my PLaN of ATtACK!

        Right now there are 79days until the start of the Goldsteig. And as many of you know this past month of June, I've been resting and going to the doctors to nurse a knee injury from the Santa Barbara 100 last month.
            Apparently I hurt my ACL & LCL ligaments in my right knee and they needed to regain some strength. Unlike muscles though, ligaments are too delicate to get stronger through vigorous exercise. So I took a month off from training, started taking vitamin supplements, wore a knee brace, and began physical therapy. I go to Dr. Rekar MD at Universal City Medical Group  . His team and him are some of the best medical professionals around. They take care of everything from chiropractic to massage to physical therapy; its a one stop shop for all your medical needs. I've been going to them for a year now and I highly recommend them.

           Now that I'm back in action and have less than 3 months before my race, lots of people are wondering what are the next three months going to look like for me? What's my plan of attack? Well I've simplified my training from now till the race start into 3 simple steps.

1). Getting Back in Shape!





Me drenched in sweat after finishing a 7mile treadmill run today

          Resting my knee for June has been great, but now it's time to get myself back in gear. I just came home two days ago from a weekend vacation in San Francisco and have officially started training again. I'm taking it slow right now, not doing too much running. Each day I've done 7 miles on the treadmill and an hour of weights. I'm gonna start picking up the pace though soon. I hope to complete about three 50mile training runs between now and August 1st. This should reboot my body to remember "oh yea! I'm still an endurance athlete, not a couch potato!" Also now is definitely the time to start eating all the protein and carbs I can find!

2). Turn up the HEAT

August will be a jam-packed month with lots of adventures! Because the Goldsteig is much longer than anything I've attempted before, I'm not exactly sure how my body will react in the miles past 100. So in order to get a sneak peek at what's to come, I've strategically planned two major races in August that will for sure give me a run for my money and the experience needed to be fully ready for the Goldsteig! The Fat Dog 120 & the Silverton challenge.

                  The Fat Dog. August 15-17, the Fat Dog is a 120 mile point-to-point trail race about 2hrs north of Vancouver BC. With over 28,000ft of elevation gain and a 48hr time limit, the Fat Dog is not for the faint of heart. This race will be great for me for SO many reasons!

• First of all, it'll be my first time running further than 100miles. This will help break some mental barriers in my head and start to make this whole journey look a little more possible.
• Secondly, it'll give me some more point-to-point trail experience like I'll face in Germany. So far I mostly have experience on continuous loop courses.
• Lastly, it has more elevation gain than anything I've done before and the terrain is very similar to what I can expect to see in some of the more difficult patches of the Goldsteig trail.

                The Silverton Challenge. Held August 26-31st in Silverton CO at an elevation of over 9000ft, the challenge is to see how many miles you can run on a 1mile loop in six days. With 250ft of elevation gain each loop, this race is nothing short of a 144hr long nightmare. It may not be a point-to-point trail and you will have an aid station every mile, but  this race is designed to mess with your mind and there is still plenty of invaluable experience to take from this race to prepare me for Goldsteig.

• First, multi day experience. I don't have experience doing races that last longer than 30hrs. So a multi day race like this will help me learn to pace myself for a week vs a day.
• Second, altitude training! Running at 9000ft for six days will get my body adjusted to training with less oxygen. And being 3weeks before I leave to Germany, this will put my body in top physical condition.
• Lastly, how many miles can I run in six days? I started the Goldsteig knowing I had to complete 410miles in 8 days, but I never knew how realistic that goal was for me. This race will serve as a guage to let me know just how close I'm to being ready for the Goldsteig.

With both of these monster races in August its safe to say that this month will be essential in growing as an athlete for me to realistically stand a chance in Germany.

3). Calm before the storm

After a hectic month in August i will have 3 weeks in September before I leave to Germany. This will serve as a time to recuperate from the races in August, also give me a little wiggle room to get any last minute details for the trip in order and fix any quirks in my race strategy that were brought to my attention from the previous races. Like I said, a simple calm before the storm ;)

This Journey is taking a lot of time and training and these next few months will be the most crucial part. I sure can use all the help I can get. If you'd like to know how support me and this adventure you should stop by my fundraiser page .

Also the links to the races I'll be competing in our here:
Fat Dog 120
The Silverton challenge
The Goldsteig Ultra Race