Post Transvulcania

Back in the States now after my trip to the Canary Islands for Transvulcania. Certainly my race didn't go as well as I had hoped for. I started out feeling pretty good on the climb up from sea level to over 6,000 ft. In all we did about 7,000 ft. of ascent in the first 12 miles, but when things levelled out and became a lot more runable I began to feel really slow. I basically felt like I was running in several inches of mud, when in reality the trail was quite smooth and runnable. The further I went, the worse it got. Gradually my stomach also started to be less than ideal. It wasn't that I was sick, but I just wasn't processing calories as fast as I knew I needed to. After a couple hours of fading gradually back into the field (was probably running in about 15th place at this point) I linked up with Seb Chagneau who was having very similar struggles. Seb and I ran together for another 90 minutes, but when we reached the aid station at about mile 35 (the high point of the course) we both decided to call it a day. From there it was an 8,000 ft descent back down to sea level before another thousand foot climb up to the finish. Certainly I could have finished, but my body was working so inefficiently most of the day that I was completely worked over at 35 miles. I would have almost certainly been walking most of that descent and struggling just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. In some cases I am happy to push myself to that point, but this race wasn't one of those cases. I wanted to run fast in this race, but I was primarily approaching it as a training run, and continuing on any further than I did would have been a training setback rather than a benefit.

I have now had 3 or 4 races like this in the past year. Races in which I thought I was in pretty good shape and then when I tried to run fast (i.e. race) I felt slow and weak. It's not a fun place to be. No one ever wants to be in a position where they feel like they can't run anywhere near as fast as they could 12 or 18 months previous. More and more I have begun to feel this in my training also. I seem to have plenty of energy and endurance, but my muscles just seem to be weak, slow, and slow to recover. I had some bloodwork done in January and discovered that my iron was quite low, but after 4 months of fairly aggressive iron supplementation my body doesn't seem to have responded. I'll get my iron levels checked again soon to be certain that I'm absorbing some of the iron I'm taking.

My best guess about all of this is that I have been living too high since moving to Colorado. Not so much that i have been living too high, but that I have been training too high. I live at 8,600 ft. and virtually all the training I do is up from there. My body has felt somewhat flat ever since moving to Colorado and over time it has become steadily worse. What I think has happened is that I have been running so high all the time that I consistently train quite a bit slower than I would if I were down lower. Over the short term this isn't a big deal, and can even be a benefit due to the improvement in heart/lungs from high altitude. Over the long term though, I think my muscles have weakened from always running slower. There is also the possibility that my appetite has been suppressed enough due to the altitude that my body has been forced on occasion to use my muscle protein for fuel without me even feeling unusually hungry. The result over time is that my muscles are essential just a fraction of what they once were. The crazy thing is that I can even see it and feel it in my legs. The muscles in my quads are soft, small, feel very weak when I use them, and just don't seem to have the capacity to run hard at all.

The good thing is that I am going to Alaska and will be living/training below 5,000 ft. for most of the summer. Also, when I return to Colorado in August I am going to be moving down from 8,600 ft to about 5,400 ft. If my conditioning over the past 21 months has been negatively effected by living so high, then my upcoming living situation should naturally work things out in time.

Going to Alaska always feels very restorative to me, but this time around it might be a lot more tangible of a restoration than ever before. Not sure how long the whole process will take to rebuild the muscle that I have depleted over the past 21 months, but it feels good to know that the process has now begun.

Transvulcania

It's been a hectic few weeks getting packed up to move out of my place in Colorado and back to Alaska for the summer. That's all finally done with and now I'm off tomorrow morning for the Canary Islands to race the Transvulcania 50 miler. I have had just enough time to get back into good enough shape to go give a hard effort. I'd feel a lot more confident if I had 2 or 3 more weeks of solid training behind me, but I'll make the best of what I have. No matter how it plays out it should be really fun to go to a tropical island and race against many of the best trail runners in the world. In reality I'm approaching this as nothing more than a "training race" for Hardrock, but I've run plenty of really good training races in the past so, who knows, maybe I can pop a good one on Saturday. It's certainly going to take one of the best races of my life to be anywhere near the front of the pack in this one.

