Episode 372: Javelina 100 - Reflecting On Build UP

For this episode, I reflect on the training build up leading into the 2023 Javelina 100 Mile.

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Episode Transcript

Welcome back to another episode of the Human Performance Outliers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Bitter, and today I have a solo episode for you. Today's solo episode is going to be a bit of a recap on my training or preparation for the javelin 100, which, when this episode comes out, will be probably just a little under a week or so from the start of the race. So I thought it would be a good time just to do a recap, kind of on just everything that went into the preparation for it. And one of the reasons why I'm excited to do it for this particular race versus some of the prior race reflection, race training reflections is because in the buildup for this particular 100 miler, I released a bunch of episodes just on training, and a lot of times they were focused on kind of simplifying it or putting it in a perspective where people could have a really good starting point or a really good assessment point to kind of find out if they are more or less heading in the right direction or planning their order of operations. So to speak, properly, and just thinking about the right things when it comes to programming, training and preparing for races, whether it be something like I'm doing 100 mile distance or even more standard distances like five K's, ten KS, half marathons, marathons or what I call Olympic distance events. So this one is also a little bit more exciting to reflect on, because in the last couple of years, I've just had more issues with injuries than I had historically had in my career. So there's been a little bit of a variance kind of in how my build ups have gone relative to what I was able to maybe do at times in the past when I was compounding really solid training blocks on top of one another, and this one just felt a little different in terms like I felt like I kind of had that same level of momentum, or maybe you could call it success rate in the training execution. So I'm excited to test it out. You know, it's a 100 mile distance. So like I say, it's anyone's guess how that's going to end up going at the end of the day, because there's a lot that can and will happen over the course of that day. But I'm much more confident, I think, in my training and fitness right now than I have been in a while. And some of that, I think is going to be evident in the kind of the report that I give here, but also probably to some degree. Anyway, you know, Nicole and I have been in Austin now for two years, actually in January will be our second official year in Austin. And, you know, it's like anything in life when you have bigger changes and things like that. I do think there is at least a low level of. Just stress that comes along with trying to get yourself efficient the way you probably were in the past. Nicole and I lived in Phoenix for four years prior to that. So by the time we moved, I had very much had my routine and everything set up pretty, pretty streamlined in Phoenix. So Austin was a change. It was a welcomed one, a lot of opportunities, which also kind of adds to it when you're, you know, pursuing new things and different things. It's always a little bit of a guess as to how that's going to impact things. So who knows how much of a role that actually played or not. It's definitely something that I've thought about or considered, but needless to say, I'm excited to kind of report on this training block and hopeful for what it will produce for me on the 28th when I raise the 100. So let's get into some of it. There's a couple of things that maybe you should consider checking out if you're really interested in this particular report or you want to do some follow up stuff, as I kind of came into this block in a really interesting situation, and to be honest, one that didn't produce a lot of optimism. I had an injury, actually, I dealt with a right sacral stress fracture in the early part of the summer. So it basically took me off of running for the entirety of May. I got the injury right at the end of April, as I was basically putting the final touches on a race that I had been planning for June. So I was actually fairly optimistic about that build up, though it was one of the buildups that I've had that I thought went pretty decently. I had some hiccups in it in terms of just some things that didn't quite feel right, but generally speaking, it felt like an improvement upon what I had done the prior year. So to me, at the time, I thought of that as a step in the right direction and a reason for optimism. But then, yeah, when I was met with that sacral stress fracture that obviously kind of crushed a lot of that, and then it also brought in a lot of uncertainty in my mind as to kind of how things were going to go once I was able to start training again and what that timeline would actually end up being going into. So it looks like going into Javelina. So if you are interested in that, I have a podcast episode that talks about just kind of how I navigated and what I learned during that time when I was dealing with that sacral stress fracture and some of the stuff that I did to help get through that. So if you are, that's episode 359 recovering from sacral stress