T-minus One Week

Bonjour from France.

My home for a week in France.

We're one week out from the 2012 edition of the IAU World Championship 100k which will be run just outside of Milan, Italy.  I have been in France for almost a week on a business trip.  I'll be flying straight to Italy on Thursday, which is really great since I won't have to worry about the effects of jet lag.  It took me a few nights in France to really get adjusted and sleeping well, but I've slept at least 8 hours the last couple of nights.  The food has some taken some adjustment also, but I'm doing well enough in that department.

Aiguillettes de canard (duck) foie gras.

I've been able to get in some nice runs, although I hesitate to consider it "training" because I am definitely in the taper phase right now.  I'm not really trying to add any fitness at this point.  I just want to get the legs 100% recovered and fresh, while not letting them forget how to run fast.  I did a 4x1mile workout on Wednesday and a light 6 mile tempo yesterday (Saturday).  Everything else has just been easy runs exploring the French countryside around where I'm staying.

My biggest issue is that my lower back has tightened down on me a little bit.  I'm sure this was caused by working all day at a laptop, in an unfamiliar chair, with poor posture.  It feels a lot better today than it has, so I'm confident that it won't be an issue by the time the race rolls around.  It constantly amazes me how sensitive my body is to such slight changes in the routine.  I'm supposed to be this incredibly fit athlete, and sitting in a chair the wrong way for a couple days throws me off.

I learned last year at the World Championship 100k race that the accommodations that are provided for the teams can be somewhat different than what I'm accustomed to.  It seems this year will be no different.  It appears that we'll be staying in a church retreat facility of some sort.  Plus, it's about 20 miles from the race start and up in the mountains as the picture below would indicate.  It might be more of a challenge getting some basic groceries at this place than it was last year.  I guess it's better than paying $300 a night in Milan though.  I'm really not a hotel snob; I just need access to food and wifi.  Is that too much to ask? 

Accommodations for Team USA in Italy.

For those of you asking about how to follow the race, the official website is http://iau-ultramarathon.org/.  I believe we'll be 6 hours ahead of ET time in the US, and with an 8AM start time, hopefully I'll be finishing around the time you are waking up.  Also, on twitter @iaunews says they will be providing live updates as well. While you're there, make sure you're following me as well: @rundavid1.  I know haven't been good about tweeting this week, because I haven't had a cell connection, but if I can find a wifi connection at the race, I'll try to send out some updates.

Ok, that's enough blogging.  I have more exploring to do in France.  Bon Journée.

One more thing for those that are interested.  This is what I've been doing for work over in France.  Attending a wind tunnel test to study the performance of a next generation jet engine inlet like the one below.

This is what I do for a living, design aircraft engine nacelles.