Every endurance and mountain sport athlete knows the moment when their legs burn, their stomach churns, and their mind screams to stop.

We work arduously to rid ourselves of these distractions - of these annoying thoughts and feelings that push us towards quitting, but to no avail. They keeping coming back. We can push them down, ignore them, sometimes we try to ‘reframe’ them – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing - if it works. But like flies on shit, they keep coming back.

For those of you who were following along. I didn’t finish Lead Challenge. Once again, I was cut-off on the bike, this time at sixty-three miles. Then cut-off on the run a week later at…sixty-three miles.

While I felt ‘stronger’ on the bike I wasn’t faster. For three years in a row, I came into the forty-mile mark at the same exact time – literally, you can’t get closer - four hours and seven minutes exactly. The run was a bit different. I was significantly faster and stronger but fatigue from the races slowed me to a crawl once I was on the big climbs. A big sign that durability was a problem.

It’s finally here. The taper for my last three events for Lead Challenge—The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike, The Leadville 10k Run and the Leadville 100 Run.

Tapering.

The magical final stretch of training where you dial things back to rest, recover, and prime your body for race day. On TrainingPeaks, where I plan my workouts for myself and my athletes, it looks amazing — fewer miles, more rest, and fresh legs. But in reality? For many athletes, myself included, it’s a mental minefield.