The Last 25 of the Wasatch 100 Course

i am the pig, and this is the shit.

i had looked at the maps, but when karl meltzer tells you "Enjoy the run, it's a tough one backwards...all uphill" you give 'em another look. ajw had also commented on my lambs canyon to alta wasatch run post that the wasatch 100 mile course from mile 75 at brighton to the finish had some terrible trail conditions. and it was super rocky, rutted and loose from all the motobikes. i knew i'd be in for a long day.. but that was the point.

yesterday i locked my bike up at brighton so i could ride the 25 miles mostly down hill home after my run. today i drove to midway, parked at the wasatch mountain state park and ran the 25 miles to brighton. the trail was awesome, beautiful, loose, knarly and rugged. i kept thinking "this is mountain running" and envisioning myself trying to run it with 80+ miles already on my legs.

yeah, karl wasn't kidding. it was tough backwards. it had 9,440ft of gain in 25 miles... and i was the pig.

iPhone photos

the view from lower old goat junction mile 94
some loose knarly trail
teddy bear junction mile 91 east ridge trail
up "the plunge" at mile 89
my favorite section between plunge and dive

up "the dive" at mile 88
the view from "the dive"
ahhh - the backside of devil's castle out of alta

from brighton down sunset pass is all on trail 157 (picture at pole pine)

view of catherine lake from catherine pass at brighton

my transition for the ride home

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Backcountry.com Pray For Snow Party

i was lucky enough to tag along to the backcountry.com"pray for snow" party. it was off the heezy fo sheezy.

marit interviews some of backcountry.com's pro rippers in this vid. karl makes an appearance with his fresh off the appalachian trail fully rounded beard, but jon atencio steals it. i guess he used to be sponsored by lee jeans as a rodeo rider!? who would have thought.

Another Great Run in the Wasatch Mountains

there are some incidentals that come with doing adventure runs. on occasion you have a rough one that includes bushwhacking, being out twice as long as planned and running in the pitch dark. to make our odds of this happening even greater we were running on a seven year old memory of the route, an injury that hurt from step one, no maps and no headlamps. how many times do i need to learn the lesson - always take the petzel e-lite.. it's .95oz - just take it!

yesterday marit and i got out and ran some more of the wasatch 100 course. up emigration canyon we started at affleck campground, a few miles and about 1,000 ft below where we picked up the wasatch 100 course at big mtn pass. we then headed north on the great western trail. what followed was a mix of great running, good times, hard to beat views, bushwhacking, mass vert (6,000+ ft), bloody shins, not one but two sasquatch encounters, excruciating achilles pain and two solid hours of trying to run trail by brail - in the pitch dark.

i took lots of photos and video at the very bottom... enjoy.

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gear i used on this run (or should have):

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Sharing Things

"how many people on their deathbed wish they'd spent more time at the office?"

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some things of interest:

sean meissner wins another marathon! - check out his race report, he ran a 2:42 at the spokane marathon!

in karl's words - karl meltzer is back in the slc. he told me yesterday he's even run a couple of times. he wrote about his journey from maine to georgia.

the man who beat lance - nyt article on dave weins who beat lance armstrong at the leadville 100 mtn bike race aug. there is a good lil' video included too.

straight chuter.com - win a free pair of black diamond boots from andrew mclean by playing his game and guessing the location.

nyt article on fast and old - nyt article on olympic swimmer dana torres.

avalanches are scary - uk pro gets caught on film

Stepping it up? - article about black diamonds new freeride touring ski boots

Resting, Running and Rhetoric - the "alaskan flash" geoff roes started a great discussion on resting and recovery for ultrarunners.

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help support CoachingEndurance.com by going over to Backcountry.comand buying a ton of gear. with free shipping and the best prices on the internet it just makes sense really.

Mountain Hardwear Phantom Down Jacket Review

one of the greatest things about backcountry.comis the reviews of the products we all lust over. the reviews are often great, totally aplicable and answer a lot of the questions you need to know. as a backcountry.com athlete it's my job to contribute. i just posted this review on the mountain hardwear phantom down jacket (click link and check out the other reviews).

