Time to go

All the training has been done. Well, as much as I could manage, anyhow. My patella is still grumbling after an injury that forced a DNF at 90km into the Mind Alpine 100 back in April. But since then I have managed a solid training block of eleven continuous weeks over 100km, peaking at 145km last week. That is not big by most standards but it is by far the highest consistent mileage I have ever maintained for the longest period. And most of it was done carrying a weighted pack. And building up to a higher intensity and pace than I would normally achieve in training. Hopefully this all bodes well for Hardrock race day, 3 weeks from today. Yes, just 21 more sleeps!

Spud will be arriving in Silverton a little later than me but I am confident that the massive amount of training he has done will stand him in good stead despite the short acclimatisation period. We paired up and ran the Teams Marathon at The North Face100 in the Blue Mountains a few weeks ago. Neither of us tapered and treated it as a solid training run. The bonus was that we won the Teams event. Nice. That was 2 weeks after I ran the low-key Prom100km, and came equal first in that one. While the time wasn't my fastest over that course, I felt strong and pretty much cruised the last 20km.

Usually when coming into this sort of form I wait for an injury or illness to unravel things. Apart from the niggling patella and a couple of run-down days due to over-training, I seem to be holding it together. Injinji have come to the party again with some more of my favourite Silver Series socks. And I will be trying out the Zensah leg sleeves, which felt great in training. I have packed my trusty old Salomon pack and a new pair of Montrails. I am really looking forward to driving through the mountain pass where I get that first glimpse of Silverton and feel the goosebumps as realisation settles upon me that I am about to take on the Hardrock100 yet again.