I love summer!!!

I almost need a vacation from all the fun I've been having lately. My days off, despite the fact I get four of them, always seem to come to an end too quickly and back to work I go. Lots of early mornings hitting the road or the trail.

For the 4th of July I got double lucky. I was already up early on the dreadmill at the gym when I got the call that I wasn't needed at work!! Woohoo, my run was already nearly done. I headed from there to hit the last 50 minute of master's swim. By 8 am I was done with everything I had planned on doing for the day, so I loaded my bike up and headed to what I hoped would be the least crowded roads I could find. My initial plan was to ride the Gold Lakes loop from Sierraville, but when I got to the turnoff in Bassetts I couldn't decided which way to go. I had never ridden to Downieville and wanted to see what the road was like. I had no clue that the road dropped 4000ft over 17 or so miles. It was a slightly busier road than Gold Lakes and the road surface wasn't as smooth, but it was a sweet ride. The climb back up to Yuba Pass is a perfect gradual gradient.

Yuba Pass above Sierra Valley 6700 ft.

The Sierra Buttes!!

Proof that I made it to Downieville.

On my next day off I headed to my favorite local run trail with the intent of running from Mt. Rose Meadows to Marlette Lake and back. It's mid July and I was itching to get on this trail. The snow has melted a lot since I was up here a month ago, but in the shade there was still 4-6ft of snow. After bushwhacking for an hour and losing the trail numerous times I called it a day and headed back to the car. Maybe it will be open in mid August?!?

There is still a bit of snow on the trail.

Mt. Rose Meadows

I had never been on the Tahoe Rim Trail on the other side of Mt. Rose so I took a chance that maybe the south facing slopes would have less snow. The view was totally worth getting thwarted by the snow once again. Bliksem had a great time, and while I didn't get to run the whole time, I got a fun session done.

Above Tahoe at about 9000ft

The next day I tried out the section of the TRT from Tahoe City. Only a couple of snow banks left there, and the rest of the trail was open to Watson Lake. Sweet riding!! I can't describe how much fun I have riding my mountain bike. Can't wait to head back here and explore the trails a bit more.

The view wasn't bad either.

The real reason I haven't been blogging is that my days have been filled with rides and runs. The next day I got to ride old highway 40 over Donner Pass and try standup paddle boarding. Perfect way to end my days off. Back to work as tired as ever and in need of a vacation.

Rainbow Bridge above Donner Lake

Way to Cool

This past weekend was the Way to Cool 50K. I was excited about this race when I signed up, but as the race day drew nearer I was most definitely unfit to be racing 50K and it ended up being a long training day. Training has been hit and miss with snow, rain, moving, and starting a new job. Despite being quite under-trained I was still really excited about running on new trails and catching up with friends.

The day before the race was my dad's birthday, so pre-race dinner included lobster and tirimisu.... and of course I had leftovers as breakfast race morning. Oh, and the ever present Girl Scout Cookies to top off the tank.

I was warned that the race would be muddy, but I wasn't prepared for how muddy. I did see a couple people stopping and putting shoes back on in places. It was entertaining to watch people try and hop around the first patches to only later blast right through the middle. My choice of white compression socks may have been a mistake, but I was glad to have the extra support. My legs felt okay for the first 15 or so miles..... never great, but I wasn't expecting great. After 15 miles my legs and stomach began to protest. Maybe one too many Girl Scout Cookies..... With everything hurting I just decided to enjoy the views and the trail. The strange part about this race was always running with someone. With about 700 entrants the trails were busy. It wasn't busy in a bad way, but there was always someone either in front or behind.

Overall I really enjoyed the event despite it hurting much more than a 50K should. Plus it was a good wake up call to start a more organized training program.


Mud?? What mud? One mud pit ran through my leg sank up to my knee.


They were white at the start.

Gary and myself after the race.


CUPCAKES!!!!!!!


Frog cupcakes....

Hanging out post race with Tim Twietmeyer

My travel buddy and her duck. She's a little upset that she didn't get to come along on race day.

12 Hours of Temecula

12 hours of Temecula or quieting the voices in my head.....

