The end of the year really tends to sneak up on ya. Summer in Colorado takes its sweet time allowing Autumn to fill the air with its nostalgic chill, making for an all too short window before Winter blows in with a fury. Snow blanketed trails signal the inevitable turning of the calendar to a new year.

I am feeling that end of year urgency. Energized to not let unfinished trail goals slip through without one last push. Along with my primary 2024 intention to finish as many races as I could, two events have garnered an outsized focus – Desert Rats and Ultra Trail Cape Town. Both 100ks and races that offered breakout opportunities.

Desert Rats went as perfectly as one could hope for a first go at the 100k distance. The months following did not.

I came dangerously close to living the meme of a runner training hard all year, only to hobble into their late season race a broken man. Luckily, things crumbled early for me. I say luckily because had June, July, and August not been such a slog, I don’t think I would have taken the initiative to do a full blood panel and learned that I was anemic.

As of now, the iron supplements are hitting, my hip flexor and back are on the up, and I’ve left myself just enough time to get a solid block in for the Ultra Trail Cape Town 100k at the end of next month. (Nov 23)

For this block, my coach and I are focused on three areas; consistency, strength, and enjoyment.

An insight he shared during one of my lower points in August stuck with me – it’s impossible to enjoy training if running intuitively doesn’t feel good. The body and the mind guide each other. Even the most beautiful sunrise and a respectable final pace can’t make up for an uncooperative body. In hindsight, I am proud of myself for training on pure will and thankful that I now have clarity into just how much my low iron was impacting me.

Nevertheless, looking forward…

Consistency

Since I only started iron supplements 6 or so weeks ago (after two weeks of rest), I must let go of the expectation of big volume weeks. Instead, consistency is key. For the last month I’ve managed 60-70 miles and 13-17k of vert each week. Amounting to 10-12 hours of volume with a few bike rides thrown in.

Though nothing world beating the quality of these weeks is beginning to show up in my fitness. Dare I say that some days climbing feels a bit more like floating.

Strength

The Cape Town course is a technical monster. I plan to do a more focused post on my race plan/preview but if you care for a teaser, check out Semi Rad’s recap of last years race (seriously, it’s quite entertaining). One tidbit that stands out:

I move on douche grade, even very steep runnable grade, better than most. Once the incline and terrain calls for hiking, not only does my ability drop, but I’m slower than average on the downhills as well. But hey, it’s better to improve your weaknesses in big chunks than squeeze marginal gains out of your strengths.

The torn labrum in my hip (impacting my lower back) and a slower turnover are the two most likely culprits for this deficiency. Therefore for the last month, an extra focused has been placed on including steady paced steep hikes in the weekly log while reinforcing running muscles with dedicated gym sessions. Single leg deadlifts with a bar, dead bugs, bent-knee calf raises, nordics, step ups, and bridges have served as the foundational exercises for these sessions.

Enjoyment

Critical to enjoying training is being ok with the ups and downs, and perhaps most importantly, unexpected days off or misses. Appropriate ferritin and iron absorption levels don’t hurt your ability to run happy either.

Nightly hemaplex chased with orange juice (just like the old school runners did it) and a grace with taking low days off when needed are part of the ritual now. It’s an intangible, and maybe a bit of placebo, but I have been feeling happier AND faster. Will do my best to keep the iron-fueled posi-train rolling into late November.

I’ve learned more this year than expected, not exclusive to trail racing, but in living a fulfilled life as well. Nuggets of wisdom that my twenty-something party-self would have benefited from. Cape Town is the type of race that might allow experience and strategy to gain a significant edge over pure ability and fitness. I’m excited to use it as an opportunity to demonstrate 2024’s growth.

Another year-end intention I have is to pick up the cadence with Late Entry posts. My nature drives me to over-think this, so like I’ve shared about training, the mantra is consistency > perfection. On that note, stay tuned for a couple more posts this month, including a deeper dive UTCT course preview and race plan in a few weeks.