fracture. I actually dove into that one a little bit more holistically with that particular injury, partly because I had a little bit of an interesting situation with it being that I've had no bone issues in my life, from a broken bone stress fracture standpoint other than my right sacral, which is essentially your tailbone. Because I've had to stress rash on that twice now. So I had it in 2017 and then this year. So to me, that was reason enough for a little bit of extra digging as to maybe what was going on there. And I went down like a bunch of different pathways to confirm things, like was it nutritionally based? Was it something that I need to be considering from a training programming standpoint that is specific to me having issues with that particular spot and digging through all that stuff? I had a lot of optimism in the sense that, like, it was pretty clear to me that it wasn't something that I was doing nutritionally wrong. The bone scans and blood work and stuff I got all came back saying that I was heading in the right direction with that stuff. And, you know, the thing that really did stand out was it appeared I had some mechanical issues that likely were resulting in that particular area taking on a little more load than it was able to tolerate, especially when I would get to kind of like a peaking phase of a training block. So 1.4s that is where I kind of really spearheaded a lot of the tension, and that brought in the mobility routine that I started incorporating to really kind of help try to clear up some of that. So there's I talk about the mobility routine a bit, too on that podcast episode. 359 but if you're interested in some of the specifics to it, I do have an Instagram reel post where I go over some of the movements that have been done in that it's very much an evolving routine, though. One thing I really learned during that process was that mobility isn't really something that you just kind of do to get through a workout or to warm up for a workout. It's really something that you just apply specifically to areas that are going to be unique to you to some degree, and consistency within that is what really yields the results. And what I mean by that is like, if I'm consistent with the mobility routine, that was kind of built around the things that I needed to work on, which happened to be the ankle, hip and shoulder. It didn't really matter when I did it. If I just did it, I would go out for a run and feel just noticeably better. So that was kind of a key point of the early stage of this training block, was really getting that part of the routine and being able to see some of those results show up in my runs when I did get back to running. But all in all, my base building phase for Javelina actually technically started while I was still not running. So the reality with a sacral stress fracture, or at least the way mine was and behaved, is I could do a fair bit of training. I just couldn't do weight bearing type stuff where it would be impact driven, like running. So I had options to bike and I had some options to do some strength work and some sled pushing and pulling, which are the areas that I really leaned into. So during those last couple of weeks where I was still off from running, I was putting in a fair bit of training. Actually. I did quite a bit of biking, quite a bit of sled pushing and pulling and a decent amount of strength work. And really the the way I was gauging things with that was like if it didn't bother anything or I didn't feel any weird discomfort from the activity, and it didn't behave in a way where, like, I would wake up the next day and it would be worse than the fact that the next day it was at a point where I was having no discomfort with it, and really, I was just waiting for a timeline to start running. When you look at bone remodeling, we were looking at like a 4 to 6 week window, so there was just no way I was even going to attempt to run until I hit at least four weeks. So that was something I was going to be very, very firm on. And I just had an opportunity before I hit that four weeks to do some other stuff that wasn't bothering it, and may have actually helped because they may have helped strengthen the areas around that area that could potentially be helpful in keeping that area from. Taking on so much load to the point where the bone actually has started to fracture. 1.4s Yeah. So I mean, in a couple of weeks before I started running, I was actually putting in pretty solid training sessions, like I was up to like 20 hours a week in some cases. And a lot of that was like a lot of zone two biking and sled pushing. I did start phasing in some assault bike work because I did feel like my efficiency with the biking and the sled pushing in zone two, zone one stuff was quite high. I didn't feel like it was something where it was, it was suffering and that I had to kind of just stick to that as the primary focus. So I actually started introducing some assault bike bases like zone four, zone five type workouts, and I structured them fairly similarly to how I would run workouts where with short intervals, I'd use a 1 to 1 work to rest ratio and longer intervals I'd use a 2 to 1 work to rest ratio. The one difference I did is I really shortened them. So for the short intervals I was doing things like 30s on and 30s off, and for the long intervals I was doing a little