Long events are always a battle for me especially when I don't train for them. During my whirlwind trip around the southwest I spent some time in Huntington Beach with friends from Ultraman. I heard about this race they were doing about a week before the event, but I didn't have my mountain bike with me on the trip. It was actually still packed in it's box from the return trip from Hawaii in October. On my drive to Reno I had the event in the back of my mind. The last couple years I've been thinking about doing a 24 hr solo race, but I've never had the chance with the rest of my schedule. This would be a good stepping stone to try some of my equipment out and get a feel for spending a day on a mountain bike. I got to Reno 2 days before the race, quickly bought a ticket, and off to the airport I went. Luckily the bike was all packed up already.

It was kind of refreshing to go into an event unprepared. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into or what gear or food I'd need or want. The plan was gels during the lap with NUUN in my camelback. I know bottles would probably be faster, and I could have them all filled before the start, but my bike frame is so small it's hard to get a bottle in and out of the cage. I planned to stop every other lap and fill up and grab a solid food snack of some sort.

The night before the race we stopped and picked up a Monster. I'd seen the 2 sizes of Monster before which I refer to as large and extra large, but at the 7-11 in SoCal they had bucket size.


Trying to organize for a race where I didn't really know what I wanted or needed was a little tricky.


Race morning went smoothly with no pre-race nerves. It's nice doing an event where I have no expectations except to get through 12 hours. I did a super short warm up, and then we were off. I wanted to start the first lap fast because there is nothing worse than getting stuck behind people on a single track descent. The laps were a little longer than 9 miles with 1100 ft of climbing per lap. Lap 1 was a little faster than I wanted to go out, but it was good to be riding with good technical riders.

Woooohooo... it was so much fun being back on my mountain bike. It's been a couple years since I've raced in Temecula and the changes to the trails were nice. The course included more single track and the same great roller coaster descents. I think I had a stupid grin on my face for the first 2 laps. After that the climbs became steeper with every lap, but the descents were still a blast. I had an energy low point about 3 hours into the race and backed off the pace a bit. I also stopped and shoveled more food in my mouth as I passed through base camp. After that I felt slightly better, but as always it's the mental part that is the toughest. When I'm out of shape it's that much harder to fight to stay in the race especially when passing though bass camp every hour. It was a back and forth battle during the middle section of the event. I was having fun, but the body wasn't happy at all. The thoughts vary from I got a good workout in already, 5 hours is a good day, I'll just stop and rest for a bit and then get out and ride a couple hours at the end, my butt hurts, my back hurts, everything hurts, I'm hungry...... and on and on it goes. By the end of the day the voices of self doubt had quieted and I finished 11 laps for a grand total of about 100 miles and 12200 ft of climbing. Not bad for the first mtb ride in 3 months. The night laps were the most fun. It almost felt like I was riding on a completely new course as sections would sneak up on me as I lost perception of time and distance. Can't wait for the next 12 or 24 hr race......

Thanks Keevin and Slater for talking me into coming down to the race and for the hospitality!

Such a treat to be riding the roller coaster trails in Temecula in just shorts and a jersey in January!!


Thanks to Gary Wang for race photos and support!!

The gang post race..... it got cold......really cold at night.

And the next day I made up for the calorie deficit with cupcakes. One in every flavor!

Random photo I got in Huntington Beach that I needed to throw in somewhere.

Bandera and Beyond

I started toying with the idea of running the 100K trail run in Bandera about a week before the race, and 3 days before the race I decided it was a go and signed up. I've been running fairly consistently since Ultraman, but nothing had been longer than 2 hours or so and most of that was done on a treadmill. I guess I was hoping that Ultraman fitness would still be lingering. Since I was already on the road driving to Texas seemed a logical choice. Little did I realize how big Texas really was, and I only had to drive halfway into it. The rest of my trip so far had consisted of 3-4 hour drives broken up with a stop at a national park or a friends house. Bandera is about 500 miles from the New Mexico border. Fortunately the van is a comfy sleep and most McDonalds and Starbucks have free wifi. At nearly every exit off the I-10 I could stop, connect to the internet from the convenience of the drivers seat, and plan the rest of my day. One of the rest stops in Texas even had free wifi.


Somewhere in Arizona..... The van setup. Sleeping bag on right, crates full of gear all neatly organized, and the dog kennel just behind the drivers seat. I might be the most organized hobo out there.