June Camp

Wanted to post a quick Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camp update.

I had reported a few months ago that the June 8th-14th session was full, but since then I decided to add a 4th session in August. I have recently had a few people switch from the June session to the August session so I now have 2 spaces open in this June session that I was turning people away from most of the winter. I don't think there is a bad time for running in Juneau in the summer, but if there is a best time it might just be mid June. The days are longest this time of year, and the weather tends to be really nice. If you've got this camp in the back of your mind, but not totally certain you want to go for it, I highly recommend grabbing one of these remaining spaces in the June session. There's a reason why this session was the first to fill up in the fall, and now  there are two spaces waiting for a couple lucky folks. Check out the camp website for more info:  http://www.akultracamp.blogspot.com/

The Slow Return To Shape

Not once since I began trail racing in 2006 have I taken as much time off, and been as out of shape as I was this winter. I know it sounds crazy to say that I took the winter off as I was preparing for and "running" the Iditarod Invitational, but in terms of having my body in shape to run, and run hard, this is the lowest point I have gone to in 6 years.

I have now been back at consistent running for just over 3 weeks and I'd be lying if I said the process of getting back in shape hasn't been very gradual. Any other times in the past few years that I've taken time "off" it's been less than a month and I could pretty much start back up and be back in the swing of things in two weeks or less. This time though, I didn't do any typical running for about 3 full months. All of the running that I did in preparation for the ITI was in deep snow, mostly with snowshoes, and mostly hiking. Even during the 350 mile race I probably only ran 80 miles. And so now, 3 weeks into everyday running, I am beginning to feel a little bit back in shape, but I'm also aware that I have a long ways to go.

This past Friday, Joe and I decided to tag South Arapahoe Peak. Typically, even when I'm "out of shape", I can bust out a run like this, and feel fine as long as I don't push it too hard. Not this time though. The combination of the altitude (we topped out over 13,000 ft.) and the vertical gain (a bit over 5k) had me completely wiped out from this sub 4 hour outing. I felt like I had been racing for 4 hours (even though our pace was VERY SLOW), and several muscles in my legs were sore for a couple days after. A nice little reminder that I am still very much out of shape. 

I'm still hoping to be in decent shape by May 12th to put in a good effort at the Transvulcania 50, but certainly Hardrock is the ultimate goal for the next several months. I'm very glad that I still have almost 3 full months before that beast. In some ways it even feels kind of nice to be where I'm at right now, and have so far to go to be where I want to be. Not that I would need any more motivation than simply preparing for Hardrock, but knowing that I have so far to go, somehow makes the whole process feel more exciting, and more likely to be a positive experience. 

Overall my hope/plan is to just keep building and feel a little stronger each week. I've done that for the past 3 weeks, and if I can continue to do that for the next 12 then I think I might just be where I want to be by July 13th. 

Irunfar Column

Many of you are probably aware that I've begun writing a column on Irunfar. My first piece was published on March 28th and I will have a bi-weekly column that will be published every other Wednesday. Watch for the next one on April 11th. Also, for those of you that are interested, everyone who comments on the article from March 28th will have a chance to win a huge lot of great running gear from Montrail, Mountain Hardwear, Clif Bar, Ryders, Drymax, and Udo's Oil. Check out that column for all the info.

I intend to continue publishing regularly on this blog, with more or less the same style I have for the past few years. I'm even hoping that this bi-weekly writing assignment will increase the creative thoughts running through my mind, such that I may even end up writing more stuff here as a result. 

At any rate, thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned for more.

