my 2010 plans

well so much for no chumpatizin' in 2010... starting off the new year with 2 back-to-back injuries doesn't make for much running but the last 2 runs have been pain free so hopefully i'm over the hump and on the road to full recovery.

i've also been distracted with work, which has included sucessfully putting on another race on orcas island and projects at the bear fight center (some of our work made the cover of the journal science for our discovery of water on the moon, not that i had anyhting to do with that project but i am using the same data for the projects i'm working on which is pretty cool).

i had also been waiting to find out about my hardrock fate(i always have a hard time training consistently when i don't have a goal race and a plan) to make my training schedule for the year. unfortunately i'm now 0 for 6 in the hardrock lottery and got my lowest placement on the waitlist to date(131) so that means i've pretty much zero chance of getting in the race usually the anyone over 50 on the waitlist doesn't have a prayer and #99 is lowest the waitlist has have gone down to and that was pretty much a big fluke. my personal waitlist history goes like this 57, 55, 39, 25, 40, 131. i got in on the day before the race the year i was #39 and about 3 weeks before the race when i was #25 every other year i wasn't even close.(even last year at #40 i was still 15 spots away from getting in!)

anyhow...enough with the excuses! so not all of my plans are set yet but here's a list of what i know and/or hope to do:

volunteer at chuckanut 50k
peterson ridge rumble 30k
volunteer and/or run capitol peak 50k
maybe sunflower trail marathon
maybe direct a new race in may
road marathon in may or early june
maah daah hey tour with the adventure running co
direct sun mountain in june
july in silverton for hardrock volunteering and filmaking and tour guiding
maybe white river or pct 50m
maybe direct a new race in august
maybe go for a speed record or two
maybe wild idaho 50m
maybe leadville 100m or where's waldo 100k
maybe direct a new race in august
direct cle elum
maybe direct a new road marathon in late sept or early oct
guiding the tahoe rim trail tour
plus throw in some big "fun runs" in the north cascades, cascades near st helens, the olympics, the kettle range and some work mapping trails in the gorge, marin headlands, arizona and arkansas. i should be pretty busy this year...

not much certainty in that "plan" but in the next couple weeks i'll start making some decisions. and i'm commiting myself to starting my marathon training(which is just a way to get back in shape for the summer) this weekend(although i don't have a training plan made yet but i've got someone who's gonna help me with that next week.) so no more chumpatizin' for me!

no chumpatizin' in 2010!

hey folks quick blog here before i go wax my skis--gotta get out and play more on the new snow! this will be ski number 7 in 6 days. only one run in that span though. that'll have to change.

i'm recommitting myself to blogging here on a much much more regular basis. in the near future i'll post some random ideas i have for the upcoming year...stay tuned!

happy new year!

knee update and twisp river fun short report

hey everyone

i just wanted to let you all know that the ol' knee was just fine today on the twisp river 60k! it ached a bit for the first 4 miles or so but then was totally fine the rest of the way--even when i "tested" it on a few steep downhills.

the run in general was a big success, 5 starters and 5 finishers. we all stuck together for pretty much the whole way and a had good time. great weather although a little hot (in the 80s) and super views from lookout ridge at 5000ft!

life in flux

hi everyone

i was reminded recently that it's been too long since i bloged, even though she has only blogged once (and only 6 measly words...) since i last blogged 2.5 months ago.

anyhow life has been topsy turvey since that last post and unfortunately so has my running. but as the title of my blog says "no chumpatizin'!" so no excueses...

although i do have a good one. my left knee has been hurting for the last 3 weeks, ever since the capitol peak 50 miler. i was only going to run the 55k but mid-race i choose to "super size" up to the 50miler instead. the reason i was only going to do the 55k was because i felt i hadn't trained enough yet this year to be ready for a 50. but i was feeling so good and felt like i had a shot at winning or atleast top 3 so i went for it despite better judgement. so since then my knee has been achy but usally not until after few(3-8) miles of running and never really painful just achy and abviously not right. i'm not sure what it is, it could be shoes with too many miles, maybe i have worn down all my cartilage, maybe i've torn or strained a ligament or tendon, or maybe it's not my knee at all but tight quads (or other muscles)...or maybe it's all in my head... anyhow it's definitely making for some sporadic and poor quality training.

another excuse is my life outside of running has been complicated, confusing, and disorienting while at the same time illuminating, changing, and liberating. it is what is and it's all for the best but it has created lots of indecision, distraction, and maybe procrastination. could i be any more vague...

also race directing can get in the way of good training. but it was fun and the race was a big success.

and my other two jobs have been keeping me busy too! bear fight is now paying me to be there which is super cool and soon the results of my first project will be published-- i'll be published!!

and i've decided to not renew my lease on my house. it's been a great house and it's in a really good spot and i was about to plant my first garden since 2004 but since alison moved out i just can't afford the rent by myself. so i just bought a giant tent and i'm going to camp (and house-sit some too) for the summer! i'll have two camps: one on the river just a couple miles up from where i've been living and the other up at 8000ft on tiffany mountain, which is about a 30 minute drive from town and a 2.5 mile run from the trailhead but it'll be we'll worth the "commute".

ok i know i said no excuses and no chumpatizing... so i'll try to stick to the positive which there is a lot (eventhough i often overlook it) and i'll keep my head up and hopefully my feet flying down the trails...

big week, good month

hi everyone

it's been a long time since my last post. december was ski month-- it got to the point where i was skiing nearly every day. but i wrapped up my ski season pretty early, for these parts, with an eighteen mile point to point ski on new years day.

january was going to start my running training for the year but other than running 20 miles at the birdle trails winter running festival i don't think i ran more than 10 miles in any one run. and i don't even think i ran that often. so in hindsight january became my "rest" month.

February turned out to be a decent month with consistent running every week. it could have been different though if i had let not getting into hardrock (again!) get me down. i'm 0-5 in the hardrock lottery (but did get in the last two years off the waitlist but not until right before the race). this year i'm not willing to wait and see. instead i've signed up for cascade crest 100 and it's been providing me with plenty of motivation all month. there's actually 5 other runners in winthrop who will be running a 100miler this summer so there's no shortage of running partners either! even though i've been consistent this past month i didn't do any runs over 20 miles until the last day, running 24 miles on snow mobile trails to get my mileage for the week up to 66 (and today's 7 mile run pushed me up to a total of 73). my mileage for the month was almost 200 miles and is just about perfect for me for my first month of the year.

i'm hoping to slowly build up my mileage to the point where i run a half dozen or so 100+ mile weeks this summer before i begin tapering for cascade crest. with more than 100 miles of groomed snowmobile trails, dirt roads and snowshoe trails i'll have no shortage of off-pavement running options until the trails start melting out in late march/early april!

new blog: rainshadow running

hey folks

just wanted to let ya'll know i've got another blog. i'll still be writing a ton on here as usual but to find out info on our races and training runs were organize check out rainshadow running

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.