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Photo courtesy of Full Send Media. Race by Go Beyond Racing.
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If you need an amazing trail destination, Waterton National Park in Canada is the new place I am going to be annoyingly telling everyone about. It is the Canada side of Glacier National Park and it will pop your eyes as you drive in both for the views and lucky me, for the bear and two cubs playing just inside the entrance. It also has nice Canadian people, awesome CBC radio reception, and some amazing hikes.
The Crypt Lake hike requires a boat shuttle to the trailhead and I picked it since there would be a literal boatload of people to hike with since hiking solo in grizzly country is not the best idea. In conversation with some guys, likely around my age, one asked me if my husband let me go on this trip without him. I asked if he could repeat what he said, giving him the chance to say that one better, but he did not. I answered that in our house we didn’t really put things that way. He didn’t have further questions. I hiked a few more miles preoccupied thinking through way, way better answers. Like, “he has no idea, I just took the keys a week ago. He must be rip-roaring mad and is probably starving.” The next day, I went on a shuttle to a point-to-point traverse hike and three miles in saw my first grizzly in the wild. Followed by my second grizzly, both standing on either side of the trail like they were taking tolls from the hikers. After the entire shuttle of hikers caught up and all 18 of us carried on for an hour, they had only moved slightly closer. Half the group headed back down to the start. I stayed up with some others, hopeful the bears would move or we could go around but no matter which way we went, the bears just came our direction in a no-cares, snacking on berries, not backing down sort of way. In the end I got to watch these amazing creatures for over 90 minutes, one got a little too close and we all backed down the trail bailing on the hike, but in the end, I choose bear. It was awesome. MOBILITY Come join me live on Monday mornings to start your day with 30 minutes of mobility. Start your rest day off right or just wake up to some foam rolling and musings from me. Rise and Shine information here. THIS IS RUNNING
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Greetings from just outside of Glacier National Park. I am about to head into the solo portion of a 3-week trip that will end volunteering at the Mountain Lakes 100 in two weeks. The first week was with Brian and a meet up with some friends in Montana to celebrate a friend’s milestone birthday. My takeaway from this first week of travels is, TAKE THE TIME TO CELEBRATE ALL THE THINGS. What a joy to be in celebration of a friend in celebration with other friends. It is a gift to make core memories and those don’t happen doing the same old things. So far highlights are looking for mountain goats, finding pikas, alpine lakes, chasing my friends on mountain bikes and sleeping in late while the rain hits the van roof.
I have also forgotten to update a few workouts, missed calls being out of cell service and slept in a beautiful campsite that appeared on closer look to be a poacher’s camp (so many skeletons, RUN). Can’t win them all! Risks worth taking. I hope you get to take a few yourself this season. MOBILITY Going to be honest here. I have no idea if I can pull off live Rise and Shine on Monday, September 14. I have a spot picked out with WIFI in Fernie, BC where I plan to be. The spot is a public, outdoor WIFI and it could be dumping rain, not working or extremely socially awkward. BUT, this is great reason to tune on in. You will see me there flailing with internet OR if I am not there, the worst that happens is you have set aside the time for yourself and you can do a class from the archives. See you Monday at 7am Pacific I hope! SLUG TEETH! Holy smokes. I am blown apart by this close up video of a banana slug eating a leaf. I am simultaneously disgusted (shouldn't be, but here we are) and amazed. Slugs have denticles which are fancy scrapers and according to the National Park Service, they use them "for salad…not revenge". Next time you run by one, picture those scrapers scraping and hop right over it. LISTEN UP FOR SLEEP Here is a podcast for you about fueling and sleep. The pod covers, "what happens to hunger when you’re sleep deprived, why eating more earlier in the day may benefit both sleep and metabolic health, and what athletes with evening workouts can do when training and bedtime are uncomfortably close together." LISTEN UP FOR GOOD Jenny Simpson is a track star, an Olympian, bronze medalist and survived a massive heart attack in June. She drops so much wisdom in this interview with Rich Roll about how her life was saved, her journey back to life and doing hard things. Definitely worth a listen. Guess what! I forgot to send this email on Tuesday. I realized it on a hike on Wednesday while on a road trip camping without cell service. Good news is, you aren't depending on this for breaking news. Bad news is, someone check my memory! OOOOF! Better late than never, here you go...
