I can't seem to get rid of this illness. I think this might be the longest that I have ever been sick. Going on 13 days. Ran 4 miles on the treadmill tonight. That wasn't good. My lungs are completely wrecked right now. The mornings are the worst. Each of the last 3 mornings I was a complete disaster until at least 10:00. Today I didn't even try to deal with it, but instead just went back to bed for an hour after breakfast, even though I had slept for 10 hours already. If I'm not feeling better by Friday I'm going to go get it checked out to be sure I don't have bronchitis or anything that should be treated with antibiotics.
Between Jill's frostbite and my respiratory illness we're a pretty lame duo right now. She has tomorrow and Friday off from work and I have Friday and Saturday off. Luckily we got 3 Netflix movies in the mail today because with our running and biking on hold right now, and with the weather as horrible as ever this week in Juneau it really could be a long weekend.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Miwok Prep.
This head cold that I came down with the day before the ITI has sure taken it's time moving through my system. At least I don't have to deal with having any regrets about pulling out of the race. I have felt so crappy since last weekend that there is absolutely no way I could have continued on to finish the race. I finally was feeling good enough today to get out for a short ski, but up until that I have done nothing but rest for 6 days.
Looking ahead I'm hoping to be feeling 100% healthy by the middle of this week and begin my Miwok training by the end of the week. I still haven't really decided just what my focus will be in leading up to the Miwok. I need to run more downhills than I did in preparation for this race last year but I know I also need to mix a little more speed into my runs, as I pretty much haven't done anything fast since before The North Face race in early December. I should be able to get myself into better shape than I was for the Miwok last year when I was also focusing on trying to build biking base to prepare for the GDR. For most of this year it's going to be all about the running, with only bits of biking for fun mixed in. I just need to be careful not to burn myself out with too much running. Should be fun though... if I could just kick this damn illness.
Looking ahead I'm hoping to be feeling 100% healthy by the middle of this week and begin my Miwok training by the end of the week. I still haven't really decided just what my focus will be in leading up to the Miwok. I need to run more downhills than I did in preparation for this race last year but I know I also need to mix a little more speed into my runs, as I pretty much haven't done anything fast since before The North Face race in early December. I should be able to get myself into better shape than I was for the Miwok last year when I was also focusing on trying to build biking base to prepare for the GDR. For most of this year it's going to be all about the running, with only bits of biking for fun mixed in. I just need to be careful not to burn myself out with too much running. Should be fun though... if I could just kick this damn illness.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
What Is My Future With The ITI?
Jeff Oatley has made it into McGrath as this year's ITI winner. Congratulations Jeff. I know there were a lot of people rooting for Jeff to win, especially after he was forced to give up a huge lead while waiting for a couple days for a trail over Rainy Pass.
I've spent a lot of time since Monday thinking about my plans in regard to if/when to try this race again. It's a very difficult thought process for me right now. On one hand I keep thinking that I am not going to pull the plug on this race just because I have now had two horrible attempts at it in a row. On the other hand though lies the fact that this race really isn't a "race" but more of an expedition. Perhaps I would be wise to focus on racing while I'm still able to perform at or near my highest potential and come back and tackle this one in several years when, as Paul Dewitt said, "I'm old and slow." This isn't a new thought to me. I've thought a lot about this for the past year. Last year I took up a huge chunk of my time focused on two multi-day adventure/expedition style "races" (ITI and GDR). I don't regret this at all but I do realize that had I not dropped out of both of those races early I probably would not have been able to run Miwok or Wasatch, at least not with the success that I did. If I continue to do the ITI every year it absolutely will cut into my potential in my "short" races.
The thing though about the ITI is that being out on that trail has a way of making one feel so intensely alive. I get a huge rush from almost all races I run, but only this race gets into my blood in this way. It's more than just the magnificent challenge of it, although that is a huge part of it. Also there is the simplicity of it that is so appealing. There are almost no rules. The course is not contrived to be a certain distance. You have a start point and an end point, you can take whatever path you want to get from A to B. It is certainly one of the most dangerous races in the world and there is always more you can learn about how to make it safer and more efficient. In short, this race is 100% the real deal. There is no pretense. There are no shortcuts. There is no way you will ever make it to McGrath if you don't have your shit 100% together. The fact that a few people each year go all the way to Nome is still too much for me to even comprehend.
I have a few options that I'm throwing around in my mind:
-Keep banging my head against the wall in hopes it'll finally break through.
-Put this one on the back burner until I'm "old and slow" and likely in a much better place mentally to have success in this race.
-Try it on bike next year and see where that takes me. Bikes have proven year after year to be the most efficient means of travel in this race. A successful race on bike could be a great learning experience to help me conquer it on foot.
-Take one year off to really focus on 100 milers (still could run either the susitna 100 or the arrowhead 135 to get a nice snow race in next winter) and then give this one another shot in 2011.
There are pros and cons to each of these options. I've got a lot of time to think about it. I am leaning toward one of these options right now but I'm not going to decide without taking at least several weeks to think about it and talk with some friends and fellow ITI racers about it. I'd be happy to hear some of your thoughts on it. It's of course my decision to make, but it's always helpful to hear what other people, who maybe don't have so much emotion tied up in a decision, might think.
I've spent a lot of time since Monday thinking about my plans in regard to if/when to try this race again. It's a very difficult thought process for me right now. On one hand I keep thinking that I am not going to pull the plug on this race just because I have now had two horrible attempts at it in a row. On the other hand though lies the fact that this race really isn't a "race" but more of an expedition. Perhaps I would be wise to focus on racing while I'm still able to perform at or near my highest potential and come back and tackle this one in several years when, as Paul Dewitt said, "I'm old and slow." This isn't a new thought to me. I've thought a lot about this for the past year. Last year I took up a huge chunk of my time focused on two multi-day adventure/expedition style "races" (ITI and GDR). I don't regret this at all but I do realize that had I not dropped out of both of those races early I probably would not have been able to run Miwok or Wasatch, at least not with the success that I did. If I continue to do the ITI every year it absolutely will cut into my potential in my "short" races.
