Fall Fatigue

First of all, the boys over at The African Attachment have done it again.  Below is a link to their most recent piece highlighting the recent victory of their fellow countryman, Ryan Sandes, at this year’s Leadville 100.  It’s amazing how much of the story this tells in less than six minutes.  These guys are doing great things for our sport and have produced tons of stunning material in one short summer.  It feel fortunate to have been a small contributor.

Bill Dooper is my idol.

Training for me has been pretty poor recently.  In the five weeks that followed Leadville, I felt horrible on nearly every one of my daily jogs.  My seemingly unending lethargy had me concerned to the point where I considered visiting the local doctor to get some blood work done.  I seem to have turned the corner in the last week though, and am finally feeling somewhat normal again, albeit a little fat and slow.

I got back in the yoga studio this morning after a few weeks of absence, and the instructor certainly made me work for it.  I think yoga has been a huge factor in my ability to improve as a runner (particularly with the mental component of ultras), so I plan on reintroducing consistency of this practice into my training throughout the winter and beyond.

Speaking of winter, Aspen mountain is getting it’s first dusting of snow as I type and the 24 hour forecast is predicting a few inches of snow in town by tomorrow morning.  Hard to believe that it’s almost time to dust off the shred sticks.  Skiing is obviously another strong passion of mine so the change in season certainly won’t mean a decrease in mountain shredding.  I think practicing a complementary sport in the winter is a good way to ensure I don’t burnout on running early in the year, and allows me to peak at the right times during the summer.  Kilian certainly seems to have this system dialed.

There are some very exciting things developing for me in 2012.  I’ll save details for when it’s appropriate but I will say that, even in the midst of a break from serious training, my stoke level is at an all time high.  My enthusiasm for my home and my athletic pursuits is growing every day.  Fire it up.