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And with that…

I’ve done pretty much all I can.

San Diego 100 is in less than three weeks (18 days to be exact) and I’m at that point in race preparation where more training is very unlikely to produce better results.  In other words, it’s time for me to start my taper.

After a few weeks of what I can only describe as deep exhaustion, I finished up my training for San Diego with a pretty strong final block of training.  I went back to Mt. Wilson by myself the week after this crappy run and had a much, much better day.  I ran seven times last week, for a total of nearly 90 miles, with about 20,000 feet of elevation gain. The last few miles of my Saturday 26 mile run through the Santa Monica Mountains were tough, but it was getting hot, I’d run out of water and that had been a challenging run.  I followed up Saturday’s run with a strong ascent up Baldy via Bear Canyon on Sunday with Billy, Dave, Ethan, Joe and Charles.  It was my first time up there this year without snow and the conditions were just about perfect on Sunday.

I ran yesterday and today, pushing it a bit on this morning’s climb up Temescal with the BOC.  My taper plan is that for the rest of this week and through the Memorial Day weekend, I’ll run most days, but cut the time of most of the runs by 25-30% compared to last week.  Next week, I’ll cut by another 25-30%.  And then race week, I’ll just do a few quick, easy runs to keep myself from going too crazy.

I need to spend some of that time working on the other preparations for the race: studying the course, including distance between aid stations and trying to figure out where the big climbs and descents come in, reviewing historical splits to try to give myself (and my family and other crew) some general idea about when I’ll be where, and making sure that I’m all set with clothing, gear and nutrition.

More thoughts about San Diego to come soon!