Something happened and... broke

Two weeks without blogging, something must have happened to provide a good excuse for such an interruption... Indeed, for those not following me on Facebook, I'm writing this post with one hand and not even the good one: I broke my right shoulder two weeks ago and it is so slow and painful to type that I saved all the keystrokes for work-related emails and chats...

What happened? I was 200 yards from the end of a wonderful 39-mile training run on the Tahoe Rim Trail from Tahoe Meadows to Tahoe City when I hit a rock and felt flat in the dust of the single track. I was tired from a busy week and a couple of very short nights. Furthermore, and despite carrying 140 oz. of water at the start, I lack water in the last 5 miles. More than the heat, it seemed like both the elevation (7,000-10,300 ft) and the slow pace (12:45 min/mile) made me drink more than usual for this 8-hour run. Anyway, it happened so quick that I had already the head in the dust when I realized I had tripped. Too late to react, I let it go and felt it actually went smoothly overall. I was carrying the trail map in my left hand and the map had more scratches than a couple I got on my fingers. Just one scratch on my left hamstring and a few drops of blood, that was it for the legs, no shock, no pain, phew! There was one problem though: when I stood up, my right arm stayed along my body; it wasn't so painful I couldn't move it, yikes...! I walked the last 200 yards down to the trail head in Tahoe City, then the road to the next gas station where I bought one bottle of Coke and one ice cream. I then walked to the bus station to catch the bus to Incline Village where I was staying. A few hours later, albeit with pain, I was able to move my arm in a few directions except raising it laterally. The next day, I drove back to Cupertino (with Greg handling the gearshift...) and stopped by the Emergency Care where an x-ray showed a double fracture of the outside part of the head of the humerus.

No wonder why I had so much pain and difficulty raising my arm, this is the part a bunch of ligaments are using as a short lever to exercise tens of pounds of traction...

Before this incident, I actually took more than 100 pictures from this aerial section above Incline Village, Nevada. I also took a few movies and shots from an helicopter ride above the TRT section which we will run on August 13, at the start of our group attempt at the speed record for the whole TRT (165 miles under 38.5 hours). See in my Picasa album.

29,700 miles in my running log without any major injury, that was quite an achievement which I was quite proud of to show that running could be intense yet sustainable. All these 15 years, I worked at avoiding issues in my lower body and didn't think my running could be interrupted by a shoulder injury... But, two weeks after the accident, the pain is so bad that even a slow walk is painful. This is when you realize how complex and sophisticated our body is, and that all joints participate to our body movements. I'm glad though that the surgeon opted for a shoulder immobilization instead of surgery as this allowed me to fly to France to celebrate my Dad's 90th last weekend then to Greece for our annual family vacation in the Peloponnese. Visiting this country was a childhood dream for me and I'm astonished by the kindness of the Greeks who welcomed us in Delphi, Olympia, Naupli and Athens.

Here I am, faking running on the original Olympic stadium in Olympia:

And in Delphi:

And Epidaurus:

Greece is definitely the origin of the Track and Field that we still enjoy so much 26 centuries later...

Before driving to Tahoe, I was able to attend Scott Jurek's book signing for his newly released Eat & Run.

Talk to you next week from the Alps, with better news of my shoulder hopefully... And congrats to all the finishers of this year's unusually cool Western States, in particular Vespa leader Tim Olson who set a new course record of 14:46!

Scott Jurek's Eat & Run: ultra gusto!

I had quite a few running-related stories to share this week (my encounter with a rattle snake, National Running Day, 2 ultra long runs, a run in Monterey in a gorgeous weather and an opportunity to meet Sophia and Brian Robinson there) but I'll wait for the next post as I have a much bigger story to share. Two actually. First, Scott Jurek's long awaited book has been released last Tuesday and I received a preview copy 2 weeks ago allowing me to read it and post a short review here. Second, as a true ultra runner, Scott has embarked in a 2-week long book tour around the US and he stops by San Francisco this coming Wednesday (June 13)! Interestingly, there seems to be more people attending his book signing events than showing up at the races Scott competes in, these are the secrets of the media industry... ;-)

First, let me clarify something: for the past 2 years, based on some hints from Scott himself about his vegan diet, I thought he was working on a recipe book and, still reluctant to move to this diet with my lifestyle and hectic travels, I wasn't sure it was going to be for me. Well, while the book contains 25 of Scott's original recipes, this isn't a cooking book at all. It is a wonderful account of his 20-year and stellar journey into elite ultra running but more importantly on how Scott found greatness in his life and how we can all learn and use some of his wisdom in this area.

