Recovery, Sprinting, and the Hardrock 100

It’s a testament to being on vacation that two weeks have passed since Western States, and it feels like it was only yesterday. Mentally, that is.

Physically I feel great. I had some concerns for a while there about my right quad, and finally went to see my massage therapist four days after the race. I warned her she probably wouldn’t be able to use much pressure, and that’s saying something coming from me. I usually let her go unrestrained with the deep tissue work. And then she proved me wrong by using more pressure that I imagined possible, causing howls of protest to escape my usually silent lips. Apparently her yardstick for too much pressure was if I “jumped off the table.” Seriously, she said that.

Okay, watch while I jump off and run screaming, naked, out the front door.

Truthfully though, she was a miracle worker. The next day it felt 90% better. Two days after that, 100%.

Then, 4^th of July weekend came with its ritual marathon of barbecues. I decided the quad was healed enough to enter the Firecracker Mile, which takes place in downtown Truckee just before the parade. If I’d remembered how much it hurts to sprint a mile, I might have decided I needed more recovery. Somehow though, when you’ve just run 100 miles, running only one sounds like fun.

I managed a 5:24 and 3^rd woman, while Chris took the win in 4:25. Afterwards, we caught up with Amber, Dave and Turi, who had come over after their Kings Beach run, to complete the TLD+Gretchen gathering.

Parade watching!

The rest of my local Truckee roustabouts showed up to watch the parade while we happily let kids spray us from the floats with super soakers. It was a hot one! The bike ride home required the traditional stop to swim in Donner Lake, and the rest of the day was spent with the traditional feasting, consuming of blackberry pineapple mojitos, and firework viewing from the end of the street.

And already I am off on my next adventure. I sit in Silverton, Colorado, shortly after the start of the Hardrock 100, where I’ll be pacing my friend Betsy for 30 miles. When we first started the drive across Nevada, Utah and Colorado to get here, I kept thinking about the phrase, “The more you know, the more you realize how little you know.”

I didn’t have time to do much homework on the race; I only knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. On the drive out, I tried to pick Betsy’s brain, and I really hope I didn’t get too wide-eyed at some of her course descriptions. Betsy’s done this race 10 times, so I’m super lucky to be hanging with a veteran. My biggest goal at this point is not to be a liability to my runner.

After yesterday’s pre-race briefing, that goal is even more prominent in my brain, my eyes even wider. Talk of steep, icy terrain over Virginius Pass had me running to the sports store in search of YakTrax. I can’t believe I left mine at home! After all the questions about snow at Western States, and the knowledge that no traction devices were allowed, it never occurred to me that other events would actually encourage them. Well thank God!

I still feel like I’m about to head off mountaineering in the dark, but at least I know this: It will be an adventure! Again, number one goal – don’t be a liability! After that, I’ll try to take care of my runner.

We already hit our first crew checkpoint this morning, Cunningham Gulch at mile 8.4. Standing at the bottom of the gulch next to the river, wrapped in my down jacket, I stared up at the steep mountain walls. I had to tilt my head all the way back to watch runners negotiate cliff-side switchbacks alongside a stunning waterfall. I live in a beautiful mountain town, but the scenery here is truly mind-blowing.

After runners descended into the gulch, they crossed the icy river into the aid station. Betsy was exactly on pace and didn’t waste any time, getting what she needed and moving on.

Afternoon thunderstorms are predicted to move in just as the front half of the race manages Handies Peak, the high point of the race at over 14,000 feet. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all of them through that.

I’ll be joining Betsy at mile 42 (Grouse Gulch) sometime after 5:00, when we’ll head off into the night for 30 miles. I’m really excited to be pacing, and equally relieved not to be running 100 miles myself!

You can follow the progress of Betsy and all the runners on the Hardrock Live Webcast.

 

For the Love of Reno

Trails near Peavine Mountain, just West of Reno.