shorter than I normally would. Usually my shortest long interval is about eight minutes in training. So for this I was doing sometimes 5 or 6 minute ones. So they were basically lactate threshold type tempo type effort workouts. But I was working with a little bit of a shorter window of time with those. Um, just out of curiosity and to some degree, it just seemed more palatable for me to do it that way on the salt bike versus on running, where I think I would actually prefer the long intervals to stretch out a little bit versus being too short. Um, yeah. So I mean, I wasn't certain exactly how that would translate to running specific fitness, especially the running. That would be a little more flat and consistent versus like a steeper trail. I think a lot of times some of these cross-training type activities probably feed in a little better to vary train courses, especially if they have really steep climbs, just because you're going to be more mechanically similar and there's going to be a little more power base with that stuff. So I think you can replicate that a little better on a bike or by pushing and pulling a sled. But for me personally, it's possible that those activities were helpful in terms of both maintaining fitness and creating some balances in areas that were maybe previously imbalanced. And I say that because when I came back to running, I was pretty shocked at how quickly I saw improvements. And it seemed like a lot of it was just kind of getting back into running to the point where I was used to the impact of it versus feeling like I had a lot of fitness to, to regain or anything that sort of makes sense. I got injured at the back end of a build up, so I carried a lot of fitness into that injury. And then. Really. When I was able to start cross training, I had only taken maybe 2 to 3 weeks off total, so it's not that likely that I was really losing a ton of fitness. Certainly not at like the zone one, zone two, like that lower intensity type ranges. So perhaps I was maybe a little over concerned from a skepticism standpoint heading into the training block. But all in all, my thought process along the way was I was very happy and excited about the rate at which I was progressing through that one. So it was a situation in which when I did kind of start the official build back to running, I got back up to a decent amount of volume in a couple of weeks, to the point where I felt comfortable not just going out for a run and paying attention to, okay, is this going to be damaging or potentially problematic in terms of having a setback with that particular injury to let's add a little more structure and a little more focus and start measuring some of these running related 1.1s metrics. So I went into what I would traditionally do for a base building phase, which I'll often do before I start anything specific towards any given distance that I'm training for. And what I mean by that is I'm just trying to get myself to be where I'm running a specific type of pace. At that base intensity, which I put at just underneath my aerobic threshold. A lot of people may call that zone two. So that's a little bit of my guide, in other words, of how long I should stay there. I like to stay there long enough where I start seeing that pace match spots, where I've had it in the past when I would begin the next phase of training. So that all happened pretty quick. It was, it was and has been a little different being in Austin, because we just deal with very humid and hot summers. Whereas the last seven years prior to that, I was in dry heat between California and Arizona. So we got very hot summers, but very much different in terms of the humidity. So that's been a little bit of a transition in terms of trying to match prior data with current data in terms of what it actually means in terms of where I'm actually at. But I did have some opportunities to head out of town and get to some drier areas, including Southern California, and kind of test my fitness in more optimal weather to kind of see where things were at and if I was heading in the right direction. And I certainly was, I actually did a run over in Southern California, kind of near the end of the base building phase, where I was pushing down pretty low into the sixes, like six zero minute per mile type like paces, and was still sitting right around my aerobic threshold. And historically speaking, like in just the best of possible situations and circumstances, there's been a couple of times where I've been able to kind of get that to a point where I may be just dipping under six minute miles at that base intensity. For those of you interested, that tends to be about 150, 155 beats per minute for me. So that's kind of that target zone for me to kind of operate within when I'm targeting this intensity as kind of the ceiling or don't go past this type of a range there. So I was pretty optimistic to see those numbers show up and know that I could. I was at a point where I was trusting my body to introduce some speed work, and from a fitness standpoint, I had the foundation to really go through a speed work development block, because for me, training for 100 mile, I'm going to operate under the principle of weaknesses and least least specific stuff early, assuming I have a good foundation, and then I'm going to just get more specific with things as I get closer and