I’m getting serious. Things have a way of sneaking up, and with things as monumental as the Wasatch 100 on tap for next year, I do not want shit sneaking up on me. Or to be more accurate, I don’t want to let myself get lazy and let things sneak up while I’m willfully looking the other way.

For instance, to be preped for the 100 in September I’ll want to taper for the better part of a month, which means a strong finish on some 50 mile mountain runs in August and July (I may volunteer to pace folks at Hardrock), which means I’ll want to be reaching the 50 mile mark a few months before (I want to run Zane Gray in April), which means I’ll need a good build up for that (I want to race the Red Hot 50k in Moab in February, sub 6 hours). So, I need to be doing 20 milers by Christmas. Logical enough. I see some big Grand Canyon routes in store this fall.

More immediately, after familiarizing myself with Verstegan’s Core Performance Endurance workouts for the last month, I’m committing fully to his system. The work feels good, both in a make me stronger sense and more importantly in a make my knees stronger sense. Harris, your recommendation has been very well taken, and thus far I recommend it enthusiastically. In the book Verstegan says a lot in a little, and his encouragements to use time intelligently in particular ring home.

So here’s my schedule for the rest of the month:

9 Regen/knee rehab, Climbing
10 Power
11 Flagstaff ride, Regen
12 Strength
13 Regen, Climb
14 Power
15 Regen
16 Strength
17 Regen
18 Regen
19 12 Hours of the Peaks (which I may be riding fixed)
20 Regen
21 Power (easy, of course)
22 Regen
23 Strength (easy)
24 Regen
25 Old-Fashioned Bike Race
26 Regen
27 Regen (and my little sister’s Birthday)
28 Power
29 Regen
30 Strength
31 Regen

Which takes us to the 1st and our departure for 11 days of fun in Tahoe and greater Cali. How the time flies! Not very interesting reading, but feedback from my knowledgeable readers would be very welcome.

The nice thing, especially for lazy folks like me how fall out of habit on vacation, is that all the gear I need for the program fits in a small bag, and costs maybe $25.

Now I just have to stick through all the boringness and intimidation. Especially odd in the fact that most of the workouts call for actual running or cycling times of between 30 and 60 minutes! I’m used to 4-5 hours counting as a hard ride, which of course just tells me I haven’t been trying hard enough and getting tired quickly enough. Pushing the red is, thus far, not my strong suit.

That will change.

I should also say, as of now my plans don’t differentiate between running and cycling for power, strength, or regeneration days. I’ll do whatever suits me, at least for the next few months.

The Nathan pack arrives tomorrow! I have to say, thus far runningwarehouse.com has quite exceeded my expectations.