Recovery & Reflection

the start of the transrockies 2008

well i'm sitting here in beaver creek, colorado with my buddy andrew price, his wife rachel and their two boys fletcher and bode (thank you guys so much!). my body was up at 5am because for the last 6 days of the transrockies that is exactly what we've had to do. no fighting it, i just got up and had some coffee. i just saw marit and sean off. they are headed over to the sheridan to get max and eric for the denver airport trip. it's kind of hitting me this is all coming to an end.

my overall energy is ok, body feels great. my lower calfs are sore from trying to run the low angle gradual dirt road climbs that make up the transrockies staged race. other than that i feel great.. surprisingly. no other muscles soreness or issues. the two niggles i started the race with are gone, non issues. weird.

rachel just asked me "so do you think you'll come back and do this race next year?". i'm not sure. i think i need a few days to reflect. the organization of the event was truly top notch. i'm disappointed with our 7th or 9th overall placement (the overall results still haven't been posted). but remove that bit and i had a great time. i was able suffer in some of the most beautiful terrain with a great person and true friend sean meissner. i met a lot of amazing people and made so many new friends from all over the world that i cherish this experience. it's just the competitive athlete in me that wants to file this one away as a "bad idea". looking back at my own blog and posted photos of the event it's obvious that is ridiculous.

10th mtn division, fletch and me

Grand Teton 100, 50 & Marathon

HUGE congrats to ty draney for winning the grand teton 50 miler yesterday in 8hr 17min! 50 mile results - nice work buddy.

also josh brimhall ripped a good one winning the grand teton 100 miler in a time of 19hr 59mins. 100 mile results - it's still happening!)

Jeanie & Erin

Team Erin baker breakfast cookies

Lesley, hubby Keith, Meissner, Mehgan

Day 6

We finished 7th today I think, possibly 7th overall, we'll see. Eric &
max won again and took the overall of course.

Vail Camp

I forgot to mention our boys Eric Scaggs & Max King won again today.. by just 20secs over the Brit Saab Salomon team. They now have just a 4-5 min GC lead. Not even close to enough to feel comfy, there will be see hard racing tomorrow. Congrats again fellas!

Day 5

Today from the gun I didn't have it. 10 mile climb to 11,700ft from
red cliff.. Sean lead out the second pack. I tried to hold on. The day
before I only ate 1 gel and drank just 1/4 a bottle. I've been feeling
off. After over an hour sean reminded me to eat. I couldn't. I felt
gross, bloated & tired. Yesterday after 1hr I felt great and pulled
the group up the steep climb, today... Nothing there. "I have no pride
dude, push me, tow me I don't care.". Sean towed me with our mandatory
rain pants tied together the last 45 min up vail pass. Once the first
climb was over I felt better. Couple more climbs and it was 7 miles of
downhill road. We passes 3rd & 4th overall on the way down. They were
dealing with there own blow ups and walking. I started to really
hammer and Sean hung on then blew in the last few miles.

We were 7th today in 3hrs 50min for the 23 miles with 4,500ft of gain.

We got beat today and passed in the GC by the two teams we've been
slightly ahead of all week. We should be in 5th overall, but we are in
7th. It's a bummer and I feel like it's my fault for giving up all
that time on the big climb. We are behind them by just 3 and 4
something mins. Tomorrow I have to go to the pain dojo and get my 5
mins back.

Day 4

Today was 14.23 miles with 3009ft of gain. Eggs, a banana, mass quantities of peanut butter, 4 pankakes and more syrup than I've probably had in my entire life total were almost the end of my race and our chances. The run was basically 3,000ft up, 3,000ft down. Just shy of the top I felt good and lead the charge with salt stick chasing hard. We ran ok on the way down, but I feel like we should have hammered with a bit more gusto. The final 2.5 of slightly downhill road we burnt with sub 6 min miles, and some great teamwork.

We finished 8th in 2hrs 15min. I think we are in 7th place overall now. Our boys Eric & Max won the day again and put some more time in on saab Salomon. Congrats again guy!

24 miles with 4,500ft of gain tomorrow.

Chillin' Post Race

3rd Place & Meissner

Mark, Duncan (Team Heathens) & Meissner

Day 4 Red Cliff Camp

Sean touches his toes for the first time

Chillin'

Last team to finish day 3

9hrs 29mins we all came out to cheer for them. It was pretty neat.

Transrockies Day 3

Sean and Meghan (of crooked trails).