closer to the race. So 100 milers being longer and slower, I'm likely to do a speed work development phase a little sooner in the training plan so that I have enough time to get very specific to those slower intensities and race specific types, like running. When I get within, say, 6 to 8 weeks or so from the race itself. Final aspect to the base training stuff that I did was a little different than normal, as I kind of transitioned back to running. I was in this period of time where I could run, but the load was going to be important in terms of easing back into it. So the interesting thing with the stress fracture I had on my sacral Allah is that uphill stuff tended to be less problematic for it. Downhill running and higher impact running tended to be the things I needed to be more careful with. So as I was building back miles and running in the early stages, I did a lot of incline treadmill. My move was essentially just turning the treadmill up to 15% and just kind of grind on that and around a zone to capacity. So, you know, a little bit more of a strength running type of an approach and a lower impact. But that helped me kind of get the volume up in some of those earlier stages without introducing too much impact, but also practicing some stuff that might be useful. A little bit of javelin. A javelin is not going to have steep climbs by any stretch of the imagination, but they will have some uphill sections. And I think just getting the volume in, in more of a running mechanic than than the biking or the sled pulling and pushing were able to provide was something that was going to be valuable and something I'll probably actually keep around as I'm building back up into training in the future, when I'm coming off of a race or coming off of an off season, things like that. The speed work development block. This time around, I focused mostly on short and long intervals, so I kept it quite simple, and I kept it quite traditional in the sense that I didn't try to get too creative in the sense like I didn't try to really block workouts where I would do back to back days with speed work or do anything, anything like double threshold sessions or anything like that. I stuck to a more traditional kind of hard, easy, hard type framework where I had a day sometimes between harder sessions or even moderate sessions or anything that I would put at speed work. The thing that I maybe did a little different for this Hunter miler than I have traditionally, is I did a little bit more blending of those two intensities. When I get to a distance, that's as far as 100 miles. It's one thing where I'm a little more open to say, like separating those and doing a phase of short intervals where I'm focusing primarily on just really getting better at that and then transitioning to long intervals, and then do a phase where I'm getting better at that and then transition into more race specific type stuff. So I blended those a lot more. I did have a little bit of a phasing out of the short intervals near the end and focused primarily on things like the long interval intensity or that threshold intensity. But I didn't do that quite as specifically as I normally would. And part of the reason for that is, for me, the workouts that tend to be the most dangerous, I'll say it in terms of a risk reward standpoint, are the short intervals. I've historically been someone who can recover and bounce back and rarely get injured from just volume. But if I do pick up an injury, a lot of times it's because of just overloading a little bit on that speed work, and I tend to be a little more sensitive to the short interval session, so I have to just be a little more mindful of that. And recognize that when I'm going through that phase of training or that specific intensity piece, I should be careful. So I wanted to. I wanted to reduce the amount of volume per week I was spending at that intensity for this speed work block, just to make sure I didn't get a setback. Given that historically that's been a little bit more of a risky intensity for me to train. So since I felt ready to do a higher amount of volume of speed work, and I did have a little bit of a shorter timeline now if I wanted to have a good solid block for long run development, it just made more sense for me to increase the volume 1.4s of speed work, but not specifically to that higher intensity portion of those short intervals or those VO2 max target type intervals. So I did a more traditional setup with that. And I would usually do like one short interval session followed by a longer interval session or some sort of threshold work and kind of rinse and repeat that a bit. And all in all I did about eight works, eight weeks total that had a speed work development component to it before kind of transitioning away from that and over towards the long run development. So the way I look at the long run, when it's specific to something long, like 100 miler, is I actually take that and I sort of like to break it into two different types of workouts where I don't look at it as necessarily this long run that I'm building out throughout the entire training plan. Long Run will be embedded into the plan throughout, but it's going to be a more traditional type long run for the first part of the training plan or the first, oftentimes two thirds of the training plan. And then once I get through that speed work