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.

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....

mtnlovin

i think i'm changing my name to mtnlovin

i've been running up at 6 and 7 thousand feet for the last couple weeks and there bearly any snow like less than 2 inches at 7400 feet yesterday. and the forecast calls for nothing but sun!!!!! look out mountains here i come.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=otx&smap=1&textField1=48.47806&textField2=-120.185

come visit!