The drive was uneventful with unchanging scenery for about 500 miles. Bandera is a small town that is mainly comprised of dude ranches. I didn't start getting nervous about the race until I arrived at packet pick up the night before. At the pre-race briefing they talked about how rough the course was and some cactus that looked like an aloe plant that we shouldn't touch. There were some chuckles about there aren't switchbacks in the Texas hills and we'd go straight up and down the steep hills. The nerves were building. 62 miles is a long way to go in a car let alone on foot, but I was excited about the new challenge. This was going to be the next step into building towards hopefully my first 100 mile run in the next year or two.

Hill Country Texas was more scenic than I had pictured and had actual hills. Really great views on the run.

The race itself was much more than anticipated. It was 2 laps of 31 miles. I had Bliksem with me so I was stopping after lap 1 to check on her and let her out for a bathroom break. Coming from the Sierras the "hills" in Texas didn't scare me, but they did go straight up and down as promised. It was also really rocky and loose in some places. The cactus was much eviler than I had thought. Their branches reached across the single track interlacing with the plant on the opposite side of the trail. We really had no choice but to run through them. At first my legs were cold enough that I didn't really feel them, but when I looked down about 5 miles into the run I had blood running down my legs from 100s of tiny little cuts. For the first lap the rocks, cactus, and hills were a piece of cake, but round 2 on the course really worked a number on me both physically and mentally. Lap 1 went really smoothly, but I didn't take enough calories in. This caught up with me on lap 2.

photo by Enduro Photo. Lap 1 as I'm still looking fairly coherent.

Finished the first lap in about 5 hours, stopped and took the dog for a short walk, changed my shoes, and headed back out for round 2. Bliksem was not impressed as she got shoved back in the van. The toughest part of lap 2 was the mental aspect. It was a USATF Championship event so there were no pacers, no ipods, no HR monitors, and no GPS. As I left or lap 2 I passed 2 other runners and then didn't see another runner for the rest of the 30 miles. Every time I would stumble into an aid station I'd be so happy to see people that I wouldn't want to leave. I'd have to focus on grabbing some quick food and getting back out on the trails. I usually enjoy running solo, but something about this run was really tough for me. Running through the cactus became a dread as my legs felt more and more raw. I was still running flats and uphills quickly, but my legs turned to baby giraffe legs and each loose downhill became a battle to stay upright. As I came through the last aid station the last of the sunlight faded and it was time to break out the light. The last 5 or so miles were slow...... real slow. As I approached the finish I could see the clock at 10:59, and I hustled through to get in under the 11 hr mark. Tough day, but I'm glad I gutted it out. Immediately passed out in the van only to wake up starving at 3am. I promptly polished off an entire bag of trail mix.


Evil cactus that looked kind of like an aloe plant but with hack saws for blades.

photo by Enduro Photo
Rick Kent from Ultraman was at the finish doing the photography for the events. It was great to see a familiar face!

Awards were Tarahumara pottery that I actually managed to not break during the road trip. I also got my first belt buckle. As you can see the bed is super comfy.

Next up my trip though Big Bend National Park

Slowtwitch link

Performance of the year!!

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/2010_Tri_Year_in_Review_1849.html

On the road

With winter temps in the 20s in Reno I jumped in the car and headed south. With no job and no home there really wasn't a reason to hang around in the snow and suffer. I'll get a proper blog up tomorrow about NYE fun, but for now here are a couple of links to recent interviews I have done.

This one is to the local Reno paper
http://www.rgj.com/article/20101230/SPORTS/12300324/1018

This one is on Competitor Radio with Bob Babbitt
http://competitorradio.competitor.com/2010/12/amber-monforte-with-aj-acosta/#disqus_thread

Enjoy!

The dreaded pavement run, part 3 of 3

Besides the swim, the run was the most intimidating part of this event for me. It's not so much the distance of the run, but rather it is all on road. 99% of my training is on trails. The only time I run on road is to get to the trail, which is 3 minutes by foot from my front door. Trail running is my meditation. I get totally lost and feel so incredibly lucky to run in such beautiful places. I tend to get injuries when I run on road, but this is probably more due to the fact that I avoid it until it comes to race day. My ouchy spot post run tends to be my anterior tibialis, and I was a little worries about this going into race day. With the worry about my legs I decided to run in compression socks to help mitigate the damage to my legs for as long as possible. It worked.... for a while. 52.4 miles takes a toll.