In 22 very well written episodes Scott convey the subtle balance between the joy and pain associated to ultra running, the balance between the physical and mental preparedness. Although one key of this balance has been for him to switch to a vegan diet, and that you may not be willing to go that far, the book is a great source of motivation and mental strength. Scott also shares many technical nuggets from his unmatched experience, running tips which cover breathing, posture, time management, pacing, dietetic (of course!), training plan, footwear, core training or stride form and cadence.

A few quotes which I particularly like:

• "Racing ultras requires absolute confidence tempered with intense humility."
• "Run until you can't run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will. Then run even faster."
• "I run because overcoming the difficulties of an ultramarathon reminds me that I can overcome the difficulties of life, that overcoming difficulties was life."

But the paragraph which sums up Scott's inflection point the best comes in chapter 7 when he talks about his first major win back in the mid 90s: "I won the Voyageur on my third try, eating more plants and less meat. I didn't run harder. I had been right: I couldn't run harder. But I had learned something important. I could run smarter. I could eat smarter. I could live smarter. I knew I could keep going when others stopped. I knew I had good legs and good lungs. I wasn't just a runner now, I was a racer. And I was a mindful eater. How many races could I win with my newfound secret? I aimed to find out."

While you can have a look at how great Scott's racing career will turn out (e.g. in Wikipedia or UltraSignup.com), these words apply to anyone entering an ultra race and learning from the many lessons this sport has to offer, a sport that we often describes as a continuous life and human open lab experiment. An endeavor capable of changing you from the inside out as Christopher McDougall (Born To Run) qualifies Scott's own experience.

Scott (red top) right after his 6th consecutive win at Western States, with his best friend, confident, pacer, ass-kicker, Dusty (photo credit: Robin Mills)

When I first started running seriously, marathons first then ultramarathons, I shared the same philosophy than Scott Dunlap which is that running allows us to stay fit while enjoying eating (and, no, that's not the only reason we run! ;-). Scott (Jurek) goes much farther and seriously in associating this two concepts, demonstrating how eating well turns into running excellence.

Overall the book will show you Scott the way some of us had the pleasure to discover when meeting him at ultra races but with a much deeper introspection than his humility was hiding so far, highlighting new traits I didn't know myself: a special blend of human and intellectual intelligence, open-mindedness, gifted but very hard working, kindness, passion, mental toughness (e.g. winning two major 100-mile races with a sprained ankle), humility and competitiveness, resilience, sensitivity, compassion, integrity, pragmatism, attachment to family values and friendship, care giving, ...

You don't have to be aiming at winning Western States 7 times in a row to read or like Eat & Run, nor to become a vegan. If you are a runner, you will find in this book a lot of inspiration to handle your own struggles, during races or simply in life! Thank you for opening both your heart and your mind, Scott, and going through this ultra race that writing and publishing a book is!

And as Brooks says, Run Happy out there! ;-)

PS: chatting about the Brooks Cascadia at Miwok 2007

Back to fun: not so fast, please!

This is a strange title, isn't it? Not quite Epicurean, rather ascetic. Or, worst, masochist, which I'm sure many people think of us, ultra running studs... ;-)

Let's backtrack 10 days first. As you know, I almost stopped running in December, not by necessity nor by pleasure, but to give my body and mental some rest, following Scott Jurek's advice and approach (Gimme A Break):

So the lessons learned from the Kenyans and the art of hibernation:
1. Take a hibernation break at the end of every season.
2. During the break, run as few steps as possible.
3. Eat well and don’t be afraid to put on a few pounds.
4. Make time for friends, family, and life outside of running.
5. Hibernate four to eight weeks or until fully recharged!

