I type this as I eat a banana and drink some V8 and water. As soon as Stacey calls to let me know she's done with work, we'll be off to Leadville for the Silver Rush 50 mountain bike (Saturday) and run (Sunday).

I was feeling very confident heading into the bike, thinking a sub 5 hour ride was a certainty. However, that prediction was made after riding only the front half of the course. This past weekend I finally made it out to check out the back half, and it's definitely the tougher portion of the course. The climbs are steeper -- even hike-a-bike steep for a few sections -- and the descends are rockier. That said, I'm not riding for any particular time. Instead I'll focus on having a good time and staying safe for Sunday's run. The only pacing strategy I'm employing is to keep the HR in check on the first 7 mile ascent. It'd be easy to ride an hour near threshold to start the race off, and that would likely lead to a long weekend.

As far as the run goes, I had to write up predicted times to give Stacey estimates for when and where to meet me. Those predictions are pretty wild guesses. I'll focus on taking things as easy as possible the first half, and then picking up the effort at the turn-around if my body is willing and able.

Live updates and photos should be available at some of these sites:

• Website: http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/ 
• Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/ltraceseries
• MTB live results: http://my2.raceresult.com/details/index.php?page=4&eventid=11933&lang=en
• Run live results: http://my1.raceresult.com/details/index.php?page=4&eventid=11981&lang=en