I forgot to mention yesterday that Sean crossed the finishline with a
full face of blood. Aparently ""it happens at altitude".

Meghan says Sean "pukes in the woods a lot".

My Favorite British Team

Erin in the morning!

Bryon Powell in the morning

Day 2 Men's Open Podium

The fast guys. Unfortunately Saab Salomon lied about cutting course today (middle two). They said they only cut on the way up. Even though Tony saw them cut "at least three switchbacks" on the way down. Probably gaing 5-10 min. So they won the stage by 1 min over nike rogue valley (eric skaggs/max king)- who are now the overall race leaders. Congrats guys!

Sean and I are now 9th overall after coming in 11th today. We are 33mins off Eric & Max & 20ish off podium (3rd). We start with 5 sucky road miles tomorrow, but it's a 24 mile day. If Seans legs recover we might be able to make some time. With 3 out of the 4 days left being longer (24, 14, 21, 23miles) I am hopeful. Either way this has been a great & wildly fun experience.

My Streaks finally arrived

Thank you Marit & Chris for making this happen.

Tony's Coffee shop - post day 2

Leadville camp

Transrockies Day 2

Meissner is not a morning person.

Correction: day 1 we placed 9th.

Day 2
Today we got crushed. The short fast Mtn runners ruled the day.
The Course: 10 miles with 3,100ft of gain. We climbed up and over hope pass (12,700ft) into twin lakes.

First two miles climbed just 400ft all dirt road. I went out hot, sean showed his dislike for my pace by not running it. We passed cp1 at mile 2 in around 14min (7min pace). We were prob in 15th place. Then the climb started. Within minutes Anita Ortiz passed us towing her teammate. 1min later we passed then back. Her teammate on the side of the trail on all fours. Its two miles & 3,000ft to the top of hope pass. We ran the few runnable sections. At about 11,000ft Sean really starts to suffer. I rAn and hiked behind pushing him at the waist adv race style. It seemed to really help and we passed two teams. I then looked at my altimeter and said "just 600ft to the top, I need you to suffer for me Meissner. This is the toughest part of the course". All i can ask is that my teammate pushes himself to his limit for me. It hurts. It takes courage to go to that dark painful place. Sean did that today. He suffered immensely. Thanks Meissner. You are a great teammate man.

Anton Krupicka was at the pass to cheer us on. Seemed fitting. Sean gave me so much on the way up that he had nothing on the way down. It was 4 miles of awesome downhill simgletrack. But his legs were "wobblie". The further down we got the faster he moved but it was a casual last 4 miles, nowhere near race pace.

We finished in 1hr 57min. Our buddies eric skaggs and max king were first to hope pass but a course cutting salamon UK team beat them to the finish by just 1min. They claim they didn't know the rule. Even after Eric told them to stop doing it on the up. The rules are clear, 2hour penalty. That would take them out of contention. Too bad really.

Day 1 Category Winners

Wearing there leader jerseys.

TransRockies - Day One

I ran into Adam chase before the race today. Michelle Barton and Adam won the mixed category last year. He told me about the 2:09 marathoner and just how serious the competition was in the men's open race. Because today's stage does not suit our strengths as runners, I told myself (but not Sean) that top 10 would be good. Adam said the same and he knows the competition better than me.

We started a bit hot. Both of us breathing pretty hard. We started at 8,000 and ran most of the race at 8,700 ft. We settled onto a just over threshold pace and ran in 6th for a bit. Before the first and only control at mile 7, a couple teams passed us. We hung just behind them through the control. I surged ahead to get in and out fast (Sean thought I was surging for the camera). We dropped nuun tabs, grabbed a gel and were gone. I looked back and couldn't see 9th place. Up until then we ran the dirt road side by side. For the last 6 miles, I sat right behind Sean, basically drafting him. He was setting the pace and I was just holding on. I told myself I just needed to suffer for at most another 45 mins. So I stared at the Mountain Hardwear bolt on the back of his Montrail jersey and got to suffering.

We finished in 8th overall in 1hr 34 mins.

WTF?! Sean and I struggled to get all out gear in the 3 "official" race bags. That's three total for us two. Bryon used his own massive bags, and way more than his alotted 1.5 - that's some bullshit!

Walking to the start in downtown Buena Vista.

After the race, we just arrived at tent village.