A Home In The Desert

I've spent the last 10 days in Southern Utah with Corle and Elle. Nothing like some desert sun to get my mind and body back into the swing of everyday running after 3 full weeks off in the wake of the ITI. We got snowed on the last day of our trip, but otherwise it was perfect weather everyday.

I've now run 9 of the last 10 days and am beginning to feel really good (although I haven't done anything over 10 miles yet - I intend to increase the mileage in this next week). Despite running a 350 mile race just over a month ago, I really feel like I took most of the past 4 months off. I've got a freshness in my body that I haven't had in a long time.

Also, if you've never taken a small child on their first backpacking trip you are missing out on one of the great pleasures in life.

Here are some photos from our travels to Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, Escalante, The Needles, and many places in between:

A Couple Fun Links

Back in Colorado after an Awesome weekend up in Bellingham at the Chuckanut 50k. Congrats to Adam Campbell and Ellie Greenwood for their wins up there in some pretty crappy conditions. It's hard to think of two nicer and more deserving people in the sport, even if they are Canadian :-) Also a huge congratulations to everyone who ran on Saturday. I've never seen so many people come across a finish line with blood on their legs, but just about everyone seemed to be in a great mood. It was really cool to see so many friends out doing what they love.

Wanted to post a couple quick links to some new things floating around the internet since last week:

http://www.skyrunning.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146:transvulcania-running-legends-announced&catid=37:article-slider-content&Itemid=134

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaKdd4Y6RZY

Big News For Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camps

Due to high demand, and to some changes in some of my other plans for this Summer, I have decided to add a 4th session to the Alaska Mountain Ultrarunning Camps this Summer! The new session will take place on August 4-9th, and enrollment is currently open for this session. This will be a 4 day / 5 night session so the cost will be $200 less than the June and July sessions which are 5 day / 6 night. Other than this, everything will be the same as the other Summer sessions. Click here for all the info.

Also, it is worth mentioning that a few folks are opting to transfer from the other sessions into this new session. Most of these spaces in the other sessions are being filled by wait listed applicants, but after the dust settles in the next few days there are likely to be a few unexpected spaces available in the other sessions as well. The good news here is that for a very short time, there may be a small amount of space available in each of the 4 sessions. I don't expect this to last long at all though, so if you are interested I highly recommend signing up ASAP as I expect I will be back to wait listing entrants very soon.

One Last ITI Post

I promise this will be my last Iditarod Invitational related post (at least until next year), but I have a few more ITI related loose ends to mention:

First of all here are links to a couple good articles about the race:

• Juneau Empire article
• Capital City Weekly article

And then one last thing I want to include is a HUGE rave about Drymax socks. I've been using these socks for over a year now, and you've heard me rave about them before, but this time they shocked me yet again. I ran pretty much all day for a full week, almost entirely in one pair of Drymax socks, and I didn't get a single blister! I didn't even change my socks once for the last 5 days of the race! I know I've said this on this blog already, but if you haven't yet tried Drymax socks, you're missing out on BY FAR the best running socks money can buy.

Heading up to Chuckanut this weekend to hangout, help with the race, and see lots of friends - old and new. Should be a really exciting race and a great weekend among so many great people. Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

ITI Gear List: Imagine Dragging All This Stuff 350 Miles!

First I want to mention that my full race report has been published over on iRunFar. It's long, so make sure you have 15 or 20 minutes before you try to tackle it. You can find it here.

Also, as mentioned in my previous post, I put some videos from the race over on YouTube. Find those here. 

Lastly, I've had a lot of people inquire about what exactly one takes with them to make it through the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Here's my complete list of gear with some notes about the handful of things that I would leave home next time, and the things which I found most necessary/effective. This was all carried on a "sled" which consisted of a Mountain Hardwear 60 liter (prototype) pack that was strapped to a pair of youth cross country skis with a light wooden frame on top of them to give the pack about 5" of clearance over the ground. The "sled" was pulled with a set of aluminum ski poles, attached to the pack on one end, and to a standard backpack harness on the other.