Well, in addition to eating a bit too much over the holidays, the absence of intense exercise gets me out of balance during that period and this tests my patience and coolness, I can hardly wait to resume training. However, this definitely provides a lot of extra time with family and friends, although I did spend some of it in airplanes and airports, like many in December... Anyway, on January 1st, I went for a run and, since I was in deprivation state, for a long run. The weather was foggy and chilly and I ran to the top of Black Mountain via Stevens Creek Park, Montebello Road, the Bella Vista loop and back through San Antonio Park and Cupertino, my usual 29.5-mile training loop.

First, it was such a thrill to get back to outdoor exercise. I started slow, at a 8 min/mile pace, and it felt good. I was very happy to see the Stevens Creek Reservoir almost full already.

The first 11.5 miles to the top of Black Mountain were fine, albeit surreal in the mist of the cloud. There I saw some sturdy picnickers testing their survival skills, at the very top of the mountain, in the cold and humidity and gusty winds. The insiders will recognize them...

At this point, a pain appeared in my right knee and I hesitated cutting it short, either running back or directly though Rancho, skipping the Bella Vista loop. But I decided to keep up with the original plan. The pain was bearable in the uphills but increasing in the downhills which I mostly had being at the top of Black Mountain. Back at the parking lot of Rancho, I still had 5.5 miles to go and, despite the flat street through Cupertino, I could barely run under 10 minutes/mile. I completed the 29.5 miles in 4hrs40 instead of the usual 4 hours when I am in shape.

Quite a disappointing way to start the season, despite the joy (and fun) to be back on the road and trail again. On Sunday, I decided to test the knee and it was really bad, I was back home after 1.5 miles. Trying again on Monday, I was thrilled that there were barely any pain despite running 6 miles. I skipped Tuesday and ran 8 flat miles on Wednesday, at Alviso, still without pain.

Then 6 fast miles (6:15 min/mile) on Saturday and 23 miles this Sunday with an out and back to the top of Black Mountain again. Phew, I'm relieved that my knee is ok, I am not sure what happened on Day 1. I really did not push the pace, just the distance, maybe it was still too demanding for my body after such an hibernation... Fortunately, it was not inside the knee but like an inflammation of the LCL (Lateral Collateral Ligament), but it passed after a few days, hence the delay of this recount of my New Year Day run and almost fat ass... A loud message of my body to listen to it more, to take care of the aging carcass, its engine (read the heart) and all the cables and wires (aka tendons and ligaments). The same way you need to ramp up slowly after recovering from an injury, I need to build up my training more progressively. And sharing so you don't rush either. Hence the title...

Anyway, here are a few other pictures on Picasa from this initial run of New Year's Day. I hope you had a less hazardous start of the year, running-wise, especially if you set healthy resolutions for 2011, which I wish for you. Again, happy, healthy, enjoyable 2011 to all! Oh, and a special happy 1/11/11 in case this means anything special to some astrologists or numerologists... ;-)

My Brooks Tapering Camp: Day 2

Today was a special day as the area celebrated the end of a record 29-day "drought." Most of us were not so happy to see the rain come back during our morning run. The absence of sun and the altitude made the run quite chilly and the low ceiling blocked any view of the surrounding mountains. I'm glad I could see Mt. Rainier above the clouds before landing in Seattle yesterday.
After a short night either for the East Coasters who woke early because of the jet lag, or for the ones getting to bed late, we gathered at the Main Lodge at 7 am for our morning run led by Scott. 2 miles down the road before getting on the famous Pacific Crest Trail, and more specifically the steep Morse Peak Trail. We needed to get back to the Lodge by 8:30 for breakfast which was a nice time constraint for keeping the run short as I am, or at least should be, tapering. The funny part of the run was that, for once, Scott was behind us, as he stopped along the way up to provide several coaching sessions to a few of our group members. We were several upfront wondering where "he" was, surprised he was not catching up with us. I put "he" between quotes because that reminded me the story of the Caballero Blanco whom Christopher McDougall chased in the Copper Canyons and recounts in his newly released Born To Run. Here is our very own Caballo Blanco ;-) :
I came back to the Lodge with my roommate Robert Heppell, from Chicago and originally UK, after a 7.5-mile loop.

