the latest and greatest

well the last few weeks have been up and down. running a lot then not. working a lot then not. making progress on race directing stuff then feeling disorganized and unproductive.

i feel like i'm making strides towards consistency now and that makes me feel better.

but in my good weeks i ran a lot including running the entire sun mountain 50k course while pushing my homemade measuring wheel. the course came up a little short so now i've tweaked the course to make up that missing mileage and re-routed the start to make it a little more runner friendly. that week i ran 90 miles which is great but then the following 2 weeks i barely ran at all and felt lethargic. the two weeks prior to the the 90 mile week were similar: a big week followed by a big rest week. the same kinda goes with work i seem to be more productive minute for minute when i working a lot but when i have a long stretch w/o work i seem to nose dive in productivity instead of just channeling my energy into the many other things that need my attention. it seems like when under the gun i can do it all but when there's some down time i'm just as good at being useless.

i'd ratrher find a balance. inetead of getting caught up in momentum, either positive or negative, i'd rather "stay medium" as coach jim zorn espouses. it's something that i could use in all aspects of my life, from racing to relationships.

anybody out there got any input on this? can anybody identify with this?

i just remembered brocks interview from the paper a few weeks ago where he said(i'm totally paraphrasing, probably horribly) he feels like after all the running he does he feels like he's earned a beer and an afternoon on the couch wathcing the game.

you heard it here first...

for my loyal readers i thought i'd let ya'll know first...

there's a new 50k race(and 21k) coming to washington this april! created with those sun deprived westsiders in mind this "rainshadow" course will be very sunny(and fast! only ~4500ft of gain for the 50k).

stay tuned for more details about the SUN MOUNTAIN 50K and 21K on april 11th 2009

look out running shoes...

wow! i did my first "real" mtn bike ride yesterday and i loved it!

i say real b/c it wasn't really my first ride but the other two were way too techincal that i walked the bike a lot more than i rode it. yesterday was way different--although i did have to put my foot down a few times-- i wasn't terrified the whole time and actually pedaled into some downhills instead of riding the heck out of the brake.

alison and i joined her work(methow cycle and sport. not winthrop phyical therapy or winthrop fitness or sun mountain lodge or housewatch or alison hanks l.m.p. yes alison has 6 jobs) buddies for a ride on buck mtn which just happens to be in our backyard. the 20 mile ride took us around 3 hours but that was with a lot of stopping. joe, alison's boss and a former pro rider usally does the loop in half that time. it was a long climb from the low point in the loop where we parked(just 2 miles from our house) to the ridge. after a few steep sections at the highest point of the ridge the trail mellowed out and alison and i were finally able to relax and have fun. it was great, weaving through sagebrush and dipping and rising and fun turns and great views. the snow was mostly gone and the trail wasn't too muddy. there were few rocks or roots or even fallen down trees to avoid. we just cruised. ofcourse everyone else was way faster and often had to stop to let us catch up but maybe it won't take us long to get better so they won't have to wait so much.

snow!!!

well the last two weekends i've been able to run above 7000ft with out hitting snow that's probably now over for the year. the last two days we awoke to rain falling on our roof but just 500 feet up the hillsides above it was snow. and thursday/wed nite it's supposed to snow as low as 1000ft(we live at 2000ft) so we'll surely get our first snowfall on our yard since we moved here!

mostlikely the lower elevation snow will melt the next time the sun comes out but going up to 7000ft without snowshoes might be a little tough on the the little piggies. i bet i'll still be running at 2000-5000ft for atleast a few more weeks. and then it'll be mostly treadmill and road running. maybe the backyard trails will stay snow free a little longer they only go up to 3600ft.

we'll see....