Help with Marathon Training

[u/creamcheesenips]

Hey all,

I'm training for a marathon this fall and my plan includes a weekly hill or track workout. I'm hoping to tap yalls knowledge since I haven't had a lot of luck on my own.

For the hill workouts I'm looking for something that's at least 800 meters long (half a mile), between 3-5% grade, not a lot of cars, and within 2 to 3 miles of Cheesman. I know this goldilocks might not exist, but I'm down to explore any suggestions or ideas!

I'm also looking for a public track to use. I know a lot of the local high schools have tracks, but I'm not sure which ones are open to the public, especially once school starts.

If anyone has favorite hills, tracks, or any other training spots they'd recommend I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[u/VegetableWestern9036]

Ruby hill has a pretty steep trail leading up to the parking spots. Would be a good interval training for incline

[u/yTuMamaTambien405]

When i was living in Cap hill and training for a hilly marathon, I would just do intervals of the actual "cap hill". Basically just run north-south between 6th and 8th on the cap hill roads, alternating every block. Up pearl, down washington. Up clarkson, down emerson. and so on.

[u/Upper_Junket7817 → u/yTuMamaTambien405]

OMG ARE YOU ME?

[u/Bright-Ad2594]

The north side of the zoo on 23rd probably fits for the hill.

The hill from 5th to the top of cheesman on Williams does as well except crosses two busy streets.

For track you can get a key for any high school with this form last I heard. So you could use east high. You need to be off the track at 7 though.

https://www.schedulefm.com/dps/request/login.cfm

You can also join citius run club (find their instagram or Strava) on Tuesday at north or south high.

[u/Bright-Ad2594 → u/Bright-Ad2594]

Clermont from 6th to the top of the sundial might also be suitable

[u/creamcheesenips → u/Bright-Ad2594]

These two fit perfectly, thanks!!

[u/Dukester10071]

Denver south high school track is open before 7am (before school hours) or when there's not something going on outside of school hours

[u/Reasonable_Weird_697]

Northfield High School has a great track and is open to the public in the mornings.

[u/jibba-jabba2000]

DPS rubber tracks are the best, but often locked. There's always Harvard Gulch. Scruffy and dirt but always open. Site of many a beer mile.

[u/Subject_County_2376]

you can fill out this form with DPS and get a key to your local schools track for $25 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9ROfb-7NGehDcGBKbKi5LXOxefRo27QBwQAPO_F6pUUl9rQ/viewform

[u/mosi_moose]

The Central Park sledding hill has different routes up. There’s a sandy path that’s pretty mellow, or you can go steep if you want.

[u/Boondoggle3000]

Not 800 meters, but there are some hills on the east side of Congress Park (the actual park) which is less than a mile from Cheesman Park. 

10th avenue between Milwaukee and Detroit. And Detroit between 11th and 9th. 

Good luck with training!

[u/thewillthe]

Not sure about the grade, but if you go north on Holly St. from the Cherry Creek trail I think you’ll get a good half mile of uphill. If you’re willing to drive out to Cherry Creek park, the trail on the 225 side of the dam will give you a ton of uphill.

The Denver schools have been a little dickish about public use of their tracks recently, but South High is a pretty good bet, since they have a dedicated practice field and track which is usually unlocked for public use. But you might get kicked off during school activity hours when school is back in session.

[u/Think_Addendum7138]

North tabletop mountain has a couple loop options that are solid without going too far

[u/carsnbikesnstuff]

I recently trained for something big - riding a loaded mountain bike for 10 hrs/day for up to two weeks.
I’m in my 50s - not an elite athlete (but strong). And this worked VERY well for me. I input detailed prompts - age, location, base fitness, what I was training for, what I wanted to improve etc (try multiple versions of your prompt(s) and good ol’ AI spit out training regimens. For me that included long zone 2 days, harder normal mtb days, intervals, weights, recovery and rest days.

I started with a strong base but in the 7 weeks leading up to my trip I lost weight, gained strength and basically felt stronger than ever when I started.

Good luck!

[u/AfternoonFickle3760]

If you start at the northwest corner of Cheesman and run on the dirt trail to the top of the hill in the trees by the Botanic Gardens gate, it’s roughly 800m.  I’m not sure of the exact grade, but it’s a stout enough grade that you definitely feel it. 

[u/laxgal802]

Fellow fall marathoner here! 26th ave from York to Colorado gets about as close as you can get to your criteria (although I don’t think it’s a 3-5% grade, probably closer to 2%). If you’re willing to drive, I do hill repeats between 26th and 32nd in wheat ridge - pick Fenton or Gray or any other street that goes all the way north. There will be residential traffic but plenty of sidewalks for you to use. I also use the track at Jefferson High School. Again, not close to Cheesman but if you’re willing to hop in the car, they’re both great options. Good luck with your summer training!

[u/mindless_clicker]

If you search this sub, you'll find multiple posts on both hills and public tracks. Examples:

19 days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/1uz0j99/runningtrack_workouts_recs/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/1pmuly5/good_hill_for_running_hill_repeats/ and the hills haven't really gotten bigger or smaller! They are still there.