The thing though about the ITI is that being out on that trail has a way of making one feel so intensely alive. I get a huge rush from almost all races I run, but only this race gets into my blood in this way. It's more than just the magnificent challenge of it, although that is a huge part of it. Also there is the simplicity of it that is so appealing. There are almost no rules. The course is not contrived to be a certain distance. You have a start point and an end point, you can take whatever path you want to get from A to B. It is certainly one of the most dangerous races in the world and there is always more you can learn about how to make it safer and more efficient. In short, this race is 100% the real deal. There is no pretense. There are no shortcuts. There is no way you will ever make it to McGrath if you don't have your shit 100% together. The fact that a few people each year go all the way to Nome is still too much for me to even comprehend.
I have a few options that I'm throwing around in my mind:
-Keep banging my head against the wall in hopes it'll finally break through.
-Put this one on the back burner until I'm "old and slow" and likely in a much better place mentally to have success in this race.
-Try it on bike next year and see where that takes me. Bikes have proven year after year to be the most efficient means of travel in this race. A successful race on bike could be a great learning experience to help me conquer it on foot.
-Take one year off to really focus on 100 milers (still could run either the susitna 100 or the arrowhead 135 to get a nice snow race in next winter) and then give this one another shot in 2011.
There are pros and cons to each of these options. I've got a lot of time to think about it. I am leaning toward one of these options right now but I'm not going to decide without taking at least several weeks to think about it and talk with some friends and fellow ITI racers about it. I'd be happy to hear some of your thoughts on it. It's of course my decision to make, but it's always helpful to hear what other people, who maybe don't have so much emotion tied up in a decision, might think.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
There Was Some Good With The Bad
One last post about my 2009 ITI experience:
In almost every way it went poorly for me. I have never had anything (race or otherwise) that I have put so much effort into go so ridiculously bad. Through most of the lead up to the race and my one day out in the race things went so bad that I kind of just felt like I was stuck in a bad dream.
There was however, a lot of good out of this "disaster". First on this list would be all the great people that I got to meet and spend some time with as part of this event. You don't get a chance to get to know very many of the racers because things tend to separate pretty quickly almost as soon as the race starts, but in the two years that I've done this race I have very much liked everyone that I got to know on the trail. This year Jill and I were fortunate enough to fly out of Yentna with Riccardo Ghirardi and Isabel Lopez. I got to know them as well as one who speaks no Italian and very little Spanish might get to know people from Italy and Spain who speak very little English. Luckily our friend Amity who we all stayed that night after we dropped out speaks Spanish so she was able to act as translator. The thing about Riccardo and Isabel though is that you don't have to speak their language to understand that they are great people with amazing stories to tell... ahh, if only I could understand them.
Several other friends, new and old, are out on the trail still pushing toward McGrath (too many to list here) and it's been fun these past few days following their progress online. Jeff Oatley seems to be riding the strongest out there this year and he's pretty much one of the nicest guy you could ever meet. He's had amazing success at this race in the past, but I don't think he's ever won it. I'm certain I'm not the only one at home on their computer pulling for Jeff in this one.
Another great thing was that even though only on the trail for one night I feel like I learned a lot out there. It dropped to 20 below zero (colder by some accounts) that night and there was a stiff breeze the entire time. This was the coldest weather that I've ever been out in for any period of time. It was great to find out just what clothing combinations were working best for these conditions. Next time I do this race I will be just a little more prepared having spent this night out in windchills around 40 below zero.
And then there is the benefit that at least I'm not crawling into McGrath a few days from now facing weeks of recovery before I can even begin to think about moving on to my next race. I had hoped more than anything to finish this race, but I knew doing so would greatly compromise my ability to perform at a high level at the Miwok 100k on May 2nd. Now though the reality is that I should be able to go into the Miwok as fresh and ready as I have for any race in over a year. I've got a bone to pick with those Marin Headlands trails. I had decent races there in the Miwok and the North Face 50 last year, but neither one of them were great races, and I had very low periods in both of them. This time around I'm going to be looking to run strong from start to finish and dropping out of the ITI so early might just be a huge stepping stone toward that goal.
In almost every way it went poorly for me. I have never had anything (race or otherwise) that I have put so much effort into go so ridiculously bad. Through most of the lead up to the race and my one day out in the race things went so bad that I kind of just felt like I was stuck in a bad dream.
There was however, a lot of good out of this "disaster". First on this list would be all the great people that I got to meet and spend some time with as part of this event. You don't get a chance to get to know very many of the racers because things tend to separate pretty quickly almost as soon as the race starts, but in the two years that I've done this race I have very much liked everyone that I got to know on the trail. This year Jill and I were fortunate enough to fly out of Yentna with Riccardo Ghirardi and Isabel Lopez. I got to know them as well as one who speaks no Italian and very little Spanish might get to know people from Italy and Spain who speak very little English. Luckily our friend Amity who we all stayed that night after we dropped out speaks Spanish so she was able to act as translator. The thing about Riccardo and Isabel though is that you don't have to speak their language to understand that they are great people with amazing stories to tell... ahh, if only I could understand them.
Several other friends, new and old, are out on the trail still pushing toward McGrath (too many to list here) and it's been fun these past few days following their progress online. Jeff Oatley seems to be riding the strongest out there this year and he's pretty much one of the nicest guy you could ever meet. He's had amazing success at this race in the past, but I don't think he's ever won it. I'm certain I'm not the only one at home on their computer pulling for Jeff in this one.
Another great thing was that even though only on the trail for one night I feel like I learned a lot out there. It dropped to 20 below zero (colder by some accounts) that night and there was a stiff breeze the entire time. This was the coldest weather that I've ever been out in for any period of time. It was great to find out just what clothing combinations were working best for these conditions. Next time I do this race I will be just a little more prepared having spent this night out in windchills around 40 below zero.