The morning started early, very early. The night before I bought some more rocket fuel at the gas station in the form of 2 spam musubis. When my alarm went off at 3am, I rolled over, turned the light on, and started to cram them down. They actually tasted good. Salty stuff after all the sweet gels the day before were a nice change. The run didn't start until 6am, but because of some serious procrastination on my part we had a 40 minute drive from the hotel to the start. Next year I'll get started on my reservations early..... I promise.

As I went to put my shoes on I felt some pain in my right toe. Noooo, there was an enormous blister on my big toe right where I used to have a toenail, until Ironman claimed it's victim 6 weeks prior. The soft new skin was just no match for 260 miles on the bike over the past 2 days. Not knowing where to find a needle in the van at 4am after it had been hit by 2 days of Ultraman tornado, I pulled out a safety pin from the race packet and began surgery. 15 minutes later my foot was nicely bandaged and ready, I hoped, for 52 miles of running.

Waiting for the run to start. It might have been the only moment all day that I felt cold. Too bad it didn't last.

One, two, three, go! It was still dark outside as we all started..... much too fast. Ooops. I know better than this, but my legs felt good. The first marathon went by quickly and felt easy. Then the heat began, my stomach started protesting, and my right leg started hurting.

My plan was to leave the socks on until they felt hot, and then change them and change out my shoes. The first half of the run I wore Avia Avi-Lite and for the finishing stretch I wanted the Avi-Bolt. The Bolts gave me the extra zip I needed to maintain my lead, plus they just look really fast. The socks still felt cool, so I left them. I also wasn't sure if I sat down to take them off that I'd ever get back to my feet again.

Just before the turn in Kawaihae. Photo by Timothy Carlson

Between my stomach protesting and my right leg pain I was alternating imodium and ibuprofen with a little improvement. I was all too familiar with this course as it's the last half of the Ironman bike course. I knew how much further I had to go and I knew I'd get there.... eventually. I slowed my pace in hopes that my stomach would stop it's revolt, and I got a little relief. The last 13 miles were torture, but I kept on right, left, right, left, repeat. My right shin felt like someone had placed a knife in it and every time it touched ground they turned it. My crew kept me moving forward, and I think they knew it was bad when I wouldn't take anything else to eat and stopped talking. No sound from me is a bad thing. The last 10K or so of the course I also know well from many a long IM day. One of those long IM days was this year, and I knew where every bump in the road would be. Finally on the top of the last hill I could see the top of the old airport buildings. Woohoooo, going to make it! I might be dragging my right leg behind me and forcing my stomach into some kind of compliance, but I was going to make it across the finish whether my body cooperated or not.

Somewhere on the Queek K.... with my crew and pacer Taylor Seavey.

Post finish and ocean dip with my wonderful crew. Thanks again Seavey family!

With Wendy Minor, my hero, she is an Ultraman finisher at age 65. This is proof for all my 50 year old patients that tell me they can't. You really can, it's all a state of mind.


With mens champion and all around nice guy, Mike Le Roux.

My favorite shoes. How can you not run fast when you're wearing these?

Immediately after the race comes the question, are you coming back next year. My first response, while hobbling back and forth to the bathroom every 10 minutes for 6 hours, was an emphatic NO. My thought was there are so many races to do and so many places to see. I've heard rumors of Ultraman Brazil, and I haven't been there yet..... Definitely on my to do list. After a couple weeks of reflection though, I will come back. The friends and family I've made through Ultraman are priceless, and I couldn't imagine not going to the family reunion next Thanksgiving.

On my to do list for next year is to spend more time running on pavement to get used to the pounding. My right leg swelled to about 3-4x the normal size the day following the race. Ouch! Spent a couple days post race on crutches to give my right leg some well deserved rest. It still felt like a knife was stuck in there, and I was worried I was doing more harm than good by shuffling around on it. The good news is that 2 weeks post race I'm back to running, on DIRT, sweet dirt with my dogs.


Bliksem with her wiggly wrap around the seat sneak kiss.

