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R2R2R Report + Thank you!
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I completed R2R2R this past weekend on Saturday, April 24th, and HOLY COW what an incredible experience.
My ultra-running friends talked me into doing it – I have never run more than a marathon distance, and my one marathon was during my first ironman, IRONMAN Arizona, in October 2019 (4:40 run, 11:59:57 IM finish). I was absolutely terrified, so I came to Uphill Athlete to learn more about endurance training, mountain running, and distances and terrain much more complicated than road running. I read the forum that said Mike Foote’s 20 week BIG VERT plan was one of the best options, so I downloaded it and followed it starting in early January of this year.
To Mike, and everyone else at Uphill Athlete, HUGE THANK YOU for your training plan and your incredible resources. I seriously don’t know what I would have done without it. When I started the training plan, I was living in Bend, OR for the winter, so I substituted a few of my long runs for big vert days on my skis. I would go to Portland to visit my parents for a long weekend, and I was able to get my long runs in on the Wildwood trail which was absolutely key in training my downhill running muscles. About a month out, I knew I needed to train on the insanely rough and rocky Arizona trails, so I returned back home to Phoenix to start running in the mountains around the valley. I started doing my long runs with my friends who were doing R2R2R with me, and from day 1, I could tell I had a better base and more strength to handle the vert than they did. It helped me feel comfortable going into the big adventure, and sure enough, I was in great spirits and (mostly) happy on the last climb out of the canyon!
All in all, it was an absolutely amazing day. I definitely underestimated how difficult the North Rim was, but that was more of a mental struggle than a physical one (I made pretty good time up to the top and had to wait for my friends at the rim). Again, I just want to say thank you for the training plan and the amazing amount of information available here.
Yesterday, I swore I would never do it again, but today I actually feel great, all my soreness has essentially gone away, and I would definitely consider tackling some big goals with some big vert again!!
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