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Lightest and Warmest

i chose the mountain hardwear phantom over the mountain hardwear sub zero for two reasons:

1. it's warmer with 800 fill vs. 650 for the sub zero.
2. it's lighter at 15oz (440g) vs. the sub zero 1lb 11oz (765g).

i am 5'10 with 31 inch waist and i even went a step further and went for a size small. it's perfect, but any smaller and it would be too small. it's light and super warm. i like the shortness of it in case i need to wear a harness however some might feel it's too short. it packs down into a nice little package for packing on the skin up. AND the fleece lined pockets are a very nice supprise luxury for a superlight jacket.

Running Lambs Canyon to Alta

my first real run since the transrockies was a boozy. i am trying to run the entire wasatch 100 course before it's consumed by snow. yesterday i had marit drop me at the lamb's canyon section off i80 on her way to work. i had an amazing 27 mile run to alta in t-shirt and shorts. rather than heading up to sunset pass i exited the course instead coming down catherine's pass to it's trailhead in little cottonwood canyon/alta ski resort.

photos taken with iphone

the trail up lamb's pass starts 1 mile down the road
on the way up lamb's
desolation lake (you might remember this lake from my ride this weekend)

great western trail - how sweet it is
lake martha
on the way up catherine pass
albion basin on the way down catherine pass trail
the nuun van was a welcome site (devil's castle 10,920 in background)

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i ran in the Montrail Hardrock. my neuroma appreciates the protection plate.

Weekend with Reno

my long time buddy came for a quick visit to slc from seattle. a weekend with copson means one thing - mountain biking... well or backcountry skiing depending on the season.

i was super excited to show him my new playground. i have been here in deseret just long enough to have a sufficient handle on the trails.. and with a little help from marit we planned a perfect 3 days.

day 1: 18+ mile mtn bike ride on glenwild - kimball junction/park city
we rode stealth, flying dog, cobblestone and back glenwild trail. seriously fast and buttery.

stealth trail

more stealth

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day 2: 16 miles of great western trail on the wasatch crest!
all between 9,000 and 10,000 feet. i simply love it up there. it's part of the wasatch 100 mile course. we rode from guardsman's, up puke hill, down the spine past red lover's pass and desolation lake to mill creek trail and back.

first mile from guardsman's pass had snow

puke hill
the spine off red lovers

desolation lake
copson with wasatch beauty in the background

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day 3: a great 4.2 mile hike with 3,300 feet of gain.
up the west flank of mount grandeur, and i mean up. we followed this with a great bbq at meltzer's place. it really hit the spot! thanks karl & cheryl! i think the quote of the day was karl saying "10 minute miles are coming, i can feel it".

gettin' some color

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an absolute must buy for winter riding. the pearl izumi wind shoe covers.

Backcountry.com Roadie Shoot

last week i had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot for backcountry.com with photographer tommy chandler. he's good.. check it.

24 Hour Fast

fasting for health? i'll be the judge of that.

i incessantly read about training, health and nutrition. i feel like as an athlete and coach it's part of my continuing education. for years now i've read about the benefits of fasting. motivated by my buddy justin angle back in dec of '06 i did a 3 day fruit fast. people have been fasting since before recorded time. mormons fast the first sunday of each and every month. doctors believe this is why mormons as a group have a much lower rate of heart disease.

after listening to this npr article and reading this cnn article on fasting i was sufficiently sold on the supposed benefits, that include; a reduced risk of cancer, a slowing of the aging process, an increase maximum life span, glucose regulation which can protect against diabetes, lowers blood pressure, beneficial effects on the brain, protection against alzheimer's, parkinson's and stroke. although these are great reasons to try a fast, i think i'm more intrigued by the detoxification benefits which seem to be more immediately tangible.. and hell - jesus did it.

now, as an endurance athlete and someone who loves food, the prospect of actually not eating a thing for 24 hours is very intimidating, i've got peanut butter in the cupboard after all. fasting essentially means no energy and therefore no training. being injured it's easy to give up a day of "cross training" to fast and hopefully get some other work done.

