A Good Start to the Week......

Both Sunday and today got in 7.5 miles on the trails up at Percy Warner. The weather in Nashville has been high 50's/low 60's...for January it's pretty darn good. Unfortunately I have been battling a cold for the past 4 days and it's had an impact on my work out routine. My legs have felt pretty dead on the last two runs...it could be simply due to the fact that the Percy Warner trails have quite a bit of ascending and descending...I did not walk any of the trails but plodded up the steep ascents while trying to negotiate the steep descents. Below is a cool pic from my run today on the trails.

I read a great blog last night and finished it this morning about a guy that did UTMB last year. He DNF'd which is nothing to be ashamed of on a course like that. The take aways were the in-climate weather, sleet, snow, heavy rains, temperatures ranging 40 degrees throughout the race, muddy terrain, etc. Quite frankly it was pretty concerning. I'm not a cold weather runner and especially being wet and cold is an even bigger concern....so...need to plan for the worst weather and hope for the best. Headed to Chicago in the morning. I hope to get in an early morning (5:00AM-6:30AM) practice with the masters group. They always kick my ass...but feel great afterwords. With a little more than 90 days out from IM STG I have an excellent base and will begin a more formal and disciplined training program...which should benefit my run. Gotta get some sleep ....Cheers!

UTMB......Spectacular Views

No training on Friday. Took the day off. Managed to get to the gym today for a light run on the treadmill. Tomorrow is a big training day. I will hit Percy Warner park trails for a 10 mile run and will follow it with a 1.5 hour swim with the triathletes at the WCRC. Below is a great pic taken from the UTMB course...cannot wait!!

2012 Events......IM St George...The Death Race....SR 50.....UTMB.....Berlin Marathon & IM Phoenix

2011 is in the rear view mirror. With many lessons learned on and off the trail, I stuff those into my bag of experience and move on with great ambitions for 2012. The major events for the year have been pretty well established. It is an aggressive schedule but exciting. I am still commuting weekly to Denver which provides for a great training ground for the UTMB in late August 2012. Since the weekend of back to back marathons in Nevada in mid December my focus has been on base training and trying to get into an epic race for 2012. Last Friday at 3:30AM CST I got a text from Tim Engel alerting me that we had been selected in the 2012 lottery for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in Chamonix France. It was my "A" race that I was praying to get into in 2012. I was not selected in the Western States lottery, Leadville was sold out, and all others in the US, except for the Wasatch 100 were closed out for 2012. The lottery for that event will be in the next month or so, but I will respectfully decline to focus on UTMB. Expect to hear quite a bit about the UTMB in my blog in the coming months. Taking inventory.....over the holidays I scaled back on my training to about 25 miles per week of running and light weights on quads and calfs. Knock on wood, but I've been relatively injury free. In the last two weeks I've stepped up my training while not adding miles, I've added a level of difficulty which has included 5 mile runs or more on the treadmill (when i can't get outside onto the trails) at a 6 degree incline at a 6MPH pace. In addition, I've started getting back in the pool with the masters/triathletes in Brentwood as well as getting up at the crack to get in spin classes. What I've realized is that my run base is very strong as is my overall endurance, however, my swim and bike have deteriorated from little to no training. My 100 meter pace in the pool is 2:30...which is pathetic. My PR set in Australia for the 2.4M swim was a 1:45 average 100 meter. I know the drill, gotta work mechanics and get back that "feel" for the water. On the bike I'm getting my but kicked but that will come with time. I've got to spend time in the saddle. So...my big event on the horizon is the Ironman in St George Utah on May 5, 2012. My goal is to get in a respectable performance and a great long day of training. An early season race allows me to get focused and serious about training. No doubt it will pay huge dividends by the time UTMB rolls around at the end of August. While training for an IM is important I will have a focus on running and building a very solid base up in the foothills of the Rockies...in particular Boulder and the Flat Irons. It is this terrain that most resembles the UTMB course. It is the the steep ascents and descents that eliminate even the most talented of runners from that race. Running steep descents is hard. This week I have gotten in 2 solid swims so far, 2 solid 1 hour spin classes and runs that have been either on the treadmill at a nice incline or the 11.25M run last night on Green Mountain with Tim....it was a real ball buster. Needless to say I hit the rack early to rest/recover. This afternoon I'm off to Portland Oregon for a business meeting and then headed back to Nashville on Friday. I'll try to get in a short run in Portland but will focus on a strong training day on Saturday, perhaps a brick session. Cheers!