Eric Skags & Sean Meissner

Pre Race Day 1

Opening Ceremony

Bryon Powell & Sean Meissner listen (but I can't seem to stop layong
with my new iPhone)

Almost There

The Course

Team #31

Marit's Muffin & Meissners nuun

Transrockies Day 0

On the Road & CCC 100

TR Update
i arrived late last night in denver. long 8hr+ drive from slc. had to stop and nap. that is the beauty of the eurovan, i can pop the top and get some rest pretty easily.

i was supposed to have three pairs of streaks waiting for me here in denver. a bit of an address snafu and i have no shoes and a race that starts in just over 24hrs. i also left my nathan handhelds and krissy vest in the where's karl rv. they were supposed to be shipped to me in slc but didn't make it in time, so no handhelds or vest either.

but i'm here. i'm healthy. i have one pair of pretty old streaks i can wear. sean is bringing me some of his extra handhelds. i know it will all work out.

i keep getting asked about the competition. it will be fierce. if these guys don't win it then one of them got hurt or eaten by a mtn lion.

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Cascade Crest 100 Miler

i just got from justin angle that seattle guy tom ederer just won the cascade crest 100 miler! whoa, this is HUGE! justin is tom's coach. wow. great work justing in getting him there so fit and ready for his first 100 miler. congrats tom! so stoked for you man.

word on the street - "gifford was struggling with bad belly. aaron heidt dropped. phill shaw 2nd".

with the cascade crest being the premier 100 miler in the seattle area i made sure nuun was a sponsor of the race... so it's at every aid station and the winners get some great free product.

Karl, IM Canada, Newspapers and Beach Peas

Meltzer's on the Move!

hopefully you've all been watching the drama unfold over at where's karl.com. my buddy is trying to break the appalachian trail record. after 14 days of tough terrain he came down with trench foot, and severe tendonitis. this put the whole assault in risk. after a few days off today he hit the trail again with his wife cheryl. i picture this in my mind being a nice sunny day hike with the woman he loves. what could be better? =)

good luck buddy! i'll be begging for updates on the trail at transrockies.

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Ironman Canada!

i have to wish my coaching client adrienne stedford good luck at ironman canada tomorrow (sunday!). she is one of those dream clients who always does exactly what i prescribe for her in her training plan. because of that, and all the hard work she's put in, she's going to amazingly well!

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Transrockies Run

i've been in slc hanging with marit for the last couple of days. i leave in a few hours for denver. sunday morning i pick up sean meissner, then we head to buena vista, colorado and the welcome bbq for the transrockies staged run. i talked to sean yesterday, he said "dood. i'm fit right now". sweet.

i was able to get 50mins of pain free running in yesterday. the calf wasn't an issue but it's still sore when i press on it. another couple of zero days and it should be ready for the anaerobic torture of the transrockie run. in the last update they have again lessened the mileage of the race. taking some 'junk miles' off the first two days. when i signed up for this race it was around 130 miles long. it's now down to 97 miles total for 6 days. every time they lessen the length our chances of doing well decrease - sean and i are ultrarunners. however after the fast hiking i just did on the appalachian trail this will be phenomenal 'speed work' for me and i can't wait to race!!

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Jackson Hole Newspaper

the jhole newspaper is going to do a write-up on the teton circumnavigation speed record i set (fastest known times site). here are the photos for the article.

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Beach Pea Bakery - Kittery Maine

marit found this great article on my best friends mariah & tom roberts. they run a well buttered machine. we spent the day with them in portsmouth after we got off the appalachian trail. they're cool.

Transrockies On The Horizon

my buddy, canadian endurance superstar gary robbins (who just won the stormy 100 miler!) just wrote this in an email to me - "It's all about being broke as a joke, and loving life! Never been so poor...and so damn happy!!"

my response: "true dat." spend that money!

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i just figured i'd add a few pics of what i wake up to here in driggs. the 5am workouts that had been going on for over an hour before i even got out of bed. i'm recovering for a race, so i swallowed the guilt of not joining them. faster than you zahan (who runs for la sportiva) and tougher than you lisa were up doing their circuit workouts. love it!