Food:
I started the race with about 10,000 calories of food and had 2 drop bags along the way in which I would       replenish this supply. You can also get meals along the way at most of the checkpoints. I estimate that I consumed about 7,000 calories per day during the race, consisting of the checkpoint meals and the following:

• Sunflower seeds
• cashews
• bacon
• salami
• Ultragen drink mix - recover on the go.
• Clif shot gels - mostly with caffeine, could have used more of these.
• Clif shot bloks
• Reese's peanut butter sticks - awesome trail junk food. don't change consistency at all in the cold.
• Clif kid zfruit
• Clif Crunch Granola bars
• Fritos
• Clif shot roks
• Freeze Dried backpacker meals that I would "cook" at checkpoints and carry in a thermos. Also cooked one out on the trail. These were a bit of a luxury, but very nice to have. 

Sleeping:

• Mountain Hardwear Ghost -40 bag - wouldn't advise heading out there with anything less
• Mountain Hardwear Direkt 2 tent - awesome tent, but I wouldn't take it on this journey again. Not worth the extra weight.
• ThermaRest Solite sleeping pad, cut down to about 60". absolutely necessary item

Head clothing/gear:

• Ryders Hex sunglasses with standard, clear, and low light lenses
• Ryders Superset goggles
• Neoprene neck gaiter
• Thin polypro balaclava.
• Mountain Hardwear Desna Balaclava. Would only bring 1 balaclava next time.
• Mountain Hardwear Zerna beanie
• Mountain Hardwear Micro Power Stretch Dome

Hands:

• Mountain Hardwear Heavyweight Power Stretch Gloves. these little gloves are amazing. sometimes these are all I would wear, even in temps as low as 10 or 20 below!
• Gordini Lavawool insulated gloves. Loose enough to fit over power stretch gloves.
• Mountain Hardwear Nilas Down Mitts.  Large enough to fit over both above gloves. Only needed to put these on once, but they were awesome. With all three of these things on my hands at once I don't think my hands could ever get cold. 

Feet:

• Montrail Mountain Masochist Outdry shoes, size 11.5. One full size large to accommodate thick socks and foot swelling. 
• RBH designs vapor barrier socks. Didn't use them at all. Probably wouldn't take them next time. Although it was nice having them in my kit as a safety net for my feet.
• The North Face NSE Tent Bootie. Used these to keep feet warm while sleeping. They were awesome to have, but are quite bulky and I would likely leave them at home next time.
• 4 pair of DryMax socks: 1 thin pair to wear under vapor barrier socks and 3 heavy pair. This was way too many socks. I only ended up using 2 of the 4 pair, and would probably only bring 2 with me in the future. These socks are amazing though. Wore one single pair for the last 5 days, without taking them off my feet and I didn't have a single blister!
• Yaktrak XTR spikes. Great for traction on hard packed or icy trail. I probably used these for almost 100 of the 350 miles.
• Atlas Race Snowshoes. I was a bit nervous whether these would be durable enough if I actually had to wear them a lot. Turns out I wore them for over 200 miles and they were awesome. no durability issues.
• Mountain Hardwear NutShell High Gaiters. Wore these every step of the way. You could go with a shorter/lighter gaiter, but really liked the full coverage that these provided. Will probably use the same ones next time around.  

Upper Body Clothing:

• Mountain Hardwear Wicked Lite long sleeve T.  basic lightweight baselayer
• Mountain Hardwear Micro Power Stretch Zip T. Heavyweight baselayer. This piece is amazingly warm
• cheap polypro midweight baselayer. only wore it once. next time would only bring the two above baselayers.
• Mountain Hardwear Super Power Transition jacket . Wore this over a baselayer every step of the race.
• Mountain Hardwear Effusion Hooded Jacket. would double up jackets when it got cold or windy. probably wore this 250 of the 350 miles. 
• Mountain Hardwear Tunnabora Jacket. Only wore this for a few hours one day when it was windy. I liked the idea of having a light waterproof shell in case it did get warm and rain (which can happen in this race), but in the future I probably wouldn't bring this unless the forecast was for unusually warm weather.
• Mountain Hardwear Nilas Down Jacket.  This is without a doubt the most effective down jacket I have ever worn. The warmth to weight ratio is amazing. even at 40 or 50 below I couldn't zip it all the way up in front or I would get too warm. Yet it only weighs 22 ounces. I wouldn't ever consider going out there without this jacket. 