thursday 10:48am: had my last bit of food; some u, peanut butter, raisins and banana wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. then just to go out with a bang i grabbed a frozen snickers bar and smothered that in peanut butter too. it was so good going down... and set me up for a good start to the fast because i felt kind of sick from it all. i realize that gorging before starting a fast isn't what anyone would suggest you do before you start. i like to learn things on my own and often the hardest way possible.

for the last 10 years or so of my life i've been a 5-6 smaller meals spread out through the day kind of guy. so within a couple hours i got the urge to get into the kitchen. this was a test, but i had lots to do and i diverted my attention by heading out to take care of some business. i'm usually filling a backpack with food before i leave the house, fruit, leftovers, bars of some sort, etc. i'm typically not more than a couple hours without eating. now i started to think, "this could be tough".

1:48pm: (3hrs in) i had this empowering feeling. i have these urges, i'm slightly hungry and i have overcome. normally i lose this battle numerous times a day with what i think i "should be eating". so why is this fasting thing coming so easy? do i have this power all the time? hmm. i think i like this.

3:45pm: (5hrs in) i was very spacey. couldn't concentrate or focus on much. it was a lot like the feeling i have after a really long run. i came out of home depot and just stood there looking at the lot. it didn't look familiar. my short term, cognitive memory was apparently gone.

5:00pm: (6hrs in) i was feeling a bit better mentally. my stomach felt kind of strange but it wasn't grumbling as i expected it might. i was surprised to not be overwhelmed with a "hungry" feeling, and i didn't feel empty per se.

7:30pm: (almost 8hrs in) i'm grumpy and tired. marit comes home and doesn't like the sounds of 'fasting'. now my mind is swimming and i don't feel very good.

10:00pm: (11hrs in) time for bed. i fall sleep immediately.

8:00am: (21hrs in) i wake a bit later than normal but don't fight it. my natural rhythm is causing me to want to eat and drink coffee. i have just 2hrs 48 mins left. i take the dog for a walk, do some yoga and stick to my guns.

friday 10:48am!!: (24hrs later) marit brought me some zucinni bread her friend tracy made. thanks tracy! it was sooo good smothered in peanut butter, amazing. deprivation is pretty good at increasing appreciation. i stop about 800-900 calories later. i know, i know.. not the way to come off a fast. i should have stopped sooner but i went grocery shopping yesterday.
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conclusion: well i'll never know if this fast will make me live longer, or less likely to get alzheimer's, parkinson's or to have a stroke. however the overall experience was a good one. it was a nice relief to not focus my day around eating and training. the intangibles were nice, the feeling of empowerment, etc. i'm a couple hours post now and i'm feeling sharp and energized again.. it's time to get on the bike and ride!!

i enjoy mark's sisson's daily apple blog and he wrote a good post on intermittent fasting that is very much worth a read.

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update: after another meal and an easy 5 miles or so on the bike i went out for a 'training' session. wow - i felt incredible. better than i have in a very long time. i did 30 min warm & cool with varying intervals (i get bored easy); hills followed immediately by flat sprints; .5 mile speed laps, and i finished it off with some tabata sprints. i am not sure if it was the fast or the rest or a combo of both but i think there is something to this intermittent fasting.

Quick Workouts - Hodgepodge

just did this one. it should take between 10-15 minutes. it's a great mix of exercises and finishing with the jump burpees leaves you feeling like you worked hard.

here is what you need: leg weights, exercise ball


the workout: non stop no rest between exercises, adjust reps and go knee pushups if necessary

• 20 each leg straight leg deadlifts each leg w/leg 2x (2.5lbs weights) great exercise
• 10 pushups
• 20 stability ball pikes/knees alternate
• 10 pushups
• 20 leg lifts ankle weights on 2.5lbs each leg
• 10 pushups
• 20 crunches w/knees & 1 ankle weight (2.5lbs)
• 10 pushups
• 20 hip ups 1 ankle weight (2.5lbs)
• 10 pushups
• 15 Jump Burpees
  

** give it a try and post your time and reps.

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also as promised here is the photo of my metatarsal inserts i'm using.

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mountain hardwear transition jacket is perfect for our transition to winter. great for colder weather running - and it's an outside magazine "gear of the year" pick.