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i have a severe calf strain and a 6 day race in 5 days.

about 5 days into the maine section of the appalachian trail i started to get a slight pain in my calf. it grew a bit every day. it hurt. lots of pains come and go when you run 300 miles at a whack. so i ran through it. i should have been icing legs/feet/calfs every night but there never seemed to be enough time or energy. it ended up being the only consistent issue i had. since getting off the trail i wake up every morning and test the calf. i have been expecting it to turn a corner and make some strides of progress towards healing. 7 days later.. still hurts. every day the reading on the pain scale seemed about the same.

i'm super picky about my massage therapists. ellen parker in seattle has spoiled me. my therapists have to be athletes, they have to have vast experience working with athletes and they have to be strong. i like to get worked over, like my buddy chad did in high school when he didn't pay his bookie. i don't get a massage to relex. i can do that on my own. i get a massage to realign my muscle fibers and to work the toxins out of them. it should hurt!

since i got back to driggs and the batchen household, lisa has insisted that she break the table out. last night it happened. she hurt me.. bookie style. today my calf hurts much less.. this woman is gifted. now i have hope.

until today i was running scenarios of whether i could race. when i spoke with my teammate for the transrockies sean meissner i didn't mention my true concern. i was getting worried. now i'm pretty sure it will be all healed up by the time we line up in buena vista, colorado on august 25th for the transrockies.

Congrats All Around

massive congrats!! to sean meissner for winning the toughest marathon out there. the crater lake marathon. this is my teammate for the transrockies!! oh wait, maybe that isn't such a good thing. article on it.

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also congrats to trevor garner and kim taft for some fantastic running in nasty conditions at the leadville 100 ultra. apparently 80% of the runners dropped, 40 degree temps and snow! well done trevor (23hr 44min) and kim (27hr 42min)... results

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leadville 100 mtn bike race
i had two coaching clients in this race. both rocked it! dj brooks took home a buckle by riding 11hr 21min! my other superstar cathi cannon rode an impressive 12hr 45min. i am so proud of both of you! you put in the hard work - and the results speak for themselves. complete results.

last year dave wiens beat floyd landis for his 5th victory. this year he beat lance armstrong for his 6th. here is a great video interview with them both after the race.

Appalachian Assault - Day 1

i'm going to give a shot are recalling my adventure on the appalachian trail. 300+ miles in 8 days happened so fast. looking back now some of them have blended together. however day 1 still stands out in my mind. here is what i recall.

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41 miles of appalachian trail on day 1
(the total for the day was 45 miles w/7,739feet of vertical gain)

me checking the map before we started up katahdin
(check out the superhero arm warmers.. i'd need them)
karl and i headed out at sunrise from abol campground to climb mt katahdin. this was a slightly shorter but insanely steeper route to the summit of katahdin, which is the terminus of the appalachian trail. you get no credit for this 4 mile and 4,000ft climb as the appalachian trail starts at the top. the abol route we took up felt like a massive slide path of sharp boulders. the tough climb was made even harder by the wet conditions and the lack of coffee in the morning. by the time i got to the top (i think it was 1hr 30min) i had much respect for mt katahdin.

you can just barely see karl on our way up (i love this shot)
as we climbed i was feeling rather flat. karl was ampted to get started and pulling away fast. i kept thinking "dood, your going for the 2,174 mile appalachina trail record.. not the fastest time up mt katahdin." as we got closer to the top the rocks became wet and mossy. it was super slippery. i just stayed steady and by the top karl had slowed so i could catch up. that was my job afterall, to be an anchor to karl in the first week, and to slow this astonishingly fast 40 year old down. "3.5 miles per hour for the record".

karl meltzer on top of mount katahdin - about to run the entire appalachian trail
at the top we took a video of his start with vio camera i carried up just for that purpose. 7:08am on august 5th, 2008 karl meltzer headed south on the appalachian trail in a bold attempt to break the record. at the time i had a vague idea of just how bold this attempt was. now in hindsight after running 300+ miles of the north section i know what a monumental task this actually is.
now the down. this trail is downclimbing boulders, sharp boulders. karl always wears 1/2 fingered biking gloves when he runs for this very reason. i didn't think it was necessary - i was very wrong. so i used my arm warmers to help, which worked ok.

again on the way down i struggled to stay in contact with karl. he was moving fast, too fast in my mind. i bet when he looks back he will agree. it was dangerous terrain so a misstep could mean game over - no record. the risk wasn't worth the reward of a few extra minutes on day 1 of a 46 day run. honestly what was running through my head was what would happen if karl drops me on the first day. "do i just get in the rv and start again with him later?" i wasn't going to let that happen.. i just couldn't. by the end i caught karl and he said "i was just taking advantage of gravity". he's fast.

the amazing marit fischer - support crew extraordinaire (nice puffy!)
we're just 4 miles into the appalachian trail but we need to start eating lots now
we had 2 tabs of nuun, 2 scoops of ultragen and two egg burritos each
marit fischer and karl meltzler sr, who we just started calling senior (much to his disliking) were our support crew. marit is the superstar pr person from backcountry.com. karl senior is the most ripped 65 year old man i've ever seen.. and i have to assume the most ripped 65 year old in existence - 6 pack and all. they were there at abol campground to meet us. i still wasn't hungry but ate a lot and we were off again.

karl meltzer senior and junior checking maps
now it gets blury for me. i know i slipped on my montrail slippers, or streaks rather and was in heaven as we ran and hiked fast for another 36 miles or so. i wore montrail continental divdes for the earlier rough terrain and they turned out to be perfect.

all the day 1 flickr shots - i'm putting together the video now - and of course you can follow his current progress at where's karl.com.