At 9:30 we played to a get-to-know-you activity consisting in finding others' fun facts, and mapping them on Bingo-style cards. A nice ice-breaker. My fun fact? I had forgotten about what I had sent the Steve actually: I hated cross-country when I was in middle school because it was to muddy. It's not that fun of a fact out of context but my running changed a lot since then: I now log most of my miles on trails, I got through so much mud in Costa Rica's Coastal Challenge, and I'm surrounded this weekend with so many ex super fast high school and college cross-country runners. Anyway, the 64 other fun facts were all over the map, and not just the US map with Dan Shaw who have been kidnapped in Columbia after hiking the tallest mountain there. He is here with his wife, Alyssa, and their 11-week boy, and you can imagine that if was not a fun fact back then when Alyssa did not hear back from Dan for 7 days...
At 10:30 we had a fascinating presentation from Rich Zartman on the ins and outs of the shoe design process. Basically, after re situating what design is about and all the stakeholders involved, Rich walked us through all the steps of the 18-month process in 18 minutes. A process which connects the preliminary product concept and idea to the actual shoes we can buy in retail stores. Fitting the standard sample and wear testing size, I got a chance to try on the coming Green Silence, a super cool concept both from a performance and sustainable development standpoint. Super comfy and super re comforting to learn about all the improvements on the engineering and manufacturing process side to minimize the footprint on the environment. Brooks is really leading the way here, so much that they decided not to patent the BioMoGo technology, making soles biodegradable, so other brands could benefit from this major innovation. See Brooks' Green Room for more on this early 2010 model.
We then proceeded to 3 focus groups on the apparel: learning from the new material, commenting on all the features of new models and participating in a brainstorm exercise led by Beth Brewster who heads the Apparel PLM (Product Line Merchandising). We were also given the opportunity to participate in a contest for new t-shirt designs. This is a competitive group, and the Brooks folks know how to keep us on our toes!

After lunch we could pick 2 out of 3 30-minute long group activities among Yoga for Runners, Sports Nutrition and Sports Psychology. All three activities were contributed by Inspire Daily members. Anne Preisig did a great job at leveraging Yoga techniques to stretch our back, hip and leg muscles, certainly not my forte. After the 10-step ultra success recipe from Scott last night, it was the turn of Stephen Gonzales to share 12 tips on how to develop mental toughness, with examples for each of them. A lot of content for 30 minutes, but a great checklist to keep handy [Connaughton, Wadey, Hanton & Jones, 2009]:

1. Belief you can achieve your competition goals (and set them right)
2. Self-belief in abilities that make you better than your opponents
3. Insatiable desire to succeed
4. Bouncing back from performance setbacks
5. Pushing boundaries but keeping composure
6. Accepting anxiety & coping (caring and getting serious about events, but keeping relaxed)
7. Thrive on/under pressure
8. Maintain psychological control with unexpected adversity
9. Ability to focus during training
10. Remaining focus during competition
11. Not being affected by others (their success or failure)
12. Remaining focused during life stresses

For that, he recommended to work on a few skills:

1. Goal setting (SMART: Specific, Measurable, Adjustable (mine was Attainable), Realistic, Time-bound), with three dimensions (process, performance, output)
   
2. Imagery (in the elements if possible)
   
3. Self-talking (shutting the negative voice up)
4. Control your "controllables" (pre-race routines, dress properly, hydration and nutrition, setting a flexible race strategy, ...)
   
5. Arousal regulation (throwing some fun and random elements into training)

A lot of insights to leverage and work on! Stephen also strongly advised reading the book Running Within.
The rest of the afternoon was free, some went for a second run (in the rain and chilly temperatures), others (including me) getting a very professional massage, then hanging out by the fireplace for more blogging and discussions.
After dinner we had an interesting challenge to create a concept for a Brooks running event and the eight groups came with interesting ideas, some groups even sharing similar ideas. I thought our group had done quite well, but we did not even make it to the top 3, probably not enough outside of the box. The party moved from the sun deck to inside due to the bad weather, although we could see stars in the sky tonight, so there is hope for some sun and views tomorrow!

Get to run, or to sleep actually, we are meeting at 7 am again tomorrow morning. Have a good night and talk to you tomorrow after Day 3.

PS: pictures of Day 2 posted in my Picasa album.