And then there is the benefit that at least I'm not crawling into McGrath a few days from now facing weeks of recovery before I can even begin to think about moving on to my next race. I had hoped more than anything to finish this race, but I knew doing so would greatly compromise my ability to perform at a high level at the Miwok 100k on May 2nd. Now though the reality is that I should be able to go into the Miwok as fresh and ready as I have for any race in over a year. I've got a bone to pick with those Marin Headlands trails. I had decent races there in the Miwok and the North Face 50 last year, but neither one of them were great races, and I had very low periods in both of them. This time around I'm going to be looking to run strong from start to finish and dropping out of the ITI so early might just be a huge stepping stone toward that goal.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Dead Man Walking
Sometimes things just don't go your way. I had been anticipating this year's ITI since I dropped out of the same race one year ago. This was to be "my year." This is what I told myself for the past 12 months. I was determined to go into the race as ready as ever to have a successful race. That's not the way it played out though.
Everything was good through the end of January but then when I got sick and injured my calf in early February I was slightly thrown off in my race preparation and never got fully back on track. The last week before the race I was feeling like my legs were a bit "off", but I still felt like maybe I could pull it all together and make it happen. Then Saturday, one day before the race the sore throat started, followed by headaches, congestion, and overall body fatigue. Sunday morning I felt pretty horrible, but I didn't let it get me down too much cause I knew there was nothing I could do about it? I knew that starting one of the toughest races in the world in the midst of an illness was not at all a good thing, but certainly after a year of preparation I wasn't going to pull the plug without giving it a shot.
I thought maybe, just maybe, I could grind out a tough day or two, sleep a lot at the first two checkpoints, and maybe be able to recover enough to basically "restart" my race feeling healthy by Tuesday or Wednesday. It was pretty much the only option I had.
The 60 miles I was out on the trail were long and hard. I had almost no energy and I just couldn't bring myself to take in enough calories and water. I basically felt too weak to eat as often as is necessary. The temperatures dropped to about -20 during the night and there was a stiff wind most of that time. It was the coldest weather I had ever been out in for that much time. I was able to keep plenty warm though and was able to make it to Yentna Checkpoint (mile 60) in just over 14 hours time. This was almost all walking. I would try slow running to warm up and to try to cover ground a little more quickly but I just didn't have the energy to run for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. The trail conditions were slow with lots of windblown snow drifts but more than anything I was just not feeling good.
My plan upon arriving at Yentna was to eat as much "real" food as I could and sleep as long as my body needed and then get up and move onto Skwentna (mile 90) and do the same thing there. First I ate and then I was getting ready to sleep when Jill woke up and told me she had fallen through ice on Flathorn Lake and had likely frostbitten her toes. At that point she was still deciding whether she could continue on or not (we both knew she couldn't but that's something that takes some time to sink in). Either way we knew she couldn't do so without getting her wet boot dried out so we decided to try to sleep on it for several hours and deal with it all when we woke up. Neither one of us could sleep. Her toes were finally thawing out, causing horrible pain, and I was so congested that I felt like I was constantly choking and gasping for air. Multiple times in the night I moved to open a window in the room we were in before remembering that it was 20 below zero outside and that it wasn't the window keeping oxygen from getting into my system but rather my congestion.
I guess I got about an hour of actual sleep. I felt even worse when I woke up. The typical body aches that you get when you have a good head cold become pretty severe when you spend 14 hours dragging a 30 pound sled over 60 miles of snow covered trail at 20 below zero. Imagine that. My back and neck were throbbing, my head was pounding, and I felt like I hadn't had anything to drink in days, even though I drank about a gallon of water just in the time that I was "sleeping". On top of this my left knee which had been bothering me a little bit out on the trail had stiffened up quite a bit while I was sleeping and seemed like it would also likely be a concern as I moved forward down the trail. The reality was slowly sinking in that my chances of making it almost 300 more miles in this condition were very near zero. Even more important was the reality that enjoying hardly any of these miles further down the trail was even closer to zero.
Jill had decided that she was dropping out and was planning to get a flight out of there as soon as possible to get her foot checked out. I could have pushed on to Skwentna, becoming even more miserable, in hopes of somehow turning pain and weakness into strength. I decided instead to finally accept the writing on the wall and fly out of there with Jill and Riccardo Girardi who was also scratching with a knee injury.
I still can't really believe how many things just didn't seem to work out for me in the lead up to this race. Getting sick on Saturday and then feeling as bad as I did on Sunday just kind of seemed like a joke at the time. A joke that I thought would go away if I ignored it. Not so.
I still have lots of thoughts to process about this race, and more specifically my future with this race. Mostly I feel like I just need to let this race lie dormant for awhile and maybe give it another shot in several years, but the thought of not giving it another shot again next year seems to be a tough pill to swallow right now.
Everything was good through the end of January but then when I got sick and injured my calf in early February I was slightly thrown off in my race preparation and never got fully back on track. The last week before the race I was feeling like my legs were a bit "off", but I still felt like maybe I could pull it all together and make it happen. Then Saturday, one day before the race the sore throat started, followed by headaches, congestion, and overall body fatigue. Sunday morning I felt pretty horrible, but I didn't let it get me down too much cause I knew there was nothing I could do about it? I knew that starting one of the toughest races in the world in the midst of an illness was not at all a good thing, but certainly after a year of preparation I wasn't going to pull the plug without giving it a shot.
I thought maybe, just maybe, I could grind out a tough day or two, sleep a lot at the first two checkpoints, and maybe be able to recover enough to basically "restart" my race feeling healthy by Tuesday or Wednesday. It was pretty much the only option I had.
The 60 miles I was out on the trail were long and hard. I had almost no energy and I just couldn't bring myself to take in enough calories and water. I basically felt too weak to eat as often as is necessary. The temperatures dropped to about -20 during the night and there was a stiff wind most of that time. It was the coldest weather I had ever been out in for that much time. I was able to keep plenty warm though and was able to make it to Yentna Checkpoint (mile 60) in just over 14 hours time. This was almost all walking. I would try slow running to warm up and to try to cover ground a little more quickly but I just didn't have the energy to run for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time. The trail conditions were slow with lots of windblown snow drifts but more than anything I was just not feeling good.