In just the past week I have seen two runners absolutely rocking out to music with expressive run arms and a run/dance like no one is watching attitude. Welcome to fun run season. Ok, for those of you with September races, I am too soon, save this to read later. Fun run season is that awesome time where your goal race is done but the weather is still rad for running. Fun run season includes:
LABOR DAY MOBILITY NO LIVE Rise and Shine on Monday, September 7 for Labor Day. BUT, you can do this class from the archives anytime. SHORT SHORTS
UTMB MUSINGS
I fished this one right out of an email I sent in 2022 and it is fitting as ever. It is DEEP in race season right now with athletes completing goal races and finishing their final training blocks. One thing I am noticing is an inner struggle about race/training performance that holds two truths at once:
-----that was a great race for me and the competing truth: ----I am disappointed/embarrassed And the thing is, it is possible to experience two conflicting truths at the same time and there is no need to choose as they are both real. You can feel super proud of all the effort you put into your training and into race day and still feel disappointed in the outcome. Here's the thing, one of those truths inspires, builds confidence and is personal and one of those truths diminishes your efforts and is fueled by mostly external factors. If you are experiencing two competing truths right now about your fitness, race goals or race outcomes, I invite you to do so with kindness instead of harsh judgement. It is tough being someone with big scary goals. ANTI-DOPING UTMB is doubling down on anti-doping by expanding doping testing beyond the elites to age group athletes. “Whatever the level, performance cannot be built at the expense of health,” said UTMB CSR Director Nicolas Lagrange. Because it was always super healthy to run for two days straight with no sleep powered by gummy bears and prosciutto. I believe in rules for sure and if a rule is in place, even if it seems like it doesn't matter when you are in 937th place, I think they do, so I am interested to see what this turns up and if this trickles into other trail races. BUT for all things good, I hope not to learn about massive doping issues in the age groupers. ROADLESS AREAS IN DANGER The Roadless Rule safeguards the places we hike, climb, bike, ski, and paddle. It ensures protections on 45 million acres of National Forests. Right now, the USDA is planning on rescinding these protections. This is wilderness that we won't get back if these protections are not there. The good news is there is a 30-day comment period and you can have a voice. The Outdoor Alliance has made it easy to tell lawmakers how you feel. WILL IT WAFFLE I often recommend frozen waffles as a pre-long run breakfast. They are easy to prepare and are a solid base of carbs for which you are expected to put more carbs on top, hello syrup. You can read up on race day breakfast considerations here, but runners need at minimum 100g of carbs before a long run. To do that you can eat two frozen waffles (30g of carbs), syrup (25g of carbs), a banana (25g of carbs) and a sweetened drink (25+g of carbs) and you are getting there! Wirecutter just ranked the best frozen waffles if you want to get fancy about it. And speaking of waffles, if your neighbors are offloading their giant zucchini, you can make your own NON-PRE-RACE waffles for dinner. MINI BITES
YOU ARE INVITED TO MOBILITY Join in on Monday at 7am Pacific for Rise and Shine where we foam roll and do mobility and everyone is invited. Bring your coffee and your foam roller. On Friday at noon I boarded a plane for Pennsylvania to visit my family. I flew across the country, had 12 meals, three nights of sleep, tried my hand at racquetball, learned I was singing incorrect lyrics to a favorite song (and I am seriously disappointed since my version was way better), went thrift store shopping, did a road trip, and then flew back to Bend ALL WHILE one of my coached athletes has been running the Bigfoot 200. It has really gotten me thinking about just HOW MUCH you can do in 107 hours, the time cut off for racers.
