Off and running......

The beautiful, rugged hills of Bandera

Last weekend was the annual running of the Bandera 100k in the lovely Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. While I was not technically a participant, I had a great time keeping my FOMO in check by volunteering, crewing, and pacing out on the rough-and-tumble course that seems to breed more rocks every time I get out onto those trails. It enabled me to revisit the ghosts of my disappointment at the 2016 Cactus Rose 100 (where I was forced to drop after 50 miles) and hopefully exorcise those demons along the way.

In looking ahead at the spring calendar, I am considering a few different events that could serve as tune-ups for the summer's big events. The most likely candidates for training "races" would be local events like the Cowtown 50k and the Grasslands Trail Marathon - and while neither of these would remotely resemble the terrain I'll face in the summer (Cowtown is entirely on roads for all intents and purposes), they would give me a chance to work on a new nutrition plan and get some decent training miles in. I had planned on looking into Jemez 50 in New Mexico as a training run in May, but it sounds like that race may be a little high on the difficulty scale given its proximity to Western States. We'll see.

Training has begun in earnest, with time trials, hill repeats, and strength work taking center stage. My mileage is still relatively low - in the 40 mile/week range - but that will certainly increase in the coming weeks and months. While it feels good to get back to work on the roads and in the gym with a definite end-goal in mind, what is most exciting to me right now is my partnership with Meredith Terranova of Eating & Healthy Living LLC. We are developing a new nutrition plan focused more on metabolic efficiency (reducing my need for carbohydrate calories during training and racing) and looking at a number of the variables around race day nutrition that could be affecting my performance. It has been an illuminating beginning, as I feel we are getting to the root of many of the problems I have had in long races over the past couple years.

Between working with Ryan Knapp at M2GE and Meredith at E&HL, I feel very confident that I'm working with a great team who will give me the tools I need to get to the finish line at Wasatch. I feel like we're off to a good start!