Lower Body Clothing:

• Mountain Hardwear Super Power Tights.  Awesome baselayer. Wore for about 275 miles.
• Mountain Hardwear Tanglewood pants. Wore every single step of race. awesome pants.
• Mountain Hardwear Epic pants. Never wore them. Probably wouldn't bring them next time. Same as Tunnabora jacket above.
• Mountain Hardwear Compressor pant. These pants are awesome, but I did only wear them twice while I was stopped to sleep. To actually put them on while on the go it would likely have to drop to 60 below or colder. For comfortable sleep though they are worth every ounce. I would guess they add at least 15 or 20 degrees to my sleeping comfort level (in conjunction with the Nilas jacket). I would consider leaving them at home, but most likely would bring them next time. 
• 2 pair Patagonia briefs. Would probably only bring one next time. Although I did somehow leave a pair at one of the checkpoints so I guess it was good that I brought 2. 

Snow Melting Gear:

• Esbit pocket "stove". Worked perfect for the 2 or 3 times that I needed to melt some snow for water.
• Aluminum windscreen for stove.
• 12 Esbit fuel cubes. Had access to more in drop bags if needed. Also great for starting fires if needed.
• waterproof/windproof matches
• mini butane lighter. stored next to body to keep warm enough to actually work
• 3 ounce bottle of HEET to help ignite esbit cubes in extreme cold or as emergency fire starter.
• lexan spoon
• GSI Outdoors 1 liter kettle

Miscellaneous:

• Mountain Hardwear Fluid 6 backpack worn under all insulation layers.  
• Camelbak Stowaway 70 ounce insulated bladder, used inside Fluid 6 pack. This worked great, but next time I would probably bring the 100 ounce version as I did run out of water 3 or 4 times.
• Outdoor Research insulated bottle holder with 20 ounce bottle. Probably would leave the insulated holder at home next time, as I found just sticking the bottle inside my jacket kept it thawed much longer. 
• Thermos brand soup thermos. This was entirely a luxury item to be able to have hot soup, coffee, tea along the trail. This was awesome to have and although not necessary I would have a hard time not bringing this with me again. 
• ultralight pack cover to put over entire pack/sled system in case of rain/wet snow. Never used it. Probably wouldn't bring it next time, unless forecast was for very warm weather.
• Small bottle of liquid ski wax for skis on sled. Not sure if this was helping much at all, but it certainly didn't hurt.
• several small spare parts and repair kit for sled, harness, pack, etc. Included duct tape, screws, needle and thread, caribeener, and some other small items.
• basic first aid including moleskin, arnica gel, neosporin, ankle brace, tape, ace bandage, gauze, band-aids, and a few other very small items
• various pills including ibuprofen, tums, multivitamins, Scaps, and melotonin. 
• small leatherman multi-tool
• earplugs
• small tube of body glide
• sunbloc
• chapstick
• toothpaste/brush
• toilet paper
• 2 Petzl Tikka XP headlamps with lithium batteries
• 1 petzl E Lite.
• Small mp3 player that runs on AAA lithium battery.
• 6 extra lithium batteries for lights, and access to more at drop bags.
• Camera
• Cash, Credit Card, and Driver's License, needed to purchase food along trail and for flight back to Anchorage at finish. 
• trail notes, directions, and maps. 
• Chemical hand, toe, body, and foot warmers. I started the race with about 2 of each and had access to more at my 2 drop bags. I only used 2 pair of foot warmers (and none of the others) the entire race. Would probably carry several fewer of these next time. 
• keychain compass/thermometer. Next time I might try to find one that goes lower than 35 below as mine was bottomed out most of the last 12 hours that I was on the trail. 
• reflective stickers plastered all over my sled and harness. 
• 2 heavy duty trash compactor bags to use in case of open water or overflow. Luckily I never had to use these, but I would probably bring them again unless I opted for some other system of being waterproof up to at least my knees. 