INCLUSION POLICY Hardrock 100 has created a Transgender and Non-Binary Athlete Inclusion Policy with the first line being, "You belong at Hardrock." The full policy is here, but the standout to me is, "for those who identify as non-binary, they will have the opportunity to run the event in the non-binary category if they so choose. Hardrock respects every runner’s self-declared gender during the lottery and event registration processes without the need for supporting documentation, unless there is a legitimate challenge made in accordance with this policy." The lottery is unchanged in that there are two categories, male and female. Non-binary entrants need to pick the gender they apply. It will still be practically impossible to get into the race, but once it happens, there is a choice to run as non-binary. This race is highly exclusive with extremely low chances of gaining entry through the lottery and a lottery weighted towards runners who have already finished the race before. Because of that, I don't have hope that this policy will lead to full non-binary podiums any time soon, BUT I do have hope that it gets other races and organizations looking at their own policies that start with the thought, you belong here. GI ISSUES WHILE FUELING YOUR RUN? If you are trying to increase your carb intake for runs of four or more hours and are having trouble, you may want to take a look at your fuel and ensure you are getting a mix of fructose and glucose based fuels. Since glucose and fructose are digested by different pathways, you can avoid overload. Read on here, good information but note at the bottom they are trying to sell you something which is fine, but lots of options for fueling are available, find what is right for you. If your issue is more what to eat before early morning runs or whether to eat or run hungry after work, this article is for you. LISTEN UP
YOU ARE INVITED TO MOBILITY WAKE UP good people and join in on Monday at 7am Pacific. Rise and Shine is fun and everyone is invited. Bring your coffee and your foam roller. What's a good 5k time for someone in their 30s? How do you stack up against these gym exercises? What is the optimal time to eat dinner? Does how much you can bench press tell you something about the inner workings of your brain? I made that last one up, but give it a second, that headline is coming for us all.
According to the CDC, less than half of Americans are getting in 150 minutes of exercise per week. Dear reader, if you are here, my guess is you either do at least that or aim for that most weeks of the year. Congratulations. If you run, then YAY, who cares how fast you are doing it. If you bench press, cool. Run, eat dinner, hug your friends and then go play outside so we are all too busy to click those comparison article links. 30 MINUTE MOBILITY FOR EVERYONE There will be NO LIVE MOBILITY ON MONDAY, AUG 17. I will be away. But you can do THIS recorded version anytime. Dust off your foam roller and do something nice for yourself. SHORTIES
With the recent cancellation of last weekend's Hood 100 and now the upcoming Wy'east Trailfest cancelled as the start finish at Mt Hood Meadows is under evacuation orders, trail running is having a rough go in Oregon. Fires are burning all over the state and if you are in Bend or Portland your air quality is very low quality right now. Please be safe out there and watch out for each other. Don't let friends run in poor air quality. "Research suggests that high-intensity but brief outdoor workouts are safer than low-intensity, long ones. “The worst thing is the six-hour hike,” (full article here)
If you can't run outside or find a treadmill to take it indoors, it is OK TO TAKE A DAY OFF or two or three if you need to. You can do a strength training workout, have dinner with friends or plan some fun adventures for later. (or watch Ted Lasso, back on Wednesday!) DEI IN TRAIL RUNNING "Here’s one important fact: the future has not yet been written. So this is a call to white women, and white men, too, who care about creating a welcoming space for all in trail running and outdoor—especially those with a significant voice or platform: do something, say something. Take accountability for the role you play."- White Women and DEI in Trail Running HEAT AND GI DISTRESS "During intense exercise in the heat, blood is directed away from the gut toward working muscles and the skin, reducing splanchnic blood flow (blood supply to the digestive organs). This decrease in gut perfusion compromises the intestinal lining. Nutrient absorption becomes less efficient, and the risk of nausea, cramping, and GI distress rises substantially." - Why Heat Causes GI Stress & How to Adapt Your Fueling Strategy A REAL PAIN IN THE SIDE This guy was impaled by a hiking pole and his reaction was, "something's not right here." Then he hiked himself out 10 miles. Pain is wild. If you didn't listen to the podcast I recommended on combating pain last week, here is another link, really worth a listen. And just in case...How to run with poles. NICE SHORTS
YOU ARE INVITED TO MOBILITY WAKE UP good people and join in on Monday at 7am Pacific. Rise and Shine is fun and everyone is invited. Bring your coffee and your foam roller. I just heard of a vicious cycle. AI is being trained on pictures of people online and the people with the most views online are white faces with fillers, injectables and plastic surgery to make them look more like the pictures on AI. I see this in running ads. Only sometimes do running brands use their sponsored athletes as models (still mostly white and conventionally pretty, but at least we know they run). So often the people in the ads look like they have never run, aren't sweaty or dirty and are a size two with perfect make up. Make them look muscular, make it stop.
