Have I Set My Goals Too High?

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  • #51440
    RMM
    Participant

    Hello,
    I’m signed up for this years Grand Traverse and I’m having doubts about my ability to finish the race. That’s my goal, to finish the GT. I’ve looked at the results from previous years and see that there are teams finishing in the 16 to 17 hour time frame. I have been loosely following the UA 12 Week GT training plan. I’ve completed nearly all of the longer days (hours wise) and have been pretty consistent (80% ish) with the mid week skins up to this point. I completed the Gothic Mountain Tour this past weekend in about 7H 45M. I wouldn’t say that I left it all out there but I put forth a pretty solid effort in my mind. I’ve heard/read in a couple of places that doubling your GMT time is a good estimate for your GT finishing time. If that’s the case, I’m right where I need to be. I’m still having doubts though.
    My partner and I are signed up for the Power of 4 this weekend and our plan is to go as far as we can. If we make the congo cut off, we’ll push till the end. From there the plan is to get a couple more back to back long days on flat terrain the following weekend. Then rest the weekend before the GT.
    I know there are a lot of elite folks on this forum gunning for the podium or top 10, 50, etc.. Are there any novices like me that could chime in with some insight from the back of the pack?
    Thanks!

Posted In: Skimo-racing

  • Inactive
    Anonymous on #53331

    Doh. Your post got caught in our spam filter. Sorry for the delay. I hope your race went well.

    For future reference, is you have a recent event for comparison, that will produce a much more reliable estimate than other methods. On that note, how did your GT time compare to your Gothic time?

    The one thing that I would (have) caution against is so many events so close together. No real fitness will be gained within a month of an event, so adding additional races will likely worsen performance. The exception is if you use the middle race (Power of Four in this case) as “research” and intentionally go slower than you can. For that to work, you need to make sure your partner is on the same page.

    Hopefully that helps for next year!

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