My plan upon arriving at Yentna was to eat as much "real" food as I could and sleep as long as my body needed and then get up and move onto Skwentna (mile 90) and do the same thing there. First I ate and then I was getting ready to sleep when Jill woke up and told me she had fallen through ice on Flathorn Lake and had likely frostbitten her toes. At that point she was still deciding whether she could continue on or not (we both knew she couldn't but that's something that takes some time to sink in). Either way we knew she couldn't do so without getting her wet boot dried out so we decided to try to sleep on it for several hours and deal with it all when we woke up. Neither one of us could sleep. Her toes were finally thawing out, causing horrible pain, and I was so congested that I felt like I was constantly choking and gasping for air. Multiple times in the night I moved to open a window in the room we were in before remembering that it was 20 below zero outside and that it wasn't the window keeping oxygen from getting into my system but rather my congestion.
I guess I got about an hour of actual sleep. I felt even worse when I woke up. The typical body aches that you get when you have a good head cold become pretty severe when you spend 14 hours dragging a 30 pound sled over 60 miles of snow covered trail at 20 below zero. Imagine that. My back and neck were throbbing, my head was pounding, and I felt like I hadn't had anything to drink in days, even though I drank about a gallon of water just in the time that I was "sleeping". On top of this my left knee which had been bothering me a little bit out on the trail had stiffened up quite a bit while I was sleeping and seemed like it would also likely be a concern as I moved forward down the trail. The reality was slowly sinking in that my chances of making it almost 300 more miles in this condition were very near zero. Even more important was the reality that enjoying hardly any of these miles further down the trail was even closer to zero.
Jill had decided that she was dropping out and was planning to get a flight out of there as soon as possible to get her foot checked out. I could have pushed on to Skwentna, becoming even more miserable, in hopes of somehow turning pain and weakness into strength. I decided instead to finally accept the writing on the wall and fly out of there with Jill and Riccardo Girardi who was also scratching with a knee injury.
I still can't really believe how many things just didn't seem to work out for me in the lead up to this race. Getting sick on Saturday and then feeling as bad as I did on Sunday just kind of seemed like a joke at the time. A joke that I thought would go away if I ignored it. Not so.
I still have lots of thoughts to process about this race, and more specifically my future with this race. Mostly I feel like I just need to let this race lie dormant for awhile and maybe give it another shot in several years, but the thought of not giving it another shot again next year seems to be a tough pill to swallow right now.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
ITI Links
For those of you interested in following along over the next week or so here are some various links that will enhance the "viewing" experience:
My SPOT satellite tracker shared page
Iditarod Invitational Home Page
Iditarod Invitational "latest news" page
Iditarod Invitational Leaderboard
Iditarod Invitational "Message board"
Recent ADN article about race (very much worth your time)
Recent NY Times article about race
Jill's blog which should be updated throughout the race by Scott Morris.
Evan Hone's blog who might be doing some race updates and interjecting some of his often tongue in cheek commentary over the next several days.
My SPOT satellite tracker shared page
Iditarod Invitational Home Page
Iditarod Invitational "latest news" page
Iditarod Invitational Leaderboard
Iditarod Invitational "Message board"
Recent ADN article about race (very much worth your time)
Recent NY Times article about race
Jill's blog which should be updated throughout the race by Scott Morris.
Evan Hone's blog who might be doing some race updates and interjecting some of his often tongue in cheek commentary over the next several days.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Finally
My past year of racing has had many highlights but more or less all of the training and racing that I have done since I dropped out of the Iditarod Invitational last year has been with an eye toward being ready to tackle this race again this year. It's a weird feeling to have this race finally come back around. I'd like to say that with another full year to prepare that I'm much more ready for it then I was last year, but the reality is that I'm a serious procrastinator and I'm pretty much in the same place right now as I was one year ago. What I have this time around though is a better understanding of just how much this race has to do with mental strength and how little it has to do with physical strength (provided that you have the basic physical fitness required for a race like this). I have several doubts about whether or not I'm really ready for this race, but more and more over the past couple days I'm finding a higher level of optimism and excitement about giving this a try once again. More than anything though I'm just really excited to be out there on the trail living the simple life of just moving forward one step at a time whenever possible.
Thanks everyone for the comments and emails of support.
I'll put up a post tomorrow, or Sunday morning, with all the relevant links for those interested in following along with my "race".
Thanks everyone for the comments and emails of support.
I'll put up a post tomorrow, or Sunday morning, with all the relevant links for those interested in following along with my "race".
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
This Aint Gonna Be Easy
After feeling pretty crappy on back to back 20 mile runs over the weekend I've decided to take my last week before the race easy and try to be very rested up by the race start. I didn't run at all yesterday and then did just 30 minutes on the treadmill at the gym today. Tomorrow I'm going to do a 60-90 minute hilly trail (snow) run in the morning and then I'll probably do 10 or so flat miles Thursday morning before I fly up to Anchorage. After that I'll take Friday and Saturday completely off and then the race starts at 2:00 pm Sunday.
I would have loved to go into this race feeling more confident about everything than what I am. I generally feel pretty good about my gear and logistical preparation, but physically I just can't find the confidence that I would like to have. Running on the treadmill tonight I just didn't really feel like a runner. I felt like I had plenty of energy but I felt like I was running for the first time in months, even though I've run almost 600 miles so far this year. I'm concerned that I have something "off" in my right leg. I really can't pinpoint specific discomfort anywhere but I felt kind of like my entire right leg from the knee down is just kind of "off". It might be all in my mind and/or it might all just feel fine with a nice very mellow taper week this week. At any rate this has me doubting, among other things, my shoes (can't I ever run a race where I actually know what shoes I'm going to wear before the day of the race?), my training, and my chances of really doing this thing.
More than anything I'm just keeping in mind that there's really nothing I can do about it at this point. I'm going to start my race on Sunday with every intention of pushing on for however long it takes to get to McGrath. I think I went into this race last year with too much confidence, perhaps going into it this year with very low confidence will be just the thing I need.
