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Written by Suzanne Atkinson
Mike Quigley negotiates Leadville 100s Race Across the Sky and earns a silver finisher's buckle and a time of 11:29:30. Mike began specific training with Steel Ctiy Endurance head coach Suzanne Atkinson six months prior to his main event. Coordinating Mike's family time became one of their biggest challenges in training for the ultra endurance Mountain Bike marathon. Mike's training plan built a foundation of strong threshold and VO2 max work in the early season, following the "strong before long" periodization philosophy of Steel City Endurance for ultradistance athletes.
As the race became closer, Mike transitioned into longer endurance rides at a moderate paces while he and Coach Suzanne zeroed in on proper 'race pace' for an event whose starting line is at 10,000 feet. Two weeks before the race, Mike was doing back to back rides of six hours each combined with plenty of climbing work around the short steep hills in Pittsburgh.
The Leadville 100 is a 50 mile out and back course starting in Leadville, CO at an elevation of 10,000 feet and peaking at over 14,000 feet on the 3000 foot climb to Columbine mine. It was first run in 1984 and is one of the best know ultra marathon mountain bike events.
See the full finishing results of the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race here.
Written by Suzanne Atkinson
Steel City Endurance athlete (and 2nd cousin) Courtney Tobin ran her best 5k yet with a time of 28:59. She took 3rd place in the Beat the Sheriff 5k in Iverness, FL. Even though she didn't Beat the Sheriff, she beat her previous 5k personal best by nearly a minute with only 3 1/2 weeks of structured training. Living in Florida means hot, humid weather, so Courtney prefers to train indoors. After her last race she was determined to improve her time and not walk at all. Coach Suzanne started her on a custom designed training plan taking into account her current fitness and training modality...the treadmill.
A four week plan of mixed pace intervals, with only 3 runs per week allowed her adequate recovery while preparing her body to run faster and complete the race without walking. Good luck to Courtney in future 5ks. With the winter coming, hopefuly some outdoor training will be tolerable.
Congratulations Courtney!
Written by Suzanne Atkinson
The Mingo Road Race Series signals the beginning of Spring Road Racing in Southwestern PA. This year Steel City Endurance is fielding both mens and women's teams. Pam Milavec, the newest member of the SCE women's team write about the successful teamwork by the ladies in the first race of the season.
The weather was cold, blustery and rainy for the first race at Mingo Park on March 29, 2009. There was a decently sized women’s field of 11 rides, including 4 from SCE – Barb Grabowski, Patty George, Rachel Teodori and me. Barb and I were riding with the SCE team for the first time. The women’s race started slowly, with Barb taking an early pull on the front and no one wanting to get into the wind to replace her. The pace was slow, down to 11 mph at one point, on the gradual climb up to the two steep sections. Patty and I had fun attacking on the hills during a practice ride the week before and decided to give it a try. If nothing else, it would wake things up a bit! We attacked and went off the front, but it didn’t last long (lesson #1 – don’t try an attack when everyone is still very fresh!).
Read the rest of Pam's Race Report on the Steel City Endurance Team Website
More Articles...
- Exploding Winter Base Training Myths
- Mike Walther Stomps IM Florida
- Steel City Athletes Crush 24 Hours of Big Bear
- Carol Clemens Wins 12 Hours of Santos
- Holly Forsyth wins National 24 Hour Series
- Lee-Ann Wins 3rd Place
- Lee-Ann winning Best All-Around Rider
- Holly Forsyth Wins Big Bear
- Quick Dry Logo Shirts
- Coach Suzanne in the News
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