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some stats nonsense:
total miles on the day - 45
total miles on AT - 41
from abol campsite to the top of katahdin at 5,267 ft via abol trail 1:40:50 with 4,000 feet of gain 4:21:10 -
katahdin to abol bridge w/285ft gain 1:40:51
katahdin to katahdin stream mile 5 2:36:19
katahdin streams to abol pines campground
7:37:10 w/3,454ft abol bridge to south nahmakanta lake

TetonAT.com & the Teton Circumnavigation

the backcountry skiing god himself steve romeo asked me to write a quick post for his tetonat.com website on my teton circumnavigation run.. so i obliged.

also of note peter bakwin who keeps track of these records on his website fastest know times or fkt has added my route and time to it as the fastest known time - now it's on!

on my way back to the teton's i got word from jay batchen that jared campbell was going to attempt to break my speed record for the loop this saturday. there is noticeably less snow to contend with so we'll see if it gets taken down - i just think it's cool someone of his caliber is already here trying!

2 Days Later

this is a photo of my ankle on the bus ride from portsmouth, nh to boston’s, ma logan airport today, two days after I got off the appalachian trail with my buddy karl meltzer. i feel pretty good. but from my knees down are super puffy and swollen from the mass mileage and constant pounding of the maine section.

the lack of internet while i'm traveling back to the tetons keeping me from writing a lot, but here is a quick update…

THANK YOU karl, marit, senior, tommy and backcountry.com as a whole for making this whole adventure possible. this was hands down one of the most amazing and exhilarating experiences i’ve had in my life. it was challenging, beautiful, awe-inspiring, humbling, motivating, fun, and tough.

i was honestly sad when marit and i had to leave the backcountry.com rv. although we conquered the maine section, the adventure for karl has just begun. we left aug 8th, after the maine section and the 16.6 extra miles into Gorham, nh. it would have just been too hard to get up the next day and see karl off to run alone.

marit has done an amazing job of posting to the where's karl.com blog and now tommy has taken over crewing and blogging/updating duties. the where's karl flickr site has all my photo and vids. i'll put something together soon and update my blog with more.

one last thing – having run 300+ miles with karl meltzer in 8 days I have one thing to say about what karl is doing. say what you will about supported, unsupported speed records, etc… but what karl’d doing right now is courageous.

281 Miles of Appalachian Trail With Karl Meltzer

AT through Maine - 281 Miles
"The northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail is Katahdin, 5,267 ft. high, in Baxter State Park in central Maine. The Trail continues southwest to Monson, eventually crossing the Kennebec River, at about the Maine halfway point. Many mountains later, and after passing through the famed Mahoosuc and Grafton notches, the Trail enters New Hampshire."

"Most of the Appalachian Trail in Maine is not recommended for novice hikers; Maine's 281 miles are generally considered the most difficult of all fourteen states. Even the strongest hikers may average only one mile an hour in some parts. Other parts require grabbing onto tree roots and limbs to climb or descend, and are especially slippery and hazardous in wet weather." (link)

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i'm in new hampshire now. i ran the teton circ twice in three days, went to sleep got up at 6am and traveled for over 36hrs until i came to a stop in freedom, nh at my mother's house. my ankles and lower legs were swollen beyond belief. lots of naps but no real sleep during the basically two days of travel has me feeling pretty gross.

new hampshire is a nice, quite, peaceful place. i love coming back here.

today i'm going to kayak, swim a bit and hang out at the beach on ossipee lake with my mom, sister and two nephews. recovery with small bits of multimuscle workouts is in order for the next few days. i meet karl on sunday aug 3rd in manchester new hampshire. we'll pack the backcountry.com rv and then head up to maine the following day. we start his appalachian assault on august 5th at the top of mount katahdin. i can not wait to get running - this, my friends is going to be an epic adventure.





"live free or die"