I would have loved to go into this race feeling more confident about everything than what I am. I generally feel pretty good about my gear and logistical preparation, but physically I just can't find the confidence that I would like to have. Running on the treadmill tonight I just didn't really feel like a runner. I felt like I had plenty of energy but I felt like I was running for the first time in months, even though I've run almost 600 miles so far this year. I'm concerned that I have something "off" in my right leg. I really can't pinpoint specific discomfort anywhere but I felt kind of like my entire right leg from the knee down is just kind of "off". It might be all in my mind and/or it might all just feel fine with a nice very mellow taper week this week. At any rate this has me doubting, among other things, my shoes (can't I ever run a race where I actually know what shoes I'm going to wear before the day of the race?), my training, and my chances of really doing this thing.
More than anything I'm just keeping in mind that there's really nothing I can do about it at this point. I'm going to start my race on Sunday with every intention of pushing on for however long it takes to get to McGrath. I think I went into this race last year with too much confidence, perhaps going into it this year with very low confidence will be just the thing I need.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Feeling Bad, A Good Thing?
How I'm feeling in my training runs at a particular time has always been an ebb and flow. I think of my running much like the weather. There are trends and patterns, but a specific period of time can always sway quite a ways in either direction from the "normal." I ran a 20 miler today and a 20 miler yesterday and felt pretty crappy on both of them. I don't however feel like I'm in a longer term trend or pattern of not feeling good. Up until yesterday I've generally felt steadily stronger and in better shape ever since recovering from my minor calf strain almost 3 weeks ago. I see little reason to get over concerned about how I've felt the past couple days. Instead I'm going to take the zen like approach that this is actually a good thing because if I have swung in the direction of not feeling very good the past couple days I should be swinging back the other way just in time for the start of the ITI one week from tomorrow. This is my theory and I'm sticking to it. Plus it's not like I have any time to do anything about it at this point.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Ghost Trails - An Insider's Thoughts
I suspect that just about everyone who reads this blog is also a reader of my girlfriend Jill's blog. Her blog has everything that mine doesn't: Great photos, consistent posts (at least 4 a week most weeks), and great writing. For these reasons she gets about 5 times as many hits on her blog as I do here on mine. Basically she's a blog celebrity. More than once I've had people in the lower 48 respond to me when I tell them that I'm from Alaska with, "do you know that girl Jill who rides her bike all the time?"
So by now I would also suspect that many of you have read Ghost Trails, the book that Jill self published last fall.
Ghost Trails is the story of Jill's 2008 Iditarod Trail Invitational race in which she competed in the bike division. More importantly though it's a story of personal development. A look at how someone, who just 6 years ago didn't even know how to ride a bike, become someone in the midst of competing in one of the toughest bike races in the world.
My first response when I read the book was, "gee, it kind of makes me look like an ass-hole." And I'm certain to many random readers who don't know Jill or I personally (see comments on this book review) this is a common assumption when reading the book. Jill jumps back and forth between chapters about the race last year to chapters about events in her life as a young adult that molded her into the person who was then out in the Alaska Interior in the dead of winter trying to "survive" her way along the Iditarod trail to Mcgrath. Almost all of the non race chapters included stories about various camping, biking, hiking, rafting, and road trips Jill and I had been on together, often with several other friends, between 2000 and 2005. Very quickly the reader can notice a trend in these chapters of Jill always being left behind by me to fend for herself in some dangerous situation. This is what bothered me when I first read the book. I thought, "gosh, was I really always leaving her behind?" Of course I wasn't or we would not still be together more than 8 years later. After thinking about it more it made perfect sense to me from the standpoint of Jill writing a story about her development as an individual and not our development as a couple. When she was out in the middle of The Iditarod Trail last winter it wasn't the 3,000 miles that we rode bikes across the country in 2003 in which we were no more than a few bike lengths apart that helped her become a strong enough individual to tackle that race, but rather the 100 or 200 miles on that trip in which we were separated and dealing with our own individual struggles. The 4 days of flat water leading up to Cataract Canyon in which I taught her everything I knew (although she probably only paid attention to half of it) about river safety so that she would be prepared when we got to the rapids probably didn't help her become who she is today as much as the first two seconds did after I flipped the boat I was rowing about 20 minutes into the whitewater. You get the point. This story is about her and not about us. It just so happens that I tend to have been the one there through most of these "personal development adventures" that she points to in this book. I'd be the first to admit that Jill and I have been on dozens of potentially dangerous trips together that were my idea, but, as the book makes quite clear, without these experiences she would not have been out there on the Iditarod Trail last winter tackling something with more potential for danger than anything her or I had ever done.
If you haven't yet read the book and you're interested in doing so you can get it in three places:
-directly from her
-directly from the printing company
-on amazon.com
So by now I would also suspect that many of you have read Ghost Trails, the book that Jill self published last fall.
Ghost Trails is the story of Jill's 2008 Iditarod Trail Invitational race in which she competed in the bike division. More importantly though it's a story of personal development. A look at how someone, who just 6 years ago didn't even know how to ride a bike, become someone in the midst of competing in one of the toughest bike races in the world.
My first response when I read the book was, "gee, it kind of makes me look like an ass-hole." And I'm certain to many random readers who don't know Jill or I personally (see comments on this book review) this is a common assumption when reading the book. Jill jumps back and forth between chapters about the race last year to chapters about events in her life as a young adult that molded her into the person who was then out in the Alaska Interior in the dead of winter trying to "survive" her way along the Iditarod trail to Mcgrath. Almost all of the non race chapters included stories about various camping, biking, hiking, rafting, and road trips Jill and I had been on together, often with several other friends, between 2000 and 2005. Very quickly the reader can notice a trend in these chapters of Jill always being left behind by me to fend for herself in some dangerous situation. This is what bothered me when I first read the book. I thought, "gosh, was I really always leaving her behind?" Of course I wasn't or we would not still be together more than 8 years later. After thinking about it more it made perfect sense to me from the standpoint of Jill writing a story about her development as an individual and not our development as a couple. When she was out in the middle of The Iditarod Trail last winter it wasn't the 3,000 miles that we rode bikes across the country in 2003 in which we were no more than a few bike lengths apart that helped her become a strong enough individual to tackle that race, but rather the 100 or 200 miles on that trip in which we were separated and dealing with our own individual struggles. The 4 days of flat water leading up to Cataract Canyon in which I taught her everything I knew (although she probably only paid attention to half of it) about river safety so that she would be prepared when we got to the rapids probably didn't help her become who she is today as much as the first two seconds did after I flipped the boat I was rowing about 20 minutes into the whitewater. You get the point. This story is about her and not about us. It just so happens that I tend to have been the one there through most of these "personal development adventures" that she points to in this book. I'd be the first to admit that Jill and I have been on dozens of potentially dangerous trips together that were my idea, but, as the book makes quite clear, without these experiences she would not have been out there on the Iditarod Trail last winter tackling something with more potential for danger than anything her or I had ever done.
