10.5 Mile Trail Run

Well, I'm still very much on the learners curve when it comes to training and that is what I love about health and fitness. Depending on the demands of your sport or specific competition that you're training for regiments will differ. Tiff and I decided about a month ago that we are going to shoot for the Chuckanut 50k in mid April and so I decided to amp up my running and become a true runner for the Galbraith 20 miler Dec. 20th as a way to test my fitness. I've been logging plenty of miles and until this past week hadn't missed a scheduled run. Missing my Specialized Epic I met up with Aaron on Tuesday and hit the trails for 10+ miles of single track, then followed it up with another ride on Wednesday, then the traditional Turkey Ride Thursday morning. Having not ridden for a few weeks, it felt so good to be back in the saddle again. However, even though these rides helped accumulate a 9 hour training week (the most since August), it hasn't helped me in specific training for the upcoming run just 3 weeks away now. So, I dusted off my Brooks running shoes and got 4.5 miles in yesterday and 10.5 miles today in the trails. Not just any trails though... The oh so famous "Tick Trail" named after Annalisa and I were bit numerous times by ticks over a year ago. The elevation gain is ~1800' with ups and downs constantly throughout the run. The run traverses around Mt. Erie and is a 5.2 mile trail. So, I'd thought it'd be fun to run it twice... Fortunately, I knew that Jim would meet me there and run the second loop with me. I felt pretty good throughout the entire run only having a slight urge to walk some of the steep ascents, but my competitiveness got the better of me and I ran the whole thing. Below are some stats and pics of today's run.

1st lap- 5.2 miles - 52:30

2nd lap-5.2 miles - 59:58

Total- 10.4 miles - 1:52:28

Me on the 1st lap Glad to see Jim at lap 2

Turkey Day Ride Recap

Thanksgiving morning started like all days should, I think... Waking up at the butt crack of dawn, layering well with cycling gear, stopping at Bucks for a morning latte and then hit the single track.

The TDR was a blast despite only Roger and I meeting up. We got to the park right at 8am, did some quick hellos, then strapped up our helmets and started the ride. Tolt trails is always a pretty good test to find out how your technical riding is, with its constant turning and root infested trails, not to mention the numerous bridges that have more recently been built. Rog and I would ride and chat, chat and ride and then a lot of the time just chat. Not having trained (if you can call yesterday training) with Roger since the prologue hike before PQ (he raced with team Kagome, while I made soup and set up the tent with Kenny and Rebeka for their late night returns). We talked of course about adventure racing, present and future goals both as athletes as well as people. It was one of those rides that you really come to enjoy, because you are truely sharing life experiences with someone other than yourself. I'm looking forward to many more training sessions with Roger and who knows, maybe I can talk him into racing with us sometime.

Case

Trioba is Back!!

I know for a lot of us 'adventure racers' here in the Northwest, we have been long awaiting the day when there would be a local race of substantial length for us to sweat, bleed, cramp and perhaps even vomit, all the while pushing ourselves to the finish line.

Join me in welcoming back Trioba AR. For over 5 years Trioba had been the PNW staple adventure race that offered sprint, 12 hr, and 24 hour races. Last year Trioba was off the map and it wasn't until very recently that it found itself get back on the map! A large thank you needs to go out to Glenn and Ryan of Econaut Investments for purchasing Trioba and getting right down to the business of planning races. Already, they have posted that there will be a sprint race, usually 4-8 hours in length (May 31), and a 24 hour race covering nearly 100 miles set for September 19th.

There are a number of ways that one can be involved in adventure racing; racer, volunteer, support crew, even a sponsor etc. Adventure Races like any other sport have a number of costs and sponsors are always looked for both by race management and racing teams alike. If you are blessed and feel compelled to give back to the sport and what it stands for Trioba, may be the perfect race series to help with.

Don't just live. . . THRIVE!!