A year and a half ago, my husband and I both began commuting to Reno from our home in Truckee for work. I was beginning a new job teaching 5th and 6th grades at a private school; he was attending paramedic school and eventually working on an ambulance in the city. On our drive home, we would share our days, and marvel at what opposite worlds we experienced in the same city.


The world of a paramedic is less than glamorous, as I'm sure you can imagine. While I was awash in loving, well-off families, bright, happy children, and a world that values education, he existed in the seediest of underbellies for such a small city, describing scenes straight out of the movie Seven. His work is beyond admirable, but I have to say, I prefer the view from the teacher's desk. 


After spending so much time there by this point, I've developed an ardent fondness for Reno, and in fact, I owe it a lot. Let me explain what I mean.


Aside from being home to a job that I love, and of course, Trader Joe's, Reno has an awesome community of people. Being a runner, I'm primarily speaking of the running community. I have yet to meet a runner from Reno that wasn't friendly and enthusiastic. There are my favorite Team Library Dorks, and all the folks who are involved with events like Silver State, Escape from Prison Hill, and Tahoe Rim Trail. There is a vibrant running community!


I also have great affection for both the trails and climate of Reno. Running through a winter in Truckee means pounding a lot of pavement, frequent whiteout conditions, icy roads - adversity in all forms. It builds character but tends to kill the weekly mileage.


Remember March? We had over 200 inches of snow that month. My house looked like this:

Reno typically looked like this:

This is Flat Stanley hanging out with me at the top of the hill at Bartley Ranch Park, where I do my weekly hill repeats.

Only 30 minutes away, but Reno exists in this wonderful little thing called the rain shadow. It's magic, really. Storms come in off the coast and slam into the wall of the Sierra Nevada. The mountains effectively act as a giant umbrella over the East side, sheltering it from the rain and snow. Storms rage in the mountains, while the sun shines peacefully in Reno.


Not only am I running in better weather, but there are nearly always some snow-free trails to be found. I run more miles and almost no pavement now because I get to run after school in Reno.


I like to hit up trails at Peavine, or in the hills above the Patagonia store. Turi did a great write-up of one of my weekly destinations for speedwork, the Steamboat Ditch Trail. There are trails east of Reno, south in Galena or down in the Virginia Highlands where the wild Mustang roam and surely more than one cowboy movie was filmed. 

I give Reno full credit for my strong Winter and Spring training this year. Did I mention the weather? This was my house on June 2:

Um, yeah. And here it was this morning, June 6th by the way, after the morning dog walk:

And by comparison, here was the sky in Reno today:

Enough said.


Thank you, Reno!

The Donner Lake Turkey Trot

With Helen Klien being my last official race of the season, I am now officially in slacker-mode. Never mind that my last two weekends have included 42 miles of running in Zion, and another race. There are just too many fun things to do to stop running! But the off-season is all about having f-u-n, and typically for me, well, that involves running.

One lap around Donner Lake is my standard "go-to" training run. It's about 1.5 miles from my house, and 7 miles around, so it makes the perfect 10-mile run. When I'm nearing the end of a run and things hurt, I always try to bring my brain to a place that is comfortable and familiar. When I have 7 miles to go in a race, I tell myself, that's just one lap around the lake, and then I picture where I am every step of the way around. It turns a tough finish into something I have done a million times. So, when I get a chance to run an actual race on this course, I just can't pass it up!

Last year at the Donner Lake Turkey Trot, Cap and I won the "Canine and Human" category. This year, I decided to leave Cap at home. I felt kind of guilty, but I knew he wasn't ready to lay down the speed, and I wasn't in the mood to wait for him. (Sorry, Cap, but there are plenty of skiing adventures in our future!)

As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by Chris, and was delighted to discover that most of Team Library Dork was in attendance. Turi and Dave were busy registering, but unfortunately Amber had to stay home with her boys. I had time to say hello to a lot of other friends from the neighborhood before the start. The best thing about the DLTT is that it is a community event. I see a lot of local friends that I don't normally see at most of the races I run, and it's such a treat!