If you haven't yet read the book and you're interested in doing so you can get it in three places:
-directly from her
-directly from the printing company
-on amazon.com
Monday, February 16, 2009
Doubt
With 13 more days until the start of the Iditarod Invitational I feel like I'm pretty much as ready as I'm going to get. I just got my new Mountain Hardwear Ghost -40 sleeping bag in the mail today. I've got a few other last minute minor gear upgrades I'm planning to make and I'll certainly put in several more good days of training between now and March 1st, but the race could start tomorrow afternoon and I'd more or less be ready to go. I still have lots of doubts about various things. I have no idea what caused my ankle and back of knee pain that forced me to drop out of the race last year so I have no way of knowing for sure that the same thing won't happen again. I've never been out for any extended period of time in weather colder than 20 below zero so I really don't know for certain that the gear I have chosen will get the job done if the temperatures dip to 30 or 40 below. I feel confident in my physical strength and in my gear, but until I get out there and push beyond my current limits I have at least some level of doubt. These doubts if kept at their current level are, I think, a good thing. The key though is to try to find a way to not let these doubts create too much anxiety between now and the start of the race.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Susitna 100 Preview
Race Update (6pm on Sunday):
The top three foot finishers are in. Dave Johnston took the victory in 27 hours 25 minutes. Rorik Peterson was about an hour back and Laura McDonough was third overall and the women's winner once again in just over 31 hours (has any other women ever won this race besides Laura?). Looks like Evan dropped out at about mile 44 and Julie and Eric did not start.
As the race unfolded yesterday I began to notice that the skiers were generally moving faster than the bikers. This is a very bad sign for the runners. Soft snow conditions slow bikers down the most and skiers down the least so that comparison is where you really can tell what the trail is like out there. My hunch was confirmed a couple hours ago when I got an email from Dave telling me that he pretty much ran in at least a few inches of soft, wet, punchy snow for the entire race! The trails that this race are on can be set up super hard and fast but if they're not it can be a serious slog out there. Sounds like this was definitely a slog year, which makes Dave's 27 hours VERY IMPRESSIVE. Had it been a hard smooth surface like it was for me when I set the Susitna course record two years ago, perhaps Dave would now have that course record. For comparison, Laura, who seems to be about as steady and consistent as they come, ran exactly 6 hours faster two years ago than she did this year. Take 6 hours off Dave's time and he's more than 15 minutes faster than the 21:43 I ran. You the man Dave.
Tomorrow is the Susitna 100 / Little Su 50k.
I was planning to run the 50k as a training run for The Iditarod Invitational but once a stomach bug and a calf injury delayed my training by almost 10 days a couple weeks ago I decided that it would be smarter to use all of my time before March 1st preparing (mentally, physically, and logistically) for my focus race and not waste time on another "training race" which I would probably end up running harder than planned like I almost always do.
The Susitna 100 is shaping up to be a good race this year. The bike division is always competitive and hard fought, but in the past there have been some years where the foot division didn't have very many strong runners at the front of the pack. I don't think this will be one of those years. Here's the way I see it playing out:
Rorik Peterson (last year's winner and 4th place in a strong field the year before last) has to be the favorite. I put him at 3-1 odds.
Julie Udchachon has the most speed of anyone in the field but rumor has it she wasn't at the "mandatory" pre-race meeting last night. If she's in the race I'd list her at 5-1
Dave Johnston I think will be very hungry and motivated for this one after pulling out of HURT. I put him at 6-1
Evan Hone I would normally put with (or ahead) of Dave but he won't likely be as hungry for this one as he wasn't even planning to run it until a few days ago. Lucky for him Dave talked him into it. He weighs in at 7-1
Laura McDonough has won this race more than anyone. If conditions get bad and it turns in to a 30+ hour affair she could out last them all and add yet another susitna win to her resume. I put her at 10-1
Eric Johnson won the Arrowhead 135 last month and is running The Iditarod Invitational. I'm sure this is more of a training run for him and he doesn't have the kind of speed that most of the others ahead of him have, but this is a race that doesn't have a whole lot to do with speed. If the conditions turn horrible it could become a battle between Laura and Eric to see who can endure the longest. I put him at 12-1
I'm sure there are others on the roster who will battle near the front of the pack as well it'll be fun to see how it plays out.
The top three foot finishers are in. Dave Johnston took the victory in 27 hours 25 minutes. Rorik Peterson was about an hour back and Laura McDonough was third overall and the women's winner once again in just over 31 hours (has any other women ever won this race besides Laura?). Looks like Evan dropped out at about mile 44 and Julie and Eric did not start.
As the race unfolded yesterday I began to notice that the skiers were generally moving faster than the bikers. This is a very bad sign for the runners. Soft snow conditions slow bikers down the most and skiers down the least so that comparison is where you really can tell what the trail is like out there. My hunch was confirmed a couple hours ago when I got an email from Dave telling me that he pretty much ran in at least a few inches of soft, wet, punchy snow for the entire race! The trails that this race are on can be set up super hard and fast but if they're not it can be a serious slog out there. Sounds like this was definitely a slog year, which makes Dave's 27 hours VERY IMPRESSIVE. Had it been a hard smooth surface like it was for me when I set the Susitna course record two years ago, perhaps Dave would now have that course record. For comparison, Laura, who seems to be about as steady and consistent as they come, ran exactly 6 hours faster two years ago than she did this year. Take 6 hours off Dave's time and he's more than 15 minutes faster than the 21:43 I ran. You the man Dave.