development phase, I start incorporating what I'll consider like almost a different workout altogether. And it's just like an ultra style long run. So the ultra style long run is essentially what I would consider something that goes beyond what you likely find super valuable in terms of just running adaptations occurring, and you're just getting out there for a longer period of time. And. If you're doing it within a more traditional training strategy, like a traditional endurance training program, there's a good likelihood that if you run that long, they're going to negatively impact things like future speed work sessions or take quality away from a future workout. So I look at this all as kind of like an opportunity cost type of thing. So I like to keep the long runs, usually between 2 to 3 hours during that main phase of training, when I'm doing base building, when I'm doing speed work development. And then once I've confirmed I've got this like historically high to myself, relative level of running fitness, then I can start working on the ultra specific stuff, because now the opportunity cost of me taking some of that other stuff off the table in order to make room for things that are going to allow me to practice stuff like race day, fueling something a little bit longer where I can test gear and things like that. Do something where the weather's maybe going to shift a little more drastically from the start to the finish. So I just really get better at practicing and reminding myself how I want to go about things on race day and get just a little more specific. So I would say for this particular build for Javelina, I did much less of that. I did a lot more kinds of traditional long runs. And part of the reason for that is Javelina is very much a running course. In fact, I've done it twice before. Both times I'd run around under 14 hours. The first time I did it was 13.5 hours. At the time it was the course record. It has since been broken twice, so it's a course where I plan to run every step of the way minus the time I spend in aid stations. So it's just the type of run where I find specificity is going to be running basically the entire time, versus if I were going to do a course that was more mountainous or longer, I would be planning that. Hiking is going to be a portion of that and something that would be worth practicing, in which case I might stretch out my long run to be a longer duration in order to accommodate the non running activities that are going to be part of that particular race. So for people who are listening to this and they're curious about, well, how does this translate if you're doing something like Javelina and your goal is to be out there a bit longer, let's say you're targeting 24 hours. That would be even though it's the same course I'm training for. That would be a good divergence from what I'm doing to what you'd want to be doing, because in that case scenario, you're likely doing some hiking if your target is that 24 hour number. So having that component into your long run development during that peaking phase is going to be just something that is worth practicing, because it's a tool you're going to use on race day, or if you take it another way, if I did a race where I was targeting that 24 hour time frame on a on a trail course or something like that, there's a good chance I'd be doing a fair bit of hiking. In which case, like I said before, it would behoove me to practice some of that hiking as well. So 1.2s I didn't do as much of it this time because of the uniqueness of the course and because of the targets that I have for the day. And what that meant is I felt it was going to be more valuable for me to accumulate more overall volume. At the intensity. I plan on racing. So during my speaking phase, I focused on just getting as much volume as I felt I could kind of put in and recover from. At close to a half intensity and on terrain that kind of matched that profile as well as I could. So the way the Javelina Loop works is there's five of them. The only difference is the first loop. You have this little extra like two and a half mile add on just because the loop is just under 20 miles, and that helps them get to the 100 mile distance with five. But the general kind of theme of that loop is you start out on kind of a flat stretch, and then you go up, not super steep, but up towards the midway station, and then you have this gradual descent down and then another like kind of flattish roller type area, like back to the finish line. So I believe javelina is like 7 or 8000 ft of total climbing over the course of 100 miles. So I picked some routes that would be pretty comparable to that level to the types of inclines I was going to see at Javelina. So that was practicing that mechanic and getting kind of used to that. So with that being said, I didn't do a whole lot of really long runs that went much beyond three hours. In fact, three hours was a pretty typical long run. But I did a lot of them. In fact, I had a couple of weeks where I think I did four, four of them total in a week. So the volume was high, the race specificity was high, the really long duration stuff was very limited. I did do one race. I did the habanero 50 K, which is billed as this kind of masochistic race, where they try to get it as hot as they can and they start you at like I think it was like 1230 and it