a speed hike or what Trails said-a power walk. I may walk fast and jog a few steps then back to walking-like you're rushing to get some where. I like to keep my heart rate under control so that when I do reach the top I can get going quicker again and not be so out of breath that I'm sucking wind on a flat. Then hopefully you have a downhill to really recover on and get back to your normal pace. This is what works for me-I did two 50 milers and two 50K last year which doesn't make me an expert but gives me a little experience. Kelly

Thanks again... really mean it. I am thinking about this stuff and appreciate you sharing your experience. I already posted this in the 1000 mile club tonight, but I am a excited about it so I will post it here too: Today I just went further than ever before (12.57 miles). It was a tough, hilly trail. It's 10 K round trip and I did it twice. My legs felt it, but it was doable. I've been trying to build up my distance and hills slowly for a 22K trail race in May. So far so good. I'll see how I feel tomorrow before I decide whether to have a recovery week next week or make my next long run 15 miles. Yahoo!

Something my friend and I have adopted for hills, up and down - a zig zag motion. You may cover a little extra ground, but it helps. It's especially helpful on steep uphills, even if walking (which I mostly do), and with downhills, it alleviates some of the pressure on your quads and knees. Good luck,and have fun!