Wow!

I'm slowly easing back into "normal life" after a week out on the Iditarod Trail. That was without question the most challenging, satisfying, profound, and EPIC adventure I have ever been involved in. It's really hard to put it into words, but I have made that attempt and will be posting the full race report on Monday morning. It will be posted over on iRunFar so you can watch there on Monday or check back here as I will have a link to it shortly after it's online.

In the meantime I have been uploading some videos to YouTube that I took during the race. Unfortunately the battery on my camera died around mile 230, but the videos do a decent job of capturing some of what I was experiencing up to that point. You can see them all HERE

And thanks to everyone for all the great emails, facebook messages, texts, phone calls, etc in the past week since I finished the race. I wish I had the time/energy to respond directly to all of them, but for most of this week it's been hard for me to respond to anything. I've pretty much been doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and complaining about how much my lower legs/feet ache. I'm starting to feel a lot better though, and maybe I'll even go out for a walk tomorrow.

Why ITI?

In Anchorage now tending the the final details in preparation for my Iditarod Trail adventure which begins on Sunday afternoon. This is to say, mostly just waiting around here for two more days. All the final details are pretty much taken care of at this point. It is amazing when preparing for something like this though how many times one can pack and repack their kit. Even after packing and repacking it several dozens times at home in the past couple months.

 I came down with a pretty nasty stomach, throat, head illness late last week, but that seems to have moved entirely through my system and I feel as physically ready as I could ever feel for an event like this. I ended up getting in a pretty good bit of "training" in the past 5 or 6 weeks. I didn't run as much this Winter as I would have originally planned to, but I feel like I'm in a great spot both physically and mentally. Does this mean I will definitively have a "successful" race? Most certainly not. But to me this uncertainty is one of the greatest appeals to this event.

In a "typical" single day race I think you can be so prepared that you can just about be certain of your ability to at least finish the race (with the exception of illness or injury). In this event though, I just don't think it matters how prepared you are for the Iditarod Invitational, it's still questionable as to whether you'll be able to make it to the finish. There are some aspects of this dynamic that make this a very intimidating and unappealing thing. At times it seems kind of silly to put so much time and energy into preparing for something which I have such a high chance of not fully accomplishing. At the end of the day though this is precisely why this event is so appealing to me. There is such an elusiveness to it that I really like. I have tried to walk/run to Mcgrath twice before, and yet I have still not been beyond about mile 145 of the route. I have such a curiosity of what lies beyond, in the those remaining 200 miles. Not only a curiosity about those actual 200 miles of trail, but more specifically a curiosity of what my experience of travelling to that point will be. Which things will be unlocked in me that I've never really seen and felt before. And the fact that it's entirely possible that I won't actually make it beyond this distance is somehow really exciting to me. I feel really good about my chances of finishing the full 350 mile route this time around, but I also feel really good and excited about the reality that doing so is going to be really hard, and something which I most certainly can not take for granted.

This race is without question the hardest race I have ever done in terms of the physical strength, persistence. and capability to finish it, but it's the mental and emotional opportunity for self exploration, self questioning, and self confirmation that comes with this kind of challenge that is so exciting and alluring to me. I took two years off from trying this event, not because I didn't want to do it those years, but because I think that was what I needed to do to adequately prepare myself for trying it again. I think now I am in the right place to at least go out there and be brave enough to attempt this thing again. Does that mean that I'm certain to finish? Most certainly not, but I'm as certain as I'll ever be. And it's that lack of certainty that I'm the most looking forward to.