Tomorrow is the Susitna 100 / Little Su 50k.
I was planning to run the 50k as a training run for The Iditarod Invitational but once a stomach bug and a calf injury delayed my training by almost 10 days a couple weeks ago I decided that it would be smarter to use all of my time before March 1st preparing (mentally, physically, and logistically) for my focus race and not waste time on another "training race" which I would probably end up running harder than planned like I almost always do.
The Susitna 100 is shaping up to be a good race this year. The bike division is always competitive and hard fought, but in the past there have been some years where the foot division didn't have very many strong runners at the front of the pack. I don't think this will be one of those years. Here's the way I see it playing out:
Rorik Peterson (last year's winner and 4th place in a strong field the year before last) has to be the favorite. I put him at 3-1 odds.
Julie Udchachon has the most speed of anyone in the field but rumor has it she wasn't at the "mandatory" pre-race meeting last night. If she's in the race I'd list her at 5-1
Dave Johnston I think will be very hungry and motivated for this one after pulling out of HURT. I put him at 6-1
Evan Hone I would normally put with (or ahead) of Dave but he won't likely be as hungry for this one as he wasn't even planning to run it until a few days ago. Lucky for him Dave talked him into it. He weighs in at 7-1
Laura McDonough has won this race more than anyone. If conditions get bad and it turns in to a 30+ hour affair she could out last them all and add yet another susitna win to her resume. I put her at 10-1
Eric Johnson won the Arrowhead 135 last month and is running The Iditarod Invitational. I'm sure this is more of a training run for him and he doesn't have the kind of speed that most of the others ahead of him have, but this is a race that doesn't have a whole lot to do with speed. If the conditions turn horrible it could become a battle between Laura and Eric to see who can endure the longest. I put him at 12-1
I'm sure there are others on the roster who will battle near the front of the pack as well it'll be fun to see how it plays out.
Monday, February 9, 2009
ITI FAQ's
With The Iditarod Trail Invitational now less than 3 weeks away I thought I would answer some of the most common questions I get when I talk to people about this race.
-How many miles will you do each day during the race?
A typical day will probably be somewhere between 40-75 miles, but I'm sure there will be some atypical days that will fall outside of that range - it all depends on trail and weather conditions (as well of course as my physical condition).
-How much do you sleep?
My hope will be to get about 4-7 hours of sleep per 24 hours. Most racers try to go with less sleep than this but I prefer to move faster than most when I'm moving and then take a bit more time to sleep.
-How cold will it be?
I wish I knew. The weather in interior Alaska has such a huge potential range. We could easily see temperatures as low as 40 below zero, but we could also see temperatures as warm as 40 above. An average day would likely be around 10 degrees during the day and down to about 20 below at night, but the odds of it being average for all of the 5+ days that I'm out there are pretty much zero.
-How do you carry your gear?
Drag it on a pulk (sled) behind me. See this post from last winter for a detailed description of my sled.
-What do you wear on your feet?
Here's a photo to best answer this one:
-How many miles will you do each day during the race?
A typical day will probably be somewhere between 40-75 miles, but I'm sure there will be some atypical days that will fall outside of that range - it all depends on trail and weather conditions (as well of course as my physical condition).
-How much do you sleep?
My hope will be to get about 4-7 hours of sleep per 24 hours. Most racers try to go with less sleep than this but I prefer to move faster than most when I'm moving and then take a bit more time to sleep.
-How cold will it be?
I wish I knew. The weather in interior Alaska has such a huge potential range. We could easily see temperatures as low as 40 below zero, but we could also see temperatures as warm as 40 above. An average day would likely be around 10 degrees during the day and down to about 20 below at night, but the odds of it being average for all of the 5+ days that I'm out there are pretty much zero.
-How do you carry your gear?
Drag it on a pulk (sled) behind me. See this post from last winter for a detailed description of my sled.
-What do you wear on your feet?
Here's a photo to best answer this one:
Starting from the inside out: A liner sock; a standard synthetic hiking sock; neoprene socks; Montrail Wildwood TR shoes 1 size larger than normal to accomodate the extra socks; NEOS overboots; snowshoes; commericial strength trash bags (not pictured) used when encountering open water or overflow deeper than the NEOS. I also have a pair of insulated vapor barrier socks on order that I will likely use. Under the most extreme conditions I could actually be wearing all of these things at once, but if it's warmer than about 10 below and there isn't new snow I will only be wearing the first two pair of socks and the shoes. I may or may not actually bring the snowshoes with me at all. I'll probably make that decision on the trail conditions and weather forecasts the day before the race.
-Why are you doing this race?
I haven't come up with an answer for this one yet.
Any other questions?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
One More Saturday Night
Sticking with my now 2 week old tradition here goes another Saturday evening post with a bunch of unrelated random thoughts:
First an update on my calf. I've been able to run every day since Monday. I still had a little bit of pain through Wednesday but I've now done about 35 miles in the last 3 days with no pain at all. I'm pretty confident that won't be bothering me anymore. I'm planning to do about 20 miles tomorrow and then try to get in about 90-110 miles total this coming week. If the calf feels fine through that then all should be good.
I've got another pair of shoes that I'm never going to use so I want to give them away like I've done with a couple other pairs in the past several months. They are Inov8 Mudroc 290. I have worn them on exactly 2 runs so they are pretty much in new condition. They are just too narrow for my foot. They are a size 10.5 but I think they run about a half size small so they really fit more like a 10. And as I said they are quite narrow.
I'm going to do this one a bit different though. Rather than just giving them to the first person to email me for the cost of shipping I'm going to raffle these ones off instead. For $5 you'll get a chance at the shoes. Larger amounts in multiples of $5 will give you one more chance to win per $5 increment. The La Sportivas I gave away last month seemed to generate about a dozen or so people interested in them. This time around I would suspect no more than that so your odds will be pretty decent of winning them, especially if you send me a couple hundred bucks :) Doing it this way will give someone the chance to have "free" shoes for half of the actual shipping cost and I might even be able to recoup a good portion of the money I spent on them in the first place. Click here to go to a paypal page where you can get in the raffle. I'll do the drawing next Saturday (Feb. 14th) evening.