My Brooks tapering camp: Day 1

A tapering camp?? Did I catch your attention...? A few months ago, Brooks invited the Inspire Daily members to fly to Seattle, WA, for a 4-day running camp. I knew this would fall right in my 2-week Western States tapering, but I did not want to miss this opportunity to meet other ID’ers and learn more about Brooks, the Company, its employees and the products. All that at the foot of Mt. Rainier! That seemed to good to be true and, sure enough, like in the most popular ultras nowadays, there were more candidates than available spots. And, like Western States 2 years ago or Miwok this year, I was lucky enough to make it through the lottery!

I flew out of SFO this Thursday morning and we landed in SeaTac one hour and 40 minutes later, a nice flight above the chain of volcanoes through Oregon: Crater Lake, The Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood. Finally, after an unusual weather so far in June, the sky was clear above the Bay Area. In Washington the plane crossed three layers of clouds, something which I’m not familiar with. The amount and size of clouds surely explains how green this State is. Green like Brooks, which pushed sustainable development to the next level through environment-friendly products and processes (more later on this topic).
A shuttle brought us to the Brooks Headquarters in Bothell, North of Seattle. Compared to the other major running and sport companies Brooks is actually an amazingly small company when you see the broad reach of the Brooks products and the number of models. What helps them standing out of the crowd though is the focus on running (shoes and apparel). The small size of the company makes it nimble, agile and hyper focused on customer satisfaction. The Brooks customer support team has been rated the best in the industry for the past seven years. All the employees are very active and most (90%) are runners which brings an amazing energy and source of innovation, as well as intimacy with the running ecosystem. Picture from Brooks' website:
Our journey up to Crystal Mountain hit the late afternoon traffic of all the Microsoft and Boeing employees commuting South. Our bus driver provided useful comments as we crossed the Indian Reserve East of Auburn; we then entered the Mt. Rainier National Forest and its winding road (Enumclaw Chinook). An amazing density of conifers. Again, green, green, green. Except for some recently logged sections showing a heavy usage of this forest.
We reached the Crystal Mountain around 6:30 and quickly met for dinner as many members of our group had flown from the East Coast early this morning and were starting feeling the pain of jet lag. We then had a pitch from the Brooks Marketing team, led by Dave. Although I have been running in Brooks for 10 years now (since April 1999 to be precise!), I learned a great deal about the company. Here are some random notes:

• Mission statement: "To inspire others to run and be active" (and, as an ID'er, daily...)
• Our group at the camp consists in 65 participants from 30 states; 60% are coaches (College, high school, middle school, club);
• I learned that, among 8 consumer segments, I belong to the Alpha Runners, the ones who defined themselves as... runners. And that Dabblers denote the occasional runners.
• We watched some of the many videos Brooks is making available on sites like: runbrooks.com, flotrack.org or RunningSuperFans.com.
• And Dave told us that we'll "hear" more about the Green Silence tomorrow...
  

Scott (yes, Jurek!) came last to conclude the evening, and the timing was not ideal as some were really getting tired at 1am on their biological clock, or not much into ultra running (yet!). For the others, it was a joy to see Scott again and listen to his personal stories about Badwater, Western States, Hardrock, Tour du Mont Blanc, Spartathlon or the Copper Canyon (I'm reading Born To Run and will share more about that in a book review after Western States). Before he publishes a book on vegetarian cuisine, which he promised he was actively working on, Scott shared his 10-step recipe for ultra success:

1. Embrace the pain. The "good" pain, the discomfort which makes you progress and push the envelope. Don't try to resist to it. By the way, it applies for any distance. Learn to come back from the lows.
   
2. Listen to your body. Hyper important especially in ultra running not to get injured.
   
3. Get specific. Set precisely your goals, what to want to achieve. And design the corresponding training to achieve your goal.
   
4. Cross train. Not necessarily another sport, but other activities (e.g. weight lifting, core training, yoga).
   
5. Stay balanced. Incorporate all the other aspects of your life, all the pieces making the running possible. Personal/family life, work life, and nutrition too.
   
6. Seek the satisfaction. Visualize and keep your best finishes in mind (e.g. for Scott, Spartathlon, Hardrock)
   
7. Never give up.
   
8. Give back! Help others (pacing, crewing), man aid stations at ultra events, do trail maintenance.
   
9. Stay motivated. After 15 years of ultra competition at the top level, Scott admits that it's not always easy to get out in the cold, the rain, and train hard. His advice: run and train with friends. And find new great places which motivate you.
   
