What is a Highgrade run?

The race is 5 weeks away.  I mean, THE Race is 5 weeks away.  As runners, we have our "my race" in our sights--the race for which we're currently training and on which something hinges for us--but for me, I consider my next race to be my "THE Race" because, well, it's Boston.  Need I say more about why this is so special to me?


Most people--many runners included--hear only about the infamous hills of Boston...the Newton Hills, Heartbreak Hill, and so on.  Those hills seem to have a life all their own.  But many people don't realize that there is a good portion of the first miles of the Boston Marathon that is downhill.  Here is the Boston Marathon course profile:

"Oh", you say, "Well, that's not too bad!  I mean, how hard can running downhill be??" 


Welllllll.....


Running downhill does a number on your quads--it'll trash them if you're not careful, and even if you are!  If that's not enough, notice in the course profile above that after some miles of net downhill running (with a few rolling hills thrown in there), runners are then faced with a series of hills--those infamous Hills, with a capital "H"--culminating with Heartbreak Hill, then another descent to the Finish Line.  So, just when your quads have probably had all they can take, and at a point in the marathon where it's considered that the real race begins, you have to assault those final hills!

In preparation for some of this downhill running, and the subsequent feeling we might experience in our quads, our Coach suggested that we do several practice long runs on a downhill course in our area.  Out of several good options, we picked one that's relatively close and offers some great downhill training: Highgrade Road.  It's also a good downhill training run for the Colorado Marathon (in Fort Collins) and for the St. George Marathon (in St. George, Utah). This was actually my second training run down Highgrade. 

When I posted on my Facebook status "Highgrade run # 2 done!", one of my FB buddies posted, "What is a highgrade run?"  What a good question, I thought.  So, for the uninitiated, curious, or those of you who just plain think we're crazy (and admit it, there ARE those of you reading this who do!), I'll fill you in now...

Highgrade Road is in Deer Creek Canyon, on the southwest side of Denver.  It's a long, hairpin-turn-filled, steep road that's used frequently by both cyclists and runners as a form of training--either up or down. On any given weekend, you're likely to find numerous groups of either sport training on Highgrade.  If you're a runner training strictly downhill that day, you need two vehicles, or at least someone to drop you at the top, so that you can run down. 

On the day of our second run, we opted for two, driving one to the top to park it at the Pleasant Park Grange building--an area that is a cyclist rest stop--and leaving one at the bottom of our route.  In this case, we had a shorter "long" run to do, since it was a recovery week, so we left the other car at a pullout 8 miles down from the top. 

Once we had decided what gear to shed and what to keep, and when all of us had our Garmins receiving satellite signals (sometimes they take a long time!), we were off.  This run was purposefully to be a goal pace run, where we warm up (slowly) for a few miles, then run (faster) at our intended marathon target pace for several miles, and then "shut it down" for the final mile of slower running that's intended to help in recovery.  Part of what we needed to practice, in addition to getting the feel for running downhill for an extended period of time, was the ability to hold back on the pace. We'd been warned that we have to hold back at the beginning of Boston because--as in so many other marathons (or races in general, for that matter)--runners tend to go out too fast, and this is especially true in Boston not only because of the energy but also because of the downhill from the start! Starting too fast can be especially treacherous for a marathoner, as it causes the runner to use up too much of his or her primary energy stores, glycogen, too fast. 

And so, after a few miles of warm up, during which we also met up with another runner from our group who didn't know we were running Highgrade that day, we each worked into hitting our goal marathon pace for the next several miles.  It was a beautiful day, and as we ran, we settled into our pace as we watched for cars and cyclists around each bend in the road.  We ran paying attention not just to the pace as shown by our Garmins, but also by our perceived effort level, but also holding back and not pushing the pace too much.  As is typically the case on any long run involving more than two or three people, the group naturally splintered into two different paces with a little bit of distance between us.


The conversation flowed fairly easily, despite our pace, within my smaller "pace" group--two other friends and I--as we exchanged thoughts about pacing strategies and listened intently as one friend, who'd run Boston multiple times, shared tips, her strategies, and other valuable information about running Boston with us.  Before we knew it, we'd completed the goal pace miles of our run and it was time to shut it down.  As we backed off the pace for the final mile, we each commented on how quickly the time and the miles had passed.  Around the final hairpin turn in the road, we reached the car that we'd left at the bottom in order to get back to the Pleasant Valley Grange building at the top where our other transportation was parked.  As our other friends also finished their run and we all stretched in the warm Colorado sunshine, we reveled in what we'd just accomplished--and anticipated what our quads would feel like the next day!


And that, my friends, is a Highgrade Run!

Highgrade Run # 2 Group:                                                 

Julie, Amy, Kathy, Carolyn, me

Highgrade Run # 1: Angela & me