(Even Roxy sat this one out!)
I can't believe that I am already down to the last five days of my big mileage training! The final 14 refers to the last two weeks of running in which I was shooting for a 100 mile / 160 km week, and a 125 mile / 200 km week, back to back. I have not yet been physically able to string together back to back 100m weeks, so this was going to take a huge effort for me!
Last week went incredibly well as I indeed hit my 100 miles of running. I covered the distance in 15.5hr and stayed true to my goal of trying to eclipse 60,000 feet of climbing in my final four build weeks. I managed a different running partner each day and the highlight run of the week was a 4hr, 40k, triple climb of Whistler Mountain. I ran up to the snowline and down three times for over 7000 feet of climbing and descent.
When I speak of 'feet of climbing' I try my absolute best to only count significant grades of climbing as well. My Garmin will always pump me up with higher numbers that I feel I attained as it will not distinguish the grade of climbing. I've made a conscious effort to get in the steepest terrain I can find, and so far my legs, and quads in particular have held up incredibly well! I feel like Western States will be won and lost on the strength of peoples downhill running late in the race. With that in mind, I'm going in prepared to do battle:)
This week started off well enough, but as I sit here right now, on Wed, I am supposed to be out running my last BIG day as I type. I had planned to do a 50m route, and thanks to Mother Nature, it would be in heat up towards 30 degrees. I know this still pales in comparison to the the heat that will be faced down in California, but Ma Nature has been on my side all year long, or so it seems. Last year we did not get our first real string of nice weather until 'B.C. Bike Race', at the end of June. This year however, the rain has been minimal and the sun has been shining bright for almost a full month already!
Oh yeah, why am I typing and not running? For the first time in over a year, I am feeling sick. I'm coughing up crap and having trouble swallowing food...I will finally admit that my body is fighting something and I might need a day off...we'll see how I feel in a few hours time though...since there is only five days left to go and all:)
GR