10. Keep it fun. Scott shared his personal encounter with Giorgio last summer on the UTMB course near Courmayeur, a 63-old ultra runner who "lived his life to its fullest" (he died a few months ago, while running). Giorgio had run the 6 editions of UTMB, after having two hip replacements and still smoking (literally) while running ultras. And always smiling.

Before taking a few questions, Scott concluded his multi-media presentation with a few motivational quotes including this one, acknowledging that many of us, ultra runners, are wandering...

Not all those who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien

It's now time to go to bed; I must be the last one still up as we approach midnight... We are scheduled for a run at 7 am tomorrow morning, with Scott, before he leaves us to fly for a press conference in Auburn (California, not Washington!) on Saturday. I gave him a copy of the poem I had written for his 10th Miwok in May, hoping to see him back there next year... You see, I am a true RunningSuperFan! Talk to you tomorrow then, after Day 2.

PS: more pictures from Day 1 in my Picasa photo album.

Miwok 09: Scott again?

Miwok is just around the corner, next week, and I really look forward to it! Principally for the company as we will be several hundred runners toeing the start line. Including some big shots who are still trying to make it into Western States. This is the last of 6 Montrail Ultra Cup races, each of them providing the top 3 males and 3 females an entry to States. I also look forward to running Miwok for the amazing scenery. For its challenging course and ups and downs. And, hopefully, to have a good race, without asthma, after it triggered badly at American River and Ruth Anderson.

That has been a busy week again at work, with many and long hours. Several times this week I started conference calls with Europe or the East Coast before 6 am, and unplugged after 11 pm. But I managed to run a strong 20-miler on Wednesday and a great PG&E loop at Rancho this Friday. Only 9.3 miles but some hills and the last mile under 5:30. I definitely have speed this year, I'm just missing my 80 VO2max lungs when asthma is burning them...

Anyway, I captured one more piece of excitement about Miwok, the one related to seeing Scott again coming down to run in California. In my second poem on this blog, another acrostic, with rhymes this time, and another format, 20 x 10 (I know, this isn't a canonical way to describe a poem, you can see my engineer-background resurfacing...). Here you go, my way to put a bet on Scott, before Karl (Meltzer) publishes his own bets on Monday.

Here is a picture of Scott running with Tarahumara runner Arnulfo Quimare, in Mexico's Copper Canyons(source: The painful truth about trainers, in MailOnline):

Scott is back on the Miwok course next week!
Competition will surely not be weak,
Or they would not run in the Montrail Cup...
Teammate with Brooks, I am all fired up
To take the start with such a nice hero!

Joyful should we all be at ground zero,
Up so early for a very long day...
Rodeo Lagoon will see us today,
Enjoying as much of the bright daylight,
Killing the need to turn on our headlight

Randall Trail is marking the turnaround
Opposite point where some get their rebound;
Consistent runners have found their pacers,
Kudos Tia will give to finishers.
Scott will give it all to show up the first!

After 9 Miwoks no way Scott can burst!
Grabbing the wins for him seems so obvious,
Although each race brings its own mysterious
Insights that the elites manage to use,
Nailing down the hills which our quads refuse!

With that, talk to you in one week, or after Miwok if I don't see you there!

With Scott, after Way Too Cool 2008 (no he wasn't 21, but I was 44...):
With Tia (Bodington, RD) and Bev at the finish in 2008:

UTMB training with Scott and Team Lafuma

When I was a kid, and a boy scout, Lafuma was a no-brainer for buying our camping gear. Years later, actually a few years ago, Lafuma diversified, adding a line of ultra and trail running gear (shoes, apparel and accessories). Karine (Herry), whom I met at last year’s Western States, finishing 12 minutes behind her, quickly became Lafuma’s ambassadrice. With her husband and coach Bruno, providing amazing pictures from around the world to showcase the Lafuma products in high quality catalogs. Photo credit Bruno Tomazyk:

Last year, I had the immense pleasure to join Karine, Bruno and Pascal (Blanc) from Team Lafuma, for a 5-day recognition or discovery of the trail of the Tour du Mont Blanc. I was excited to learn what Bruno’s plans were for this year and even more excited when he informed me that Scott (Jurek) was joining the group this July, a group otherwise formed of only runners from Team Lafuma, and engaged in this year’s UTMB edition.