Part 2 of 3

The unspoken part of Ultraman is trying to get in as many calories as possible as soon as the day is done. I normally enjoy eating and am not picky, but after racing I generally loose my appetite for a while. I ate a burger after getting off the bike, we checked into the hotel, and then we headed to the group dinner with the rest of the athletes. I was a little worries about getting hungry in the middle of the night, so I took some food back to the room. It was so cold up at the top of Volcano that I didn't end up eating my hot potato but put it in my pocket and slept with it.

Race morning came early and I didn't want to climb out of my warm bed. I was relieved after a quick peek out the window to see stars. No rain. It was chilly outside and the roads weren't wet, but I felt very lucky to be mostly dry on the first descent.

Still trying to squeeze in a little sleep. When I planned for this trip I didn't think to bring arm warmers, so these beauties I picked up at Target. They started out as argyle socks, but made great arm warmers.

Day 2 bike start is on the top of Volcano with about a 20 mile descent to start. Lucky us with clear skies, but there was a bit of spray off the road. We were allowed to stay grouped up until the turn down to red road. I normally enjoy riding in groups, but it was a bit high speed and twitchy at moments which meant keeping focus.
Keeping with the front pack. Right behind me are the ladies putting the pressure on. Hillary Biscay and Shanna Armstrong. Photo by Rick Kent, Josh Baker

After making the turn down to red road the group split up and I was on my own.... kind of. I knew the Hillary and Shanna were close behind as I could see their crew vehicles preparing their drink hand offs as I went by. The leapfrogging of crew vehicles continued. My plan was to up the pace when I got to red road. No crew support is allowed on that section of road and I wanted to get out of sight. Despite it being a coastal road it has a lot of rolling hills and my legs felt great. I dropped the hammer and mission accomplished! Once I turned off red road I saw their crew vehicles for the last time that day. Around this time I started to have shifting issues. Not sure if it was all the vibration from the old section of road we crossed or not. Shifting slowly went from bad to worse, but I tried to stay relaxed.

This is along the red road section. That's my hocus pocus focus expression. Photo by Rick Kent, Josh Baker

Another shot of red road. I was really bummed my crew didn't get to see the view along here.

All forward momentum seemed to stop when I hit Hilo. At race briefing they said there are 8 traffic lights. I stopped at 7 of the longest lights I've ever seen. I kept turning around to see if I was the only unlucky one. Christian was riding through the lights at the same time as he had went off course a little earlier and had to backtrack. Because of my shifting issues he'd have a good gap on me coming through the intersection, but then the light in front of us would turn red as I'd slowly spin up. We'd chat a bit at the light and then repeat.

Somewhere after Hawi

After Hawi there are about 40 miles of rolling terrain. My legs were feeling great, but my bike was not. I couldn't talk her into shifting into the big ring any longer. I tried to deal with it for a while as I hadn't seen bike tech in a while, but kept finding myself spinning out. After 10 miles of this I gave up and asked my crew to call for bike support. They were there fairly quickly and we both pulled over. I stayed as relaxed as possible when you're standing on the side of a road during a race. I used the opportunity to pee behind the tech vehicle, eat a banana (not at the same time), and finish off my bottle.

Thanks bike tech for getting me rolling again so quickly. Shifting wasn't perfect, but it was so much better than before the stop. Woohooo, I had my big ring back and felt ready to fly!

This is where the Spam Musubi rocket fuel came in handy. My crew had handed me one sometime after Hilo and every chance I got I'd eat another bite. Tastiest thing I'd eaten all day. So nice to get in some real food after taking gel most of the day. I polished it off just before the climb to Waimea started.

The final climb over the Kohalas before descending to Hawi.
photo by Timothy Carlson

I had no idea I was going to break the bike course record by over 40 minutes, but I was stoked. The best part was that Hillary and Shanna also broke it. I love how tough competition brings out the best in all of us. New bike course day 2 record of 7:57:58.


photo by Rick Kenk, Josh Baker

Overall it was a great day. With racing at this distance you have to take the bad with the good. Unexpected things are going to happen. What is important is how you deal with them. The same goes for energy level, it goes up and down and then back up again. I always remember that good moments will follow the bad and often it just means I need to eat more. :)

I couldn't have done it without my crew. Thanks Siri, Darian, and Taylor for everything. photo by Rick Kent, Josh Baker.