I lined up near the front, and took off with the speedsters. It was a chilly morning, and luckily they had us starting on the sunny side of the lake. Still, I was bundled-up in my tights, long-sleeves, jacket and gloves!

Running thought the park. How much do you love that green Salomon Whisper jacket? My new favorite!

I hung on the shoulder of the first place woman for a while and let her set the pace. It felt quick, but I was also eager to warm up my cold muscles, so I had no complaints. The road was flat, and we all trampled along the north side of Donner Lake.

Shortly before turning into Donner State Park, I spotted the 3 mile marker on the road. My watch had it clocked at 20:21. Hmm. Could that possibly be accurate? I decided there was no way I was running sub-7 minute pace, but friends with gps's later confirmed it was spot-on. Yikes!

As soon as we turned into the park though, conditions changed a bit. I passed the first place woman to take the lead, and we promptly hit some ice and snow. The long icy stretches were well sanded, so I was able to keep my speed up there for the most part. The snowy stretches required a bit more caution. Then we hit the hills.

This is where things got a little dicey, and the whole "6:48 pace" started to fall by the wayside.

I was having fun running fast, and just trying to hang onto my pace through the slow stuff. I finished in 49:51, and was pretty stoked to go under fifty minutes. My friend Nathan took the win for the men, just barely edging out Chris, and we got our pick from the raffle prizes. (He chose a thanksgiving turkey, and I chose a sweet Salomon backpack-a total score!)

People watching included hanging out with these little alpacas. Totally weird! It's probably a good thing I didn't bring Cap, since I can't imagine a more tempting scenario for a border collie.

We stood around in the sun and people-watched while raffle prizes were awarded. Afterward, Chris and Dave dragged us all off to the local brewery for some standard post-race beer tasting. (Seriously, they had to force us to go. I swear.) It was only then that I realized what true beer nerds these guys are. (And I say that with the utmost respect!) They ordered a taster set of the beers, and sat there plugging their notes on each selection into their iphones. (Okay, Chris was writing his by hand, but he's still a beer nerd.) I just ordered my standard, the Donner Party Porter, and let them have at it. But seriously folks, I have totally found my peeps.

Nathan and me, at the finish. They served this hot chocolate made by Clif that was specifically for post-race recovery. How awesome is that!

It was a beautiful day with friends! Now I swear I am going to focus on being lazy. At least, during the week. Weekends are still fair game, right?

If I can manage to wrap my brain around the sheer awesomeness of the experience, I have a post coming soon about my trip to Zion. It turned out to be one of those very rare, very special experiences that I'm not sure I can fully capture in words and photos. I do love a challenge though, so I'm going to give it my best shot. Stay tuned, friends.

And in the meantime, I'll be looking for more adventures. Any suggestions?

Kokanee Salmon Trail Run

Last weekend I dragged my tired self out of bed on Sunday morning to join friends in a romp through the snow at the Kokanee Salmon Trail Run in South Lake Tahoe. It was my third weekend in a row racing in this part of Tahoe, and the weather, among other things, held this day in stark contrast to the previous two weekends.

Sarah was in from out of town acclimatizing before the Biz Johnson Marathon, and Turi and Amber arrived at my house early Sunday morning to pick us up. It turned out to be a good thing we left so early, as we drove toward the race into an ever-increasing blizzard. Turi was our brave captain, creeping around the hairpin turns near Emerald Bay in near white-out conditions. I think he gets the "clutch performance of the day" award for his awesome driving skills!

By the time we arrived at check-in, about four or five inches of snow coated the ground, but it had mercifully stopped falling from the sky. We joined fellow runners Chris and Dave (rounding out the full compliment of Reno's "Team Library Dork") and Abby (Carson branch of TLD) in pinning on numbers and jumping around trying to stay warm.