Looking For More Races In 2012?

For anyone who is looking to add a race or two to your schedule for 2012 here are a couple that I highly recommend:

First, coming up next month is the Chuckanut 50k. This one has been around long enough (this year is the 20th year of the race!) that most of you have probably at least heard of it. What many people might not know though is that Chuckanut is hoping to go really big this year to celebrate their 20th anniversary. As of last month, the race was able to secure permit space to go up to 1,000 participants! This will make Chuckanut the largest 50k (maybe even largest ultra of any distance??) in the country. Right now they have almost 700 entrants. Why then do I encourage you to grab one of the remaining 300 spaces? Chuckanut is such a perfect early season race. It's not the most challenging 50k you are ever going to run, but it's certainly not the easiest either. It has a great mix of very fast terrain and very challenging, slow terrain. Beyond the course itself though, is the enjoyment of the entire event. I've been to nearly 30 different races all around the country and Chuckanut is without question one of the most enjoyable I've been a part of. So much so that I am planning to be there this year even if I'm not running. I'm currently signed up to run, but being that the race is only three weeks after the start of the Iditarod Invitational it would take some kind of miracle (or disaster in the Iditarod) for me to actually race Chuckanut this year. Instead I plan to be there as a "fan" and a race volunteer. Hopefully I can help motivate Dave, Max, Erik, Mike, Adam, etc, to take down my course record so I have extra motivation for Chuckanut in 2013.

And then in September is the new Run Rabbit Run 100. This is one a lot of people probably heard about when it was announced in the Fall, but then not much has been said about it since then, as much focus shifted to the big lottery races (Western States, Hardrock, UTMB, etc), as it always does in Jan/Dec/Feb. The lottery dust has settled now though, and for anyone who is looking at a gap in their schedule in September I would highly recommend this race. This race has so many things going for it that make it very appealing: Steamboat Springs is such a great mountain town to spend some time in - I can't think of a better town to host an event like this. Many people get nervous about first year races, and tend to wait until the second or third year to let the wrinkles get ironed out. The good thing about Run Rabbit Run though is that they have been putting on a very well run 50 miler for 5 years now. Yes, this will be the first year of the 100, but don't expect it to feel like a first year race. If you're at all interested in the competitive aspect of races, this one is going to be super exciting. The total prize purse is currently at $22,000 (and certain to increase throughout the year), and this has drawn some great runners into the mix. Already, in it's first year, and with the race still more than 6 months away, this race is looking like it will be one of the most competitive 100 milers ever run. More than anything though, like Chuckanut, this is just a super enjoyable event to be a part of. I have been at each of the last two Run Rabbit Run 50 milers, and can't think of anywhere I'd rather be in mid September than at this race. The atmosphere is super comfortable, and it's just one of those events that does a great job of enabling everyone to have a really good time.

You might wonder, why am I seemingly randomly encouraging people to check out these two races? It's simply that they are both very fun races, on awesome trails, in really fun towns, put on by a lot of really great people, and I can't think of any races I want to see succeed more than these two. In other words they are much like any other races I've recommended in the past (UROC, Crow Pass, Bear 100, etc.): Classics (or classics to be) that I think everyone should run at some point. Hope to see you there.

Perfect Storm

After nearly two months of warm, dry weather here in Colorado, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get any proper Winter training in before the Iditarod Invitational. It was rarely dipping below 20 degrees at night and we had gotten at most a foot of total snow in 6 weeks. Things seemed a bit promising though last Thursday night. The forecast was for 4-7 inches of snow that night and much cooler temperatures over the weekend. I went to bed with a few flurries starting to fall and woke up 8 hours later to over 30" of new snow! I don't know if I've ever seen that much snow fall in such a short time. By the time it was done we had close to 40" from that one storm. Since then it has been down around zero most nights and snowed at least another foot.