The fourth event followed the bike ride. Ice bath and eating and eating and eating. From last years experience at Ultraman Canada I knew that I would have tummy trouble on day 3, so my goal for day 2 night was to get in as many calories as possible. Mission accomplished again. Huge Chinese takeout with some local fried doughnut like things. I ate until stuffed and took the rest with me and finished it off 2 hours later.

The past couple months part 1

Part 1 of 3

The past couple months have been the hardest of my life. Big changes happened that I didn't see coming and couldn't change. My heart was shattered by the person that I trusted most with it.

For the past couple years Conrad has been asking me to quit my job and come to South Africa with him. With huge student loan and credit card debt I hadn't been able to. For the past 2 years I stopped racing to save money and worked every extra shift I could. I finally saved up enough money to quit the job and after much encouragement from Conrad I quit. He said that I had to do it this year for the relationship to work. I was told to trust him and that everything would work out for the best. A little over a month after quitting my job, I found myself all alone. The day after Xterra Worlds shortly before getting on his flight he said, "it's over and I don't want to talk about it." Asking for an explanation the only thing I got was, "you're not Afrikaans and you have bad table manners". I don't know why it took him 5 years to figure out I was American. I guess sometimes there is no explanation. Where was I supposed to go from here. I just quit my job, moved out of our house, and the biggest race of my life was coming up in 5 weeks.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1667724450453
from this to breakup in 24 hours




For 2 weeks I didn't eat, sleep, or train. I considered dropping from the race. Riding had always been my escape and now it was just torture. Then the supportive Ultraman family started arriving in the islands. Without them I wouldn't have made it through the race. I stayed as busy as I could and joined with every group ride and swim. I figured I was here and I should make the most of the experience. About 2 weeks prior to the race I decided to go for it and race.


Pre-race practice swim.


Pre-race ride with Gary, Jason, and Marty. This was an infamous gas station bonk where you grab every item of food in sight.

Race week came along quickly with all the preparation and organizing. I think I bought out the entire supply of chicken broth and pedialyte. Then there was the selection of an ice bath bucket. I was pulling the storage bins off the shelf at Target looking for one big enough to fit when the manager asked if I needed help. I quickly jumped from the tub I was sitting in and replied that I was okay.


My support crew came together at the last moment. Thanks Darian, Siri, and Taylor for getting me through the race.

The biggest worry about the race for me was the swim. Wetsuits were legal and I was a bit worried about overheating, but knew that I had to take advantage of the extra flotation. I'd been doing a bit of open water swimming, but the sheer distance of 10K was intimidating. The swim itself went really well for the first 9K, then I hit a bit of a wall. I struggled a bit to get through the current coming out of Keauhou Bay, but once around the buoy the current seemed to let up a bit. My paddlers did a great job of keeping me straight and stopping me every 25 minutes to refuel and hydrate. My goal of the day was to get out of the water no more than 30 minutes behind Hillary Biscay and mission accomplished. I was only 22 minutes behind. :) Hillary smashed the swim record with a 2:20 swim, breaking the old record by 26 minutes.


That's me in the water beside the buoy and my paddlers Karen and Don.

Actually feeling fairly good coming out of the water with a swim PR of 2:42


The first couple miles of the bike go straight up. Not a great feeling after being horizontal for the past 2.75 hours. My legs never felt great this day, but they didn't feel bad either. Post race I think it was due to not taking enough calories in during the swim or the bike. After the initial climb it's a bit rolling to downhill, and it goes by fast. Heading up to Ocean View we hit the infamous wind. Wow! I'd pre-riden this section once before and I thought it was windy that day, but it wasn't even close to as windy as race day. The last 30 miles of the ride are the climb from sea level to 4000 ft at Volcano. Looking at my bike computer I was calculating how much longer I'd still be on the bike and the numbers weren't good. On some of the short downhill sections I'd be riding in my aero bars going 12 mph. It was going to be a long climb and my energy wasn't great. I started to take in a bit more calories and amazingly felt better during the last 10 miles of the climb. Note to self... eat more. I finished the ride portion in 5:39 for the fastest ride split of the day.

The long climb up to Volcano.


Hawaii can be cold, very cold, at the top of Volcano, but the post ride ice bath was a must for recovery. Bob Babbit is trying to distract me from realizing that I can no longer feel my feet.


Just had to throw a sunset picture in. This one was taken from the lanai of the condo.