ended up being like 114 degrees and humid that day. So like, it was about as miserable as you're going to find. Certainly more miserable than I'll see at Harvard. Even though Javelina is a warmer weather race, it gave me an opportunity to get out there and get on my feet for a little bit longer, practice my cooling strategy, my feeling and hydration strategy, a little more specifically. And for that race, I was out there for a little over four hours, so I did get a little bit of a longer session time wise on that one, and was able to kind of confirm where my mind and body was relative to some of those extreme conditions. And that was enough in my mind to make me confident with being able to extrapolate out to the longer distance stuff at Javelina without having to actually stress some super long stuff in the training, like I would maybe do for a different course or for a different buildup. So just for some ideas of what that maybe looked like, my final kind of build, focusing on goal kind of intensity and terrain for the most part, was this four week stretch where I went 130 miles, 140 miles, 100 miles, and 150 miles. And that took me up to my taper, which I typically spend about two weeks doing, and within the taper. I'm coming up on this part of it right now. I do take a few really easy days right after that kind of peak week, which for me was that 150 is a mile week. And then I'll do kind of maybe a 1 or 2 moderate long runs when I'm about like halfway through that two week taper and then really kind of cut down and rest as much as needed heading into the race itself. So I'm feeling nice and fresh, and that tends to work quite well for me. So. So all in all, I mean volume thought the plan was actually pretty solid. Even during the speed work development phase, I was averaging around 110 miles per week very consistently, and then during the actual pullback from the speed work and volume buildup, I was able to get up to that 150 mile week without too much trouble. In fact, when I finished the 150 mile week, I felt like if the timeline was longer, I would probably carry on with another week or two and push a little higher volume yet. So I kind of like that. That spot I was, I was, I would say I was in a similar spot like that in 2015 when I raced the Desert Solstice Track Invitational that winter, I had this really big build up near the end, similar to this one from a volume standpoint, and I got to the end of it, and it had that kind of sensation of the first week felt like, okay, this might be tough, but then by the time I got to the last one, it was almost like things were just gradually stressing in the right direction, to the point where I was really kind of adjusting to the training as it went along versus feeling like I really was looking forward to that taper, which has me excited to see how things feel on race day and how that all plays out. A couple of things I will share just specific to. Things outside of the running itself is this was probably the most consistent I was with supplementary activities. I talked about the mobility for the most part with this I was very consistent with that. I mean, there was probably a maybe a few days total where I just kind of blew it off altogether and didn't do it. And there was a few days where I didn't do the routine as thoroughly as I would have liked to, but most days I did it start to finish, and in some cases I even did it in terms of like extra, where I would do the full routine and then periodically throughout the day I would do just like different movements within it that I felt like I could make some more progress on with a little bit of extra input in. So that was, you know, that was amazing to be able to be that consistent with that. And then strength works too. I was just super consistent. I probably averaged close to two lower body days per week over the course of the plan, and I never had a week where I really neglected it. And the drills were something I did almost daily. I think I probably missed a day, maybe total throughout it. And what I mean by drills is just kind of like basic things that I find to be very useful if I'm consistent with, because they keep different ranges of motion and different mechanics kind of more available to me that I maybe aren't stressing when I'm just running as much as I do for these things. So things like forward and sideways, leg swings, forward lunges, bodyweight squats, just like primer type almost to some degree. Dynamic movements that you could do before, like a speed workout session or something like that. I was doing those daily for the most part, and in some cases I would do them more than once per day. I would do them before all my lower body sessions. I would often do them during the day at some point, or if it was a morning where I'd wake up and I was just a little more tight than normal, I would do it before the run and things like that. So between mobility, strength work and the drills. I was really, really consistent with that stuff, and I think that really helped kind of keep the running flow, feel good, even though it is an extra time investment. And sometimes you get to that point where, you know, during the end, with that 150 miles a week, I'm spending upwards of 20 hours running. So adding in the strength work, the mobility and the drills, it does add up to the point where then I'm getting closer