Blue Planet Run on the Tahoe Rim Trail

Note: I forgot to bring the battery for my camera, so all of these pictures are shamelessly pilfered from Chris and Turi's blogs. Check out their blogs for additional footage:

• Chris's Blog
• Turi's Blog (includes movies!)

In the spirit of the Blue Planet 30-Mile Challenge, Chris and I had already run the first 6 miles at the Run through the Colors 10K last week (Chris won and almost set a new course record) and to finish it up we had planned to run a 24-mile run on the Tahoe Rim Trail, from Tahoe Meadows to Spooner Summit.

It was a beautiful weekend around the lake. On Saturday, the kids and I went for a 12-mile bike ride starting in Tahoe City and at night we had dinner with Chris, Abby, and their two-year old daughter.

On Sunday, I parked at the Spooner Summit trailhead and Abby graciously offered to drive us to Tahoe Meadows, where we met Turi and John Ostezan. We took off from the Tahoe Meadows trailhead at exactly 8 o'clock.

I had expected it to be very cold, but the temperature was actually really nice. This section certainly brought back a lot of memories from this Summer's 168-mile trek. This section was part of the last 40 miles of that run and as soon as it started getting dark, I started hallucinating like crazy.

Looking at the trail during the day with fresh eyes made it clear just how much I had been hallucinating. I had actually imagined a few houses along the course that were obviously not there. There were no backpacks, dome tents, and guard rails anymore along the trail, either.

We had a great run. Chris and John sped up (or maybe I just slowed down) after we reached Hobart Road and finished the run in about 4 hours, while Turi and I finished in just under 4:30. After the run we iced the legs in the lake and had lunch at King's Beach. Chris even brought some oatmeal stout-flavored Gatorade. All in all, a great day out while at the same time providing some much needed relief for 1200 students in Tanzania!

Next Up: The Monster Trail Run in Grass Valley on Saturday, November 1st.

January in Review

Running in the Sierra Foothills close to the Yuba River

Wow, a month of training already went by! It’s time to post something, anything this year!

Although the blog has been quiet, I have not exactly been sitting still. Training for the 165-Mile Tahoe Rim Trail Run officially started on January first. After a slow start, I am now logging 60-70 (mountain) miles a week.

I made quite a few changes to my training, diet, and other things. Here are some examples:

Yes!

• Longer training runs -- I replaced my flat 6-mile loop with a +/-10 mile mountain run.
• Mountain miles – The new training loop has 2300’ elevation gain and features a 500’ straight climb.
• More long runs -- For a long run, I got the go-ahed from a local rancher to run through a fantastic ranch, all the way to the Yuba River and back up (1050’ elevation gain and loss in one go).
• Organic foods -- Lots of fruits, vegetables, and healthy juices.
• Rolfing treatments – from Rolfing in the Sierras in Nevada City – this is pretty amazing, you feel like a new person after this and I already verified that it improves performance
  Greens+ organic energy bars -- This is my new race snack of choice! If you have not tried this great-tasting, all-organic superfood bar, you should. You can buy them on their website, but I also found them at Trader Joe’s.
  

Greens+ Bars (get them by the case!)

No!

• Speedwork – But I guess you can call 50Ks speedwork...
• Junk food – No sugar, no processed foods, and no fried food. Also, no more sports drinks that have unnatural coloring in it and very little meat and dairy.
• Caffeine – this was the hardest (headaches for a week), but getting easier now. Saving that thermos of coffee for mile 100 (with 65 to go!).

Next up, more base training.