Thru Endurance We Conquer!

 Less then 24 hours until the start of my 6th 100 and I find myself pondering all the things. There’s a lot that can happen over 100 miles and while I have a plan, we all know what happens to most plans! But I also have some new thoughts to focus on while wandering the woods looking for tents with food.  Control what you can control. This one is the easiest. Some things - like gear, drop bags and snacks can be controlled. I can neatly pack my drop bag, knowing that I planned for contingencies with the gear contained. I can control the amount of effort I put out on the climbs and control the pace on the runnable sections as to not blow my legs up. I can manage my temperature by carrying the right gear and being smart about when I put on or take off clothes. All of these things are things I’ve practiced. If it’s something I can alter the outcome of by changing my actions, then I can control it.  Manage what you can’t control. And then there are other aspects of races that a...

Bryce Canyon was my first time doing a race with Vacation Races. Of course, since this was the first time the 100 was held since 2022, I wanted to do to that distance! An early season 100 would be good and a nice learning opportunity for a third attempt at Tabeguache later. But I was a little hesitant about doing that long a distance with a company I knew nothing about. Got all kinds of reassurance in the various FB groups, so went ahead and signed up. Besides, I couldn't beat the early bird price for the 100 either! Overall, it was a great event, well organized and a nice challenging course. I do feel a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the real 100 mile course, but not sure I'm disappointed enough to go back! I would however recommend the race, but with some caveats as always The Good...      The pre race communication was very clear and easy to understand. The race guide was set up so you could read it all but then just print out the information relevant to...

 Black Canyon 100k was just a few weekends ago and the big news with the race (other then the speedy times...) was the snow over night. It's Arizona - snow down near Phoenix isn't a common occurrence. Combined with rain prior to snow and the potential for icy roads, the call was made to delay the start from 7:00 to 9:00. And then it was pushed back another 30 minutes to allow for a late bus to get there. In the post race podcasts, the big story with the delay was the effect it had on the preparations of the pointy end of the field. The runners there trying to win golden tickets and would be finished well before sunset. Every podcast discussed the flexibility needed to adjust breakfast, warm ups and mental prep for the delay. And while that effected everyone, there was one thing that the commentators never even mentioned. It wasn't a factor for anyone they were talking about - and since most of the commentators either are or used to be pro runners - not something they would ...

 After the one day of trying to do as much course recon as possible, I was more than a little nervous about the race. There were some super fast women on ultra signup and most of them were local. They would have prepared much better and maybe even have gotten on the course a few times. Except for a few miles in the middle, it was all a huge mystery as to what the next 50 miles would bring. The biggest key would be trying to run those first trending downhill miles smart so I would have something left for all the hills in the middle and end.  The bus ride out to the start was long. Any time they have you loading the busses at 0530 for an 0730 start, you know it’s gonna be long! And it was - from Oracle State Park, all the way out Willow Springs road to Freeman Road. If you’ve done the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race, you know how long and bumpy Willow Springs can be! Now go even further and do it on a school bus. There was no napping at all on that drive. Instead I lis...

 The hardest part about vacation races? Not being able to set foot on the course and so not really knowing what to prepare for and how to train. I’v been so busy with scouting Tabeguache and working on that FKT (attempt three coming later…) that I’ve forgotten how important it is to really study course maps and profiles. And to also use the resources at hand such as facebook to get more intel on the terrain and course. Going in blind with just a glance at the course profile served me well at the Colossal Cave 55k, so why would the Oracle Rumble 50 mile be any different? Well, a few miles to the north and on a much more remote passage of the AZT meant both harder terrain and a not as well used trail. One of those I could have prepared for - the other not so much. Looking north on the AZT from Tiger Mine Rd Preparing better would have meant doing more then just plugging the course GPX into both Garmin and Gaia and then only looking at Garmin’s elevation gain. According to Garmin, it ...

 Third year in a row for the Bangs Canyon World Championship and the most un-Bangs weather I’ve seen. Sure, it was cold. But the sun was shining and the course was mostly dry with no mud to be seen. That meant all the speed demons came out to play and my chance of defending my title was slim to none. Nothing if not realistic! That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it my best shot and try to run hard and smart.  There were about five times as many people on the start line this year as compared last and maybe twice as many as 2022. The speedsters took off super fast, including two women I didn’t know, as well as Lexi and Michelle. I was hoping to keep the gap between myself and those two close. I know I’m nowhere nearly as fast as them for shorter distances, but maybe this would be long enough to tip the scales in my favor. After all, I don’t have the speed like I did when I was their age, but I’ve swapped it for endurance. Lexi’s done an 50 miler, but they both tend to favor t...