Refueled By Lance

long coming re-written entry -


in case you've been in a cave: lance armstrong is coming back to professional cycling.

well today they announced that he's coming back to the kazakhstan team astana, who was banned from the tour de france last year, and is also lead by the best cyclist in the world right now alberto contador. total drama.

If Lance Armstrong joins the Astana cycling team for his comeback, then Alberto Contador is ready to leave. "I think I've earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for my place," said the Spanish rider

i think it's likely lance cheated, but that is another blog post for another day. for all intents and purposes i'm a fan and will give him a pass because i want so badly for him to have been the most dominant cyclist ever.. clean.



this is my favorite commercial.. it resonates with me.

i was going to write my opinion on whether i thought lance could come back and win the tour de france for an eight time. but as i read the sept vanity fair interview with lance i found myself overwhelmed with my urge to train. to get after it. to put in an effort equal to lance armstrong.

i suppose my interest and appreciation comes from knowing how hard and yet fully rewarding what he's trying to do is going to be. to get up day after day and do exactly what he needs to do to succeed - the article calls it "monk mode". it means meticulous attention to detail. there is something about monk mode that i'm attracted to. to completely give into a focused effort toward your goals. it's not easy. endurance training is tough.

but hard work rewards in many ways.

there is a description of lance's workout in the article. he's in the 'garage' training with the white stripes blaring in the background. reminds me a bit of my quick workout sessions (except i usually keep my shirt on).

"Armstrong, shirtless, runs through a sick set of pull-ups, medicine-ball exercises, and crunches, all executed at a rapid pace."

i'm going to let how dedicated lance is to his craft and his comeback refueled me. and it couldn't come at a better time. i'm injured right now. i'm missing my 100 mile race this weekend because of it. even without running there are things i can do become a better athlete and lance just pushed me to refocus and start striving again... for that lance, i thank you.

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nuun

An SLC Cross Race

today in a cold downpour i got to cheer marit on as she raced the men's b category in the utah cyclocross series.





now.. i'm thinking i need to do some cyclocross races. it looks like a ton of muddy fun and it's a great place to improve bike handling and get that once a week "almost threw up" anaerobic session through the winter. i don't have a cross bike, but i might just throw it out there on the mtn bike - we'll see.

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you might have noticed the hot arm warmers marit had on.

Me and Brigham Young

i agree with brigham young on at least one thing.. no, not the plural wives thing. when he looked out over the salt lake valley he said "this is the place". since moving here to salt lake city and surveying my new playground i've thought that many times.. like when i saw this yesterday.


from the wasatch crest trail
or this...

my ride down big cottonwood
ok so i'm not racing in the grindstone 100 miler that starts tomorrow (good luck krissy - she's my pick for the win). my neuroma kept me from running a meaningful step all of september. after the transrockies it flared and that was it. shooting pain in the ball of foot and toes every step.

long story short. when i was in seattle i saw a great podiatrist and started the alcohol injection treatment i cried about a while back. monday i picked that treatment up with dr. petron here at the university of utah. he gave me another shot. i was able to run tuesday and again yesterday. i have mild pain in the toes now but it's "manageable", with no shooting pain. more protective shoes (montrail hardrock) and metatarsal inserts have helped as well.

moving here to salt lake city (slc) was good for temporarily keeping my mind off running. but i'm totally and completely in awe of this terrain and there is only so much i can do on a road bike.

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Montrail Hardrock Trail Running Shoe - Men's

The Montrail Mens Hardrock, inspired by the Hardrock 100 Ultra Marathon, is a trail running shoe built for the rough, rocky terrain of its namesake.

Scott Jurek Wins 2008 Spratathlon

here is the word on the street - scott ran a "PR of 22:20, won by over 2.5 hours."

wow, congrats again scott!

scott has now won the spartathlon the last three years. it's a pretty tough road race from from athens to sparta, greece. that is 246 kilometers, or 152.8 miles. also have to give a shout to justin angle who was there to crew and pace scott. great work man.

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i just yesterday received one of these platypus insulated bladders - if you train in the winter you should pick one up.

platypus insulated bladder

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