The last 9 days of training has been incredibly enjoyable for me. I think I had forgotten how much I love proper winter. The snowshoeing around here right now is as good as I've ever seen anywhere. The nordic skiing is also incredible. I don't know what it is, but I just love slogging though really deep snow. I've known for a few years that I love doing rugged mountain "runs" with tons of vertical, in which I'm covering very little mileage for the time that I'm out. I don't think it was until this week though that I realized that I seem to just love any "runs" in which it takes an insane amount of time to get anywhere. I don't know why, but there is something really satisfying about busting my ass to cover 3 or 4 miles in an hour.

The other thing that's been great about all the snow, and a bit of cold weather is that I've been able to test a lot more of my Iditarod race gear. It feels really good to be 2 weeks from the race and have almost no concerns or doubts about my gear. I still have some decisions I need to make on certain items, but there isn't anything that I'm really nervous or uninformed about as far as gear is concerned. It feels good to be going into the race having used everything I will be taking with me numerous times in the past couple weeks. Not something I can say about either of the other two times I attempted this race.

Here's a few photos from the recent playing I've been doing in the snow:

Several Tidbits

After a two week vacation to Costa Rica I'm back in Colorado and getting back in to my Iditarod Trail Invitational preparation. From now until the race (which starts in just over 5 weeks), I will try to get out and do something active (combination of skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and running) pretty much everyday. I'm still undecided as to how much running I'll try to do between now and then, but likely I won't do as much total running between now and the race as the 350 miles that I'll do during the race. Part of me is nervous about tackling this race with so little running in the previous couple months, but with how worn out my body has felt anytime I run consistently for more than 5 or 6 weeks, I think this is the only approach that might work for me right now. I guess only time will tell. Overall though, I do feel pretty good about where I am at right now in terms of my overall preparation for this event.

For those that missed it, Ultra Runner of the Year was announced recently. Huge congrats to Dave and Ellie for bringing home the bacon. In my mind they were both completely deserving of the award. Overall I thought the voting went about as expected. Top 5 on the men's side was exactly the order I would have chosen. Performance of the Year was a little less spot on though (in my opinion). Not to take anything away from Riddle's JFK performance, but the thought of Ian's RR 100 not winning POY seems absurd. It's hard not to imagine that the timing of RR being so early in the year played against Ian in this vote. But then again the NF 50 is the last big race of the year, and once again seemed to be almost ignored: Mike Wolfe finished 11th for POY for his run at NF?? WTF? For me that one should have been top 5 for sure, and likely as high as 2nd or 3rd. But the thing that baffled me the most was that a performance which was not even an actual event won POY for the women. Certainly I don't mean to take anything away from what Jen Davis did on the AT this year, but really? Apparently individual time trials now count toward POY? To me this is a really slippery slope. And if this is the case (which it clearly is), how did Dakota's RRR record not get one single vote? Where does the line get drawn? Which non-event performances are recognized, and which ones aren't? To me it makes the most sense to not recognize any of them for a distinction like this. Until now I thought that was the case.

Moving on: Here's a link to a little Q&A interview I did with a fellow blogger. Some unique and interesting questions mixed in with some more typical ones:  http://averageguyhitstheroad.blogspot.com/2012/01/geoff-roes-interview-above-average.html

And one last thing: The 2012 sessions of my Alaska Mountain Ultra Running Camp are nearing capacity, but I do still have several spaces left for the May 28th session, which is going to be a really fun session. The running in Juneau in late May/early June is some of the most unique and exciting running I've ever done. This is typically the best time of year for running on the snow in the mountains around Juneau. The snow is nice and consolidated, but still soft enough for great traction and control on the downhills. I know some people hear the word "snow", and want to steer clear, but if you want to try something a bit different, and really fun this is the camp for you. Check out the website for all the info.