 I hope. I completely spaced on any writing last year for a number of reasons. Time got away from me and I just didn’t want to sit down and put proverbial pencil to proverbial paper aka turn my computer on and start typing! That will change. Now, that’s not to say it was a dull year. I had a lot of adventures, miles covered and trails explored. There were sunrises, sunsets. I just never said anything about them. I had a lot on my mind pondering different dreams and goals and how as we change our goals should change. Again, kept them quiet. I don’t know if people actually care about any of that, or the race reports I used to post. I know I’m still looking at people’s reports from events so hopefully others care about mine!  There’s a lot to catch up from 2023 and I will try to do my best. I’ll post things in chronological order - which might not be the order I write them! I’ll also try to make sure to get photos as appropriate in the posts to capture the essence of what I am tr...

 I was fully committed on Tabeguache this year. All in, nothing else on the plate. Just train for and hopefully complete the entire trail from Montrose to Grand Junction. And yet... I still have 30 miles to cover and was once again unsuccessful in reaching the Lunch Loops terminus of the trail. I made it significantly further then back in 2022, but still was not able to put the full puzzle together again.  I made it 117 miles, deciding to pull the at the end of the Cactus Park Segment. And like last year, the questions swirl in my mind. What could I do differently? Where did I go wrong in the training that left me short of the goal. I don't have any good answers for that. I thought I was doing the heat training I needed to handle the sun along the Dominguez Trail and Cactus Park sections. I though I was making sure to work on the hiking as well as the running. There were definitely things that went wrong - from not getting enough sleep in the days leading up the attempt, to se...

 At some point in any big event, there comes the risk of failure. Of stopping before you reach the finish line. Sometimes, that moment is clearly defined and the choice is made for you. You miss a cutoff or something else happens to force you to stop. Other times, you have to make that choice yourself - a decision between you and your crew. Stop now and live to fight another day or keep pushing and risk even more. After stoping at mile 75 last year on the first FKT attempt on Tabeguache, I was hoping that I would not have to make the choice again this year. I knew there was always something that could trip me up and I trusted both my judgement and Nick to determine if I had to stop. At mile 115, over 30 miles shy of the finish in Grand Junction, I felt like I was headed into dangerous territory. I couldn’t put my finger on why. I just knew things were shutting down. Something was wrong and I was nearing the end of the day. Nearing the point where I was no longer safe making forward...

 It’s so easy to believe and we frequently get trapped by this - the fallacy of more. If X worked well, then Y must work better. Usually Y means more - more miles, more long runs, more long races, more MORE. After all, X left you fitter and faster so Y will only build on the successes. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. I’ll be honest - I’ve fallen into that trap a few times over the years. It usually happens when I’ve been close to a desired time in a race or had a good but not satisfying event. I look back at my training and identify areas that I thought limited me - lack of speed workouts, not enough to goal volume, lack of long runs. Then instead of modifying to address the weakness, I try to cram more of everything into the schedule.  And it always, without fail comes back and bites me. I either get injured or I am too exhausted from the training that the taper doesn’t touch it. Before the Austin Marathon in 2004 when I was seconds away from an OTQ time, I tried push...

 And got so far… But it wasn’t far enough. It seems like when I have a big dream, it always takes two tries to get it right. My FKT attempt to be the first person to thru-run the entire Tabeguache trail looks to be on the same trajectory. I had high hopes when I started my watch Thursday at 0400 that we would be able to work with the narrow weather window and reach the Lunch Loop trail head some time on Friday. Was I concerned about how fatigued I had been for the two weeks after the Grand Mesa 50? Absolutely. That race had taken a lot more out of me then I’d anticipated. I was hopeful that the recovery from after the race had pulled me back from the brink a little, but… There were signs that it hadn’t. Regardless, I was committed and felt that I was ready. There was only one way to find out and that was to start.  Heading to Montrose on Wednesday was a quick shift in plans. Originally, Nick and I had every set up for Friday so that I would have a day to finish last minute pac...

 Grand Mesa Ultras. Last year I jumped into the 30k for fun a few weeks after Silverheels and had a great time. This year, I decided to bump up in distance to the 50 miler and use the race as my final long effort before the Tabeguache. That was the plan anyway. But how frequently do things really go to plan? Not this time! Watching the weather the week of the race was nerve wracking to say the least. July had been a very active monsoon month, with drench downpours and flash floods. Race kept flipping between nice and more of the same. With fingers crossed for nice, I packed (or so I thought) for more of the same. Besides, the race was at over 10,000’ - even with nice weather, it could be cold up there. Turns out my packing was a little scattered and there were plenty of things that I forgot to bring that could have been useful. We took the scenic route up - Land’s End Road to the edge of the mesa. And then we meandered around the mess for a bit, exploring. Might as well! The sun wa...