New Subject. What's wrong with this picture? (I call it, "PR gone wrong"):
Moving On. The weather here has been horrible. It has either been raining or snowing for about two weeks straight and today a huge avalanche buried the road directly on the other side of the channel from our house. Those who live out that road (which is a dead end road) are pretty much stuck at home for however long it takes to clear the snow. Sucks really bad for those who live out that road but were in town when it happens. Not being able to leave your house for a couple days is bad enough, but not being able to go to your house for a couple days would be much worse.
This weekend is the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race. I can't find any live updates but hopefully sometime tomorrow some results will start to be available. Andy Jones-Wilkins and Jamie Donaldson have great shots at being the male and female winners. Check out their blogs (linked in my sidebar) in the next few days to read about their races.
Several years ago I had a VW Jetta that I drove until it had 313,000 miles on it. I now have a Honda Civic that has 313,000 miles on it. Funny thing is that I don't think it's going to make it to 314,000. It pretty much has no brakes now and I really don't plan to put any money into such an old car when I don't even drive more than once or twice a week anyway. When I do need a car for something I can easily use jill's car or ride the bus. I think I'll put my car in the paper tomorrow for $50... or maybe I could raffle it off, although it's not worth as much as the shoes so I might not get any takers on the $5 raffle ticket.
That's all. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.
First an update on my calf. I've been able to run every day since Monday. I still had a little bit of pain through Wednesday but I've now done about 35 miles in the last 3 days with no pain at all. I'm pretty confident that won't be bothering me anymore. I'm planning to do about 20 miles tomorrow and then try to get in about 90-110 miles total this coming week. If the calf feels fine through that then all should be good.
I've got another pair of shoes that I'm never going to use so I want to give them away like I've done with a couple other pairs in the past several months. They are Inov8 Mudroc 290. I have worn them on exactly 2 runs so they are pretty much in new condition. They are just too narrow for my foot. They are a size 10.5 but I think they run about a half size small so they really fit more like a 10. And as I said they are quite narrow.
I'm going to do this one a bit different though. Rather than just giving them to the first person to email me for the cost of shipping I'm going to raffle these ones off instead. For $5 you'll get a chance at the shoes. Larger amounts in multiples of $5 will give you one more chance to win per $5 increment. The La Sportivas I gave away last month seemed to generate about a dozen or so people interested in them. This time around I would suspect no more than that so your odds will be pretty decent of winning them, especially if you send me a couple hundred bucks :) Doing it this way will give someone the chance to have "free" shoes for half of the actual shipping cost and I might even be able to recoup a good portion of the money I spent on them in the first place. Click here to go to a paypal page where you can get in the raffle. I'll do the drawing next Saturday (Feb. 14th) evening.
New Subject. What's wrong with this picture? (I call it, "PR gone wrong"):
Moving On. The weather here has been horrible. It has either been raining or snowing for about two weeks straight and today a huge avalanche buried the road directly on the other side of the channel from our house. Those who live out that road (which is a dead end road) are pretty much stuck at home for however long it takes to clear the snow. Sucks really bad for those who live out that road but were in town when it happens. Not being able to leave your house for a couple days is bad enough, but not being able to go to your house for a couple days would be much worse.
This weekend is the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race. I can't find any live updates but hopefully sometime tomorrow some results will start to be available. Andy Jones-Wilkins and Jamie Donaldson have great shots at being the male and female winners. Check out their blogs (linked in my sidebar) in the next few days to read about their races.
Several years ago I had a VW Jetta that I drove until it had 313,000 miles on it. I now have a Honda Civic that has 313,000 miles on it. Funny thing is that I don't think it's going to make it to 314,000. It pretty much has no brakes now and I really don't plan to put any money into such an old car when I don't even drive more than once or twice a week anyway. When I do need a car for something I can easily use jill's car or ride the bus. I think I'll put my car in the paper tomorrow for $50... or maybe I could raffle it off, although it's not worth as much as the shoes so I might not get any takers on the $5 raffle ticket.
That's all. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
It Must Be A New Week
After a week to forget today was a much better day. As many of you pointed out in comments I am #14 on The Hardrock wait list. That's not as good as being drawn into the race but I'd have to think that being at #14 on the list I will have the opportunity to do the race if I'm willing to keep that open as an option for a few months. That's good news. I'm still not sure if I really want to try to fit Hardrock in to my race schedule this summer and this essentially gives me some time to decide and see how other things fall into place - namely whether I qualify for Western States or not. I've been toying with the idea of running both Western States and Hardrock (provided that I actually get myself into both of them), but I've still got to decide whether that's really a logical option or not.
The other positive part of my day today was that my calf is feeling almost 100% healed. I skied about 75 minutes this morning and felt no pain at all. Then tonight I went to the gym and lifted weights, rode the bike, and ran one slow mile on the treadmill. I could feel a bit of pain while I was running but this time, unlike the last time I tried running on Friday, it loosened up and felt better as I kept going. I saw no reason to push it beyond just one slow easy mile, but by the end of that mile it felt very loose and almost entirely pain free. I should take one more day off from running and try getting back at it on Tuesday but we'll see if I can actually keep myself from giving a few miles a try tomorrow morning.
The other positive part of my day today was that my calf is feeling almost 100% healed. I skied about 75 minutes this morning and felt no pain at all. Then tonight I went to the gym and lifted weights, rode the bike, and ran one slow mile on the treadmill. I could feel a bit of pain while I was running but this time, unlike the last time I tried running on Friday, it loosened up and felt better as I kept going. I saw no reason to push it beyond just one slow easy mile, but by the end of that mile it felt very loose and almost entirely pain free. I should take one more day off from running and try getting back at it on Tuesday but we'll see if I can actually keep myself from giving a few miles a try tomorrow morning.
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