Train In Spain For The Rockies?

Team Everyman Tri member Paul Mandel on his latest training in Europe.

I've been running since the early 1980's, when I was a cross-country runner, miler, and two-miler on the high school running teams in Port Washington, New York. My first long endurance race was when I ran the Boston Marathon as an unofficial runner while a law student at Boston University in 1990. In 2009, now a resident of Boulder, CO, I got serious about distance running again.


I ran the Indian Summer Half Marathon and the Boulder Half Marathon in September, 2009, the NYC Marathon in November, 2009 (raising over $3,000 for Team Continuum), the Phoenix Marathon in January, 2010, the NYC Half Marathon in March, 2010, and the Boston Marathon in April, 2010 (once again, as a Bandit).

In late April of this year, I was starting to think about what endurance races I wanted to do next. All I had on the schedule was the NYC Marathon in November 2010. My neighbor Paul Shippey had been an inspiration to me in my training efforts over the last year, and when he suggested teaming up for a multi-day backcountry running race, it sounded like a good idea at the time. I figured if I can run a marathon, why not the equivalent of five or six marathons over the course of six days, in the mountains? It may be crazy, but now I'm proud to be a member of Team Everyman Tri, entered in the 2010 Trans Rockies Run.

Once I committed to the race, I immediately shifted my training around to include some hills. Conveniently there is a 1000 foot tall hill just behind the northwest Boulder, CO neighborhood I live in. I started slow runs up this hill once or twice a week. It's very different from road work - lots of new muscle stiffness.

In the second half of June, I travelled to Spain on vacation with my wife and two teenagers. I was concerned about keeping up with training, but Paul said "Do what you can and enjoy your holiday." My first run in Spain was a very easy circuit of Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro, among many jogging Spaniards. Madrid's elevation is only around 2,000 feet.

My next three workouts in Spain were in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We were staying at the home of a friend in Cahars, outside of Grenada. Luckily, within a couple kilometers of the house was a road and bike path up into a mountain recreation area called Cumbres Verdes. I did one eight mile run with a 1,951 ascent and descent. Then a couple days later I followed up with a fifteen miler with a 3,200 foot ascent and descent on the same road. Both runs went well, except that I ran short of water on the longer one - I had counted on reaching a spring-fed fountain that turned out to be farther away than I thought. Next time I'll bring a Camelback.

Another big run in Spain was at the Sol y Nieve ski area. I covered just seven miles, but climbed 2,743 feet, starting at around 6,950 feet and peaking up at 9,400 feet. I ran up the ski slopes until I hit to top of the lifts, and then took a road that led to a big radio telescope at the top of the mountain. I was surprised to find cows grazing at the top, as well a mountain goat that bounded away as I came around a bend near the summit.

We finally spent several days on the Mediterranean coast in a small town called Agua Amarga. There were some surrounding hills to run, but nothing big. Now I'm back in Colorado, and super-high altitude training can start again.