Let's all start following some badass women with strong bodies that don't look like the algorithm. Women from Cross Fit or shot put, women from powerlifting, women who build stuff, and the world's leading almost therapist and comedian. If we only see people who look a certain way, we are bound to start feeling a certain way if we don't look like that. I hope your certain way is strong, capable and not something AI is suggesting. FOR YOUR EARS
YOU ARE INVITED TO MOBILITY WAKE UP good people and join in on Monday at 7am Pacific. Rise and Shine is fun and everyone is invited. Bring your coffee and your foam roller. I just saw an ad that said "two in three women gain weight in the peri-menopause transition". In my mind, it went on in a HEALTHY WAY... "so let's normalize this transition, love our little bit bulgier bodies and revel in our strength and wisdom. Let's keep lifting weights so we can kick back harder than ever." But that isn't what it said. The line was, "two in three women gain weight in the peri-menopause transition but it doesn't have to be this way." It went on to say, buy this, buy that, hate yourself, please change, you are not doing enough, you are a moral failing, etc.
If the line were two out of three girls in puberty are growing breasts, here is what we should do to stop it, that would be absolutely wild. But we do it to older women going through this totally normal change. I understand, no one wants to size up their pants, get heavier for their runs or change their look ever, but please remember there are natural seasons of life and let's watch out for people trying to sell us junk we don't need to stop a change that is going to happen to us all. COUGAR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS What would you do if a cougar touched your leg with its nose while you were out on a run? If you are scared enough by just that thought, move right along and no need to click. This story is haunting but somehow no one gets hurt. MILE RECORD GOES DOWN After 27 years the men's mile world record has been broken in a time of 3:43. You probably have time to watch it here. Josh Kerr wore shoes that used eight years of his biomechanical data from Brooks and were engineered in a way that they would only feel good at SIXTEEN miles per hour. (guess those shoes are NOT going to hit the mainstream shoe market anytime soon) SHORT SHORTS
WAKE UP good people and join in on Monday at 7am Pacific. Rise and Shine is fun and everyone is invited. Bring your coffee and your foam roller. I just heard someone say that you don't have to WANT to keep going, you just HAVE to keep going, in the context of a long endurance event. I have athletes racing this weekend at events that will take anywhere from six to twelve hours, and you can be sure that at some point, the desire to keep moving will evaporate right into the clouds. You can also be sure they'll keep going. For some, it's the commitment they made to themselves months ago. For others, it's knowing how satisfying the finish line will feel. And for some, taking the next step is way easier than deciding not to. We often give motivation too much credit, when it's really consistency, commitment, and a willingness to keep moving through the blah/yuck,why/subfun moments that carry us. I hope, wherever your miles take you this week, you find a reason to take one more step.
YOU ARE INVITED TO MOBILITY Every Monday at 7am Pacific, you have an opportunity to join Rise and Shine. This class used to be behind a paywall but now everyone is invited. We spend 30 minutes foam rolling and doing mobility. This is NOT strength training. It is designed as a way to help recover from not backing down over the weekend. Hope to see you there! STRENGTH If you want a fancy, well produced strength training video, you should get a Peloton subscription. If you want Strength Training for Runners with some miscounted reps and me in my home gym, there is a full archive where you can do one class a week for a year without repeating. The Strength Training for Runners archive is here and ready for you to get to work. SHOE NEWS
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All images and posts © UltraU, 2022. Photos by Runnerteri Photography.