to 25 plus hours per week, which, you know, just takes away from other things you could be doing, I guess. But it was very much worth it. And something that I'm going to take away from this block is something that is probably more or less a spot that I need to be consistent with in order to just make sure I stay healthy the way I have this block. And that was kind of a major takeaway for me. Another thing I did to prepare for the javelin 100 that was not specific to training, but more about just kind of how I want to approach the course is I dug into some of the data that I had from when I raced it in 2016, 2017, and then also into some of the data for individuals who ran what I would consider really strong races have won the race in the past, run one, ran course records and things like that. So what I noticed was that for me specifically, like there was a lot of improvement to be made on, just better pacing early on. So the interesting thing about Javelina is it is a desert race. So you do have a situation where you start in the morning at six, so it's nice and cool usually in the morning, and you do get a couple hours where the weather was, what I would consider like almost optimal. And then it gets hot. So like the year in 2016 when I ran it, it got up to 102 degrees, which I believe is course record temps. Usually it's more like kind of if you get lucky or it's a cooler year, it's in the low 80s, it's a high, but oftentimes will be in the low 90s. So there is a lot of change in the course of the day, between the day and the night where you can have 40, maybe even 50 degree temperature swings between the heat of the day and the coolest parts at night. So for me, if things go well, I won't see cool temps, likely in any large capacity until the very, very end, but I'll start in them. So what that does mean is you do have this relative window early on where conditions are just going to be better versus say, loop three or loop four, where you might be in the heat of the day and having to deal with that logistics. So I don't necessarily think that you need to be out there in a situation where you're getting progressively faster or your laps are identical from one of the next, but I don't think they should be super drastic. And mine simply were in 16 and 17. I had to fast in the beginning, specifically the first two laps, and that likely took a fair bit of time off of what I would have been able to do on laps three, four, and five. So specifically this year, one of my big ones. Incentives or things I'm going to focus on early on is to hold back a little bit relative to what I did those prior years, and make sure that I'm leaving things at a point where I feel like I can be a little more consistent at the end and running stronger. It's the simple thing of like, don't chase ten 15 seconds per mile early on and then lose one two minute per mile in certain stretches at the later half. It's just not a good exchange to make. So my hope is that that will help me get to the finish line faster and also feel strong and motivated in those final stretches of the race so that I can charge hard. And, you know, Javelina being a golden ticket race now and just knowing what the field's like at this point, it's just going to be very competitive. So the likelihood is, if I'm having a really good day, there are going to be people around me still, and they'll be incentive to either try to catch people or to stay ahead of people and things like that. And if and obviously if I want to get a golden ticket for the Western States 100, I need to finish in the top two or the top two that don't already have a spot. So I anticipate it not being a situation where there is no reason to run hard at the end. So I want to definitely position myself in a way that I could be able to run strong at the end of the race, and I think that means proper pacing in the beginning. That's what I got. If you have any follow up questions about the prep, things like that, I do have some content on Instagram that is specific to this build up. That goes into some more details. If you want to go along my timeline, you'll see I'll have like random workout stuff on there. I have some stuff that kind of talks about the different training specifics and things like that, as well as some nutrition posts, um, my mobility routine and my drills routine and things like that on there. So if you're interested in that, head over to my Instagram account just at Zach Bitters, HB, TTR, and I'll be continuing to post on that, leading into Javelina and more so after my my, my posting strategy on there right now is I'm trying to be more consistent with that at the end of this year, going to next year. And I do want to focus on kind of sharing like posts that reflect on my training and then post that reflect on kind of the education side of why I'm doing or why I think endurance athletes would want to do specific types of inputs, whether that be supplementary activities like strength work, mobility drills, or the actual workouts themselves, and then do more like posts about like what I'm eating and things like that. Because, you know, all trainers eat a lot and people tend to be interested in that, I guess. So those are some things that people have said that they enjoy seeing there. So those are things I'm going to try to be more consistent with going forward there if you are interested.