Sarah signed up for the 10K since she would be racing at Biz in a week's time, and Dave was returning from injury, so he opted for the 5K. The rest of us gathered for the half-marathon distance. I wasn't feeling incredibly spry, and I was kind of glad for the snow. (It made things a bit adventurous, and distracted me from the fact that I still felt like crap. My previous day's trail run, a planned 18-miler, had turned into 13 very slow and painful miles. I was still sick and apparently unrecovered from the Tahoe Marathon.)

Runner Check-in

Amber, Abby and me

L to R - Me, Dave, Turi, Amber, Chris, Abby and Sarah, with Chris's daughter Hannah in front

I had time to socialize and say hi to good friends Jamie and Shana from Kings Beach before the half marathon runners gathered at the starting line.

Jamie, Shana, Alden and little-baby-soon-to-be at the start

Dave Cotter gives the race instructions.

Chris prepares to take it out for the win.

Amber and me

Amber and Turi

The first two miles were on paved road, but with the snow and ice I was still glad I was wearing trail shoes.

We headed out a paved road for what turned out to be an incredibly beautiful day on a fairly mellow course. Sarah joined us for the beginning of the half-marathon as a warm-up for her 10K.


As planned, I kept the pace easy and took plenty of time for photos. The course soon headed off the pavement and onto some snowy singletrack. The technical aspects of staying upright on a snow-slick trail were pretty fun, especially since I wasn't trying to go super fast. I can imagine that would have led to disaster.


The trail meandered around Fallen Leaf Lake, and the scenery with the fresh snowfall was unbelievable! In spite of my easy pace, I felt pretty tired, but I was so glad I was out running through this stunning beauty.
















I had to pause what seemed like every 100 yards to blow the excess of snot from my nose. I'm so sorry to anyone who was running near me! It must have been gross. It certainly was annoying from my perspective. I pretty much left a slick of mucus down the entire course. Sorry folks!


We ran through the burn area from 2007's Angora Fire. The forest of blackened trunks was actually quite beautiful under a snowy coat.


I crossed the line with more of a sense of relief than accomplishment. I was totally glad I had done the race, because I knew I would never have run that far on my own, and I needed the miles. It was also a much-needed injection of enthusiasm from friends and from the season's first snow.

We cheered the finishers and waited around for the awards ceremony, exchanging stories of the day's race. Sarah had been stalked by a man who reeked of tequila during the 10K. He had apparently been having a grand time the day before at Oktoberfest, which was taking place across the street at Camp Richardson. His primary goal for the 10K, it seemed, was to get Sarah to join him at that afternoon's continuation of Oktoberfest. Sometimes the presence of these kind of men in a race are good motivation for running faster. (Especially when they reek of tequila.)

Dave takes third in his age-group in the 5K

Prizes turned out to be a bottle of wine and a Kokanee Salmon ornament. I thought this was brilliant, and lamented that it simply wasn't a day on which I was going to win one.

I'm pretty sure paper Gatorade cups are the preferred glass for Charles Shaw.

However, we had to wait around in the cold for a while to get the final results, so the brilliant race directors busted out a few bottles of Two-Buck Chuck and started passing them around with some Gatorade cups. That definitely kept us happy, and even a bit warmer.

Finally the results were in. Sarah took third in her age group in the 10K, Dave took third in his age group in the 5K, and Chris won the overall in the Half-Marathon. Nice job, everyone!

We decided to end the day with beers and lunch at The Brewery in South Lake. The skies opened up, and once again we were driving through a blizzard. People were everywhere, celebrating at the outdoor Oktoberfest. I was quite impressed with their refusal to give up the party. They were drinking, dancing, eating ice cream and riding bikes, all while completely covered in snow. I suggested they had the right idea, but Sarah forbid us to join them for fear of running into Tequila Guy. As it was, The Brewery was warmer and had real food.

Thanks to the Reno kids for inviting me on this awesome day! You guys rock! Also, thanks to Dave Cotter for putting on the best races in Tahoe - rain, snow or shine (and for knowing when to pass out the wine).

Complete results available here.

More race reports:

Amber's
Turi's
Chris's