For the non insiders, Scott (Jurek) is dominating the ultra world. At least he has dominated it for the past years (there are some new kids coming like the Skaggs brothers and Anton Krupicka), mostly in the US (e.g. 7 consecutive wins at Western States, a course record set at Hardrock, a win and course record at Badwater) and even in Greece (2 wins at the Sparthatlon). Yet, Scott remains very approachable and I am always thrilled to see him at races in California. Scott is the ambassador of the running brand I picked, Brooks, so that provides one more topic to discuss and connect.

Scott has some unfinished business on the UTMB course. Last year, after winning Hardrock in July despite twisting his ankle two days before playing soccer, and to keep some stamina for his second participation at the Sparthatlon, he decided to drop at Courmayeur (50 miles or 80km, so halfway). He did not know much of the course, and discovered some hidden practices of the European runners. This year will surely be different. First, UTMB will be his first big and long race of the season, before the Sparthatlon and the 24-hour world championships with the US team in Korea in October. Second, he is spending the whole summer in Europe, 5 weeks in France, staying several weeks at Karine and Bruno’s, sharing the same sponsor, Green Magma. Last but not least, Scott will surely know the course in great details at the end of this week. Last week, he completed the entire loop in three days, with North Face’s European manager, UTMB’s sponsor and US trail running elite, Topher Gaylord, who lives in Italy. This week, he will complete the loop again in 4 days with Karine and Team Lafuma. 200 miles in 7 days, many miles of rocky and tricky sections and many many feet of cumulated elevation.

A premiere for me: seeing Scott taking pictures!

I was in Annecy on Sunday for a family reunion in a fancy restaurant on the lakeshore. Unfortunately, I only had Monday off before having to fly back to the US this Tuesday after almost 4 weeks in France (part of it for vacation with the family in Normandy, Brittany and Fontainebleau as you might have read in my previous posts). As much as I did not want to miss this new opportunity to train with such nice (and elite!) runners, the plan was down for me to run with the group for the first day before Agnès and the boys drop me in Geneva to catch the TGV for Paris in the evening. When every minute counts in a day mostly spent running.

We gathered in Chamonix at 8am. It takes some logistics to get such a 12-runner group around the Mont Blanc. Fortunately, Bruno is an expert in setting such training camps up. After some introductions, including to Topher (Gaylord) and his wife, Kim, who came to see us at the start (I just recall now that Topher passed me at Miwok, running with Jon Olsen, back in May), some time to split the bags among the two follower cars, a few group pictures, we left Chamonix at 9:30. The weather was perfect, sunny and already hot. So much better than last year when we got hit by a storm and heavy rains on the first night and had to shorten our first stage by half past midnight at Notre Dame de la Gorge (35 kilometers) instead of the planned 70 kilometers.

Our first stop was in Les Houches to get some water from the fountain. This is still one thing which amazes me the most on this course, that is the ability to get pure and fresh drinkable water from many fountains and springs all along the course. Hope this lasts for many years. The group stretched on the way up to La Charme and reformed before the steep downhill to St Gervais (a new section which I described to Scott as “quad killer”, surely for a reason given how the run ended up for me in the afternoon, see below). Refilled our bottles in the town of St Gervais before getting back on the trail along the torrent.

Running in such an informal setting was a great opportunity to catch up with Scott. Work (he can provides coaching online and with his voice over IP equipment even when he travels, but he shuts his physical therapy business down during his summer racing season; he also provides advisory services on shoe design for Brooks, already working on the 2010 models); family (so so); running (his racing and training, comments about the results of major races, the new comers like the 22 and 23-year old Skaggs brothers and 24-year old Anton Krupicka). We also talked about the typical European ultra running topic of the running poles (see last year’s post for more details). After seeing Topher using poles and flying on steep up hills last week, Scott decided to give them a try this week and this month. Too soon to know if he will be using them or not, we will see at the end of August (most of the group was using poles, but me with my two hand bottles…).

