badwater

Between the Badwater 135 last July and back-to-back century +’s on the bike the past two days, I am now quite well versed on the subject of pain and everything that goes with it. I’ve also become intimately familiar with the route from Furnace Creek to Lone Pine, so if anyone has ANY questions about it, I have a ton of worthless information in my brain to spew back at you.

Luckily, starting tomorrow I will be 100% focused on running (not sure I even want to see my bike for a while), so you won’t have to put up with me posting arguably off-topic stories about my biking adventures.

Following a fantastic week of running last week, I scaled things back considerably to allow the old body to recover fully before putting it through a 69 mile schedule next week. To break up the routine, while still keeping the aerobic engine dialed in, two friends and I are heading to Death Valley this weekend for a cycling trip we've dubbed the "Badwater 235" (www.badwater235.com). Basically the route will follow the actual Badwater 135 course out on Saturday (cutting off the first 17 miles for logistical reasons) and then returning the following day. The event profile includes over 17,000 feet of climbing (most of it happening on the first day) and over 17,000 feet of descent (most happening on Day 2). It's not exactly good cold weather preparation, but with two good friends along (who just so happened to be crew members of mine last year at Badwater), it should make for a really fun weekend of cycling.

Duncan Larkin of EliteRunning.com has a fantastic interview with ultra-runner Scott Jurek, Spartathlon champion and former winner of Badwater and the Western States.

Read it here.