3 weeks..

Saturday was supposed to be trail work for the AC100 runners who procrastinated till the last trail work date to do their trail work (myself included), but the first fires of the season had other plans:



So things were adjusted and the trail work and training run were called off.. I ran Thursday at westridge and didn't do so well with all the ash in the air. Friday was 10 miles with jimmy along San Vicente, and the air seemed to be much better. Saturday though seemed pretty hot and muggy (regardless of the fires, the weather's been a bit hotter lately), so as tempts hit the high 80's I opted for some sauna time with ML 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 15 minutes. IT FELT GREAT to sweet out everything, but also a little scary to think about Badwater next year. The sauna will become my torture room as that race becomes a reality.. But I'm up for it.

As for AC in 3 weeks, I really felt inspired tracking the UTMB runners this weekend. Kilian killed the field leading almost 95% of the race, showing what a focused 21 year old runner can accomplish. Krissy was unbelievable, and ran the race as it was meant to be run. Scott took a risk, and burnt out and paid on the last hills, but showed some real heart finishing. I think I don't have a chance at winning AC, but I have a good chance of breaking 24 if I'm smart enough. Whatever my time may be that day, it may be closer to the leaders if things go really really well. My body feels hungry for hills, but I'm concerned about the altitude's effect on burning me out early on, so it's going to be a controlled effort for the first 55 miles.

Getting behind on salt at Ragnar resulted in an inability to clear lactic acid from deep tissue which burned so much muscle that I was barely able to do much more than a shuffle later in the race. This can't happen at AC. I have to stay fresher so I can run my race from shortcut and/or chantry.

Also, after talking with Jimmy, I really realized how big the crew aspect is. There's already been some major mistakes done by crews to me in races that resulted in my mind slipping or my nutrition not getting taken care of. This time around I have a newbie crew, but I'm going to make sure I have someone tracking my nutrition, and an overall mental support continuity where they keep my mind in it's proper place at each stage of the race. I know I'll do alright at the start, but I need to be calm and composed. I need to let the first 30 miles come to me, focus the next 25 into Chilao, and begin to start revving my engine up as I drop from shortcut, to force myself to dominate the night and the last 40 miles of the race. Anything can happen, but I'm ready for the fierce pain, the highs/lows, the triumph/tribulation, and everything in between. I guess I'm sorta good at this mental thing, I just have to focus to stay in the fight.