On Karine’s side, we talked about her difficult beginning of the season with a 3.5-inch tearing in her calf. We both ran the Saintélyon back in December 2007 with issues in our calves but her problem turned out to be much worse than mine which got fixed after a 3-week rest before resuming training for my Costa Rican Coastal Challenge. For this reason, she DNF’ed at the French nationals of 24-hour at Brives, beginning of May, and did not get qualified for the world championships in Korea in October, because of the lack of understanding of the French Track & Field Association. Too bad, France has lost one great leader and chance to win a medal… Karine has fully recovered and, with less racing this year, seems in much better shape than last year. It will be interesting to see another Nikki-Karine duel or rematch on August 30^th.

I left the group in Les Contamines where they were having a full lunch (lasagnas!) before finishing up the stage at Les Chapieux, after passing the pass (Le Col du Bonhomme). Because of the travel (train) constraint –and it is well known that SNCF is always on time and does not wait for you— my timing was tight with Agnès picking me up at 3:30 at Notre Dame de la Gorge. I arrived there, km 35, by 1:50 and, despite starting feeling a weird pain in my right quad, decided to climb at least up to the chalet of La Balme, km 39. The pain was not getting better there but I could not refrain from continuing for 2 kilometers more, toward the pass. The 7 kilometers down turned to a martyr with the quad burning, right above the knee. Not good for this Saturday’s Skyline 50K, let’s see how it evolves after my 12-hour flight back to SFO this Tuesday… When I was almost down, I saw the rest of the group starting the ascent, the perfect occasion to say bye to them before leaving. Bruno has actually set up a tracking mechanism by satellite so you can follow the progression of the group on the web during the rest of the week (Tuesday-Thursday). Check out the Spot product (I had asked for a trial at the Coastal Challenge but my letter remained unanswered – Karl Meltzer is also going to use the same product to offer the tracking of his speed attempt on the Appalachian Trail in August).

I met Agnès and the boys almost on time (3:38 pm), and we drove to St Gervais where we stopped for a shower at the public swimming pool. Left for Geneva at 4:30 and we were at the train station in Geneva by 6pm to meet our friends Galina and Georges before I got on the train, on which I am writing this post.

A big thank you to Bruno for accepting me, such a stranger, into this group, and just for one day. To Scott and Karine for remaining so approachable and nice despite their amazing ultra feats and careers. To the rest of Team Lafuma with which I had nice interactions throughout the day. Good luck to all for UTMB 2008, that your hard work brings you a deserved success! To the follower car and RV. And to Agnès for organizing this escapade on the UTMB course and my pick up at Notre Dame de la Gorge.

I will not be running UTMB again this year. I had put my all my bets on Western States (I still think that one 100-miler a year is good enough), skipped the UTMB lottery, and have now registered for Rio Del Lago 100-mile at the end of September in California (hope most of the fires will be over by that time). Now, on the same weekend as UTMB (August 30^th), I plan on running the French Nationals of road 100K. In Sologne, on a flat and 100% asphalt course, which will be a new thing for me (I am taking it easy though, not planning on training too hard on the specifics of this format).

Oh yes, I really enjoyed this day. Every minute of it, and even the pain! It was so special on the running side, my second job… As for my first job, that was also a very special day with the public announcement that IBM plans on acquiring us by mid December. 850 employees on ILOG’s side, 391,000 on IBM’s, this has some flavor of David and Goliath… After 21 years (I joined the company in 1987, I was the 7^th employee then), I very much feel like the company hit the wall, the same way we can hit the wall in marathon by mile 20. Or 21… And decide to DNF. But I am not a quitter (even when asthma kicks in!), so I feel we still have a lot of unfinished business. However it seems now impossible to avoid the ineluctable and resist to this change. When an elephant is playing and moving our cheese (see the book Who Moved My Cheese). An International Business… Machine…

Have a great week, all!

PS1 - See more (86!) pictures with comments, plus two clips, in my Picasa album.

PS2 - List of this week training camp participants:
KARINE HERRY
SCOTT JUREK
JEAN CLAUDE BANFI
PASCAL BLANC
JUAN MANUEL CALERO
JERÔME CHALLIER
JULIEN CHORIER
HERVE GIRAULD SAUVEUR
ANTOINE GUILLON
RENAUD ROUANET
LIONEL TRIVEL
BRUNO TOMOZYK