2011. Done. Another year in the books. While not as good of a year as 2010, I feel like I learned quite a bit about dealing with setbacks this year: the flu and a strained calf in winter, and achilles pull in mid summer, and shin periostitus in the fall. Altogether I managed 1799 miles in 2011 (avg 35 mpw) , significantly less that the 2334 miles I ran in 2010. More than that one single number was the inconsistency. I was all over the map with my weekly mileage, with no real clear periodization or string of quality weeks outside of the build in March to April to a PR at the Zurich marathon. Looking at a histogram (not shown) of my weekly mileages, its clear I need to spend more time in the 40 and 45 mpw range, and try to do less 50-60's.
Miles per week vs date
Highlights
Quality time spent on the crest of the Jura's (overview) in the spring, including a summit of Dent de Vaulion and Mont d’Or in the Jura range in a continous biting rain in January (I am an optimist), my first Chamois, summits of My Tendre I and II, including Dent de Vaulion for a second time, and Le Suchet, and Le Chasseron covered in the blooming crocus. La Dole was also a nice summit, but North of Mt Aubert my attention and my routefinding went awry, and it wasn't till fall that I was finally able to connect my footsteps all the way to Creux de Van.
On the crest of the Jura's: Mt Tendre in spring,
Creux de Van,
Le Chasseron,
and Le Suchet.
As spring progessed the pre-Alps and Alps begain to open up and I had a chance to get to know Moleson over the course of three summits of Moleson (I, II, and III), . I enjoyed pretty much all time I spend in this range, including Col de Lys and Col de Soladier.
Moleson and me from the summit of Teyschaux
The Moleson Teyschaux ridgeline
On the way up Col de Lys
Col de Lys and Dent de Lys from Col de Soladier area
The summits and climbs of Valais featured very heavily in my summer weekends, my first Boquetin sighting on the summit of Cornettes de Bise was memorable. The incredible climbs (numbers crunched here) out the valley floor of the Swiss canton of Valais were on the order of 5000 ft in 5 mi (ex. Pas de Lovenex).
Cornettes de Bise - Garmin says: 22 mi with 8560 ft of vertical. ~ 16% grade average.
The highlight of the year was a return to where it all all started to marry my beautiful wife on Dimple Hill during the Mac 50km. April and I also did some nice hikes around Col de Barbarine, Lac d'Emmoson and summited Pic Chausy and Le Pare, and circumnavigated Mt St Helens with Frank and Ken in Fall.
Married at the Mac, on Dimple Hill
Pic Chausy
Le Pare
April on the blast zone around Mt St Helens on the Llewitt trail
Mt St Helens circumnavigation
Despite the achilles pull I suffered halfway through, Verbier St Bernard was a very enjoyable race. It had a relatively small and social field, the climb up Val Ferret over into Italy and back to Grand St Bernard pass was amazingly beautiful. I've now been to Italy twice, both time running there and back from Switzerland. The highlight of this course was easily the mother, two daughters and cat that were course marshalling in the town below. The time I spend in the Val Ferret on this course was enough to justify a return to tag La Dotse, this place is beautiful.
Lowest Lac de Ferret
Le Dranse at the headwaters of the Val Ferrett
Lowlights
Injuries. Flu in January followed by a strained calf on what would otherwise be a routine summit of Bald Hill which took until March to fully heal, and dealing with shin splints throughout the fall. I have to admit that I am not completely enamored with European trail racing culture. The conga line overcrowding that characterizes races such as Swiss Alpin 50m just doesn't appeal to me at all. It's like paying to get stuck in traffic. The atmosphere, even in the middle of the pack, is so serious. No one seems to talk, and the races are dominated ~90+% by men. UTMB was similarily crowded (and overhyped). Trail quality at Trail de Faverges was an absolute joke. Think of switchbacks as a banked turn in a waterslide park and you get the idea of the amount of work that goes in to trail maintenance in the part of the world.
Outside of the races themselves was the context. I love wilderness. I love the idea that there are places in the world where humans do not dominate, and I think theses are very important. I never saw anything remotely wild in the time I spent in Switzerland. Cows cover the entire crest of the Jura mountains, and are similarily ubiqutious in the Alps, and somehow this gets passed of as natural beauty. According to my European friends its really nice to stop in the middle of a hike to eat a restaurant. I couldn't disagree more (full post here).
Prognosis
In retrospect the shin periostitus I suffered in the fall was not something to be ignored. It eventually resulted in a switch from the 'mile' to 'km' option at Javelina Jundred, which is an amazingly beautiful and fun course. Frustration with managing half my desired weekly mileage was enough to encourage me to take almost 2 full months off of running, and I am optimistic about getting back to it. A trial run last week up Iron Mtn outside of San Diego, CA went well enough to return my thoughts this years plan: Burning River in late July or Georgia Jewel in September. It's too early to sign up for anything. I'm planning to start at 5, yes 5, miles per week, and add 5 more every month. This will leave me with enough 50 mpw to build nice fitness before either race, but requires a good deal of creativity until then. Yoga, a return to road cycling for my first century, and a bit of a home gym should keep my occupied. What I really miss about running at the moment is that day to day consistency. I found it nicely on the Le Flon route this year. What I'm aiming for a very consistent, not over eager, slow build back to running fitness over the entire first half of 2012. If I can get some races in great, otherwise patience is key.
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