A winter in the hills and canyons

A snippet of my training since January.  I've been off the grid.  Hungry for adventure in 2014.

Rapid River West Fork.  One four-hour run here each week.

Glassing hundreds of elk.

B skating in a local relay.  Their team was the Nordic Ninjas.

Wind River Trail and the Bouillon Mine Trail above the Salmon River, just east of Riggins, ID.

Wind River Bridge over the Salmon River.

Sergeants Mountain (North Brundage Peak, 7800'-ish) just after the new year.

Fall Creek Summit with the Crestline Trail running north. This is the heart of the IMTUF 100 course.

Brandi and her girlfriends skate skiing to Burgdorf in January.  They ski 21 miles to the Hot Springs.  Party it up with various libations.  Then, ski 21 miles back home the next day.  This old forest road is the start and finish of IMTUF 100, just a 1/4 mile from Burgdorf.

B, earning turns on a cold Brundage morning.

Another awesome day in the Canyons.

Robie Kitty.  Rollin in swag.

Shell-shocked and hypothermic after 5 hours and 11k vertical.  Skinning and skiing at Tamarack on a miserable -10F day.

Happy times with Miss Molly at Rapid River.

RR.

Molly will be in Nepal...walking across it for the next few months.  She should be ready to rip IMTUF a new one when she gets back home.  Strength and Honor young lady

The greatest race ever run

If you have never seen this race and don't know the outcome, please don't look it up or click ahead to watch the finish.  Just watch it.  It lasts only 1 min 45 secs.

First...Get psyched up like it is your own race day.   Today, you "the nobody," will be racing in the Olympics.  Nobody knows you and you are written off as a fluke who doesn't belong here.  However, you know something they don't know.  It's time to show them what you have been building while the world had its eyes on bigger and better things.  What you built day after day in the heat, wind, snow and rain.  Today is the day and you will show them all.

Finally, the time has arrived and the gun goes off.  You have waited patiently for months, now you will wait one more lap, THEN MAKE IT HAPPEN...


We may all be nobodies now, but as this race proves- even Napoleon Dynamite from Canton, Ohio in a goofy painters cap can be the best in the world one day, on the biggest stage.

Now I'm off to train with fire and purpose.  May we all have our Dave Wottle day just once before we die.  Yours might just be today.

Happy training,
jer

Twenty-seven, 8 x10, color glossy photographs, with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one...

Ok, now it's officially Thanksgiving. A Turkey Trot and Alice's Restaurant are more Thanksgiving than turkey and football.  Everyone enjoy this day of thanks.

Pretty good turnout.  Each year Brandi has grown it a little more.  Here, Brandi gives final instructions for the 6k course.  The Aspen Club's Third Annual Turkey Trot.

The overall winner...Timmy Olson???

Photo Reminiscing

Ran and exercised today- first time in over 3 weeks- unless you count fetching 6 cords of firewood.  Feeling great.  Doesn't feel like I missed a step.  Can't wait to get my training going with purpose.  For now, just easing back into the game.  Yoga, Circuit Classes, treadmill, nordic, stepmill, skin and ski, pool running.  This is my winter.  Working on my racing schedule next year.  Exciting stuff.

Been looking at some old time pics- from adventures of yesteryear.  Sitting around playing Playstation isn't worth photoing, so I'll throw some older shots up there.  Enjoy.

Diamond of Longs Peak, CO.  5.10 climbing at 14,000 feet is no joke.

Lumpy Ridge, Estes Park, CO.  Trying to rap the Nose Route in a looming storm, we encounter this guy at the base.   What do we do- face the storm or face this bear?  The storm fizzled out before it got to us and we hung out and watched this guy for an hour.

Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO.  Running up to Lone Eagle Peak on the west side of the IPW, I bumped into him not long after leaving the truck at first light.  He was very mad and had I not found a boulder to climb, I think he would have stomped me to death. 

Jah Man on Sister Superior, Moab, UT.  We ascended the soupy cloud bank into blinding sunshine.  Awesome climb and beautiful day in the desert.

At the base of Jah Man, Sister Superior tower, Moab, UT.

Brandi in the early squeeze chimney on Jah Man.

Time Wave Zero 5.12.  Potrero Chico, Mexico.  This 3000+ foot climb was great fun to the top of the Toro Peak.  We speed climbed it in about 8 hours round-trip (climb and rappel). Back in plenty of time for Cervesa at camp.

Atop Time Wave Zero, Potrero Chico, Mexico. 

Childhood's End 5.12, Big Rock Candy Mountain, South Platte, CO.
One of my favorite Colorado climbs with Brandi.  Physical and scary, this proud line runs 1500' or so feet through perfect granite to a great summit atop the dome.  The admission fee is long runouts on 5.10 and 5.11 slab climbing and a tough 5.12 crux.  No one around for miles.  I will never forget adventures like this.

Dogma 5.11c, Red Rock Canyon, Vegas, NV.  Great 2500+ foot climb on Mt. Wilson.

The business on Dogma.  Fingery and gently-overhanging for a long way- I am just getting to the summit or plummet move where you latch a big hold or fly about 40 feet.  I sent.  B sent too.  Awesome day.

B on Serenity Crack 5.10d, Yosemite, CA.

B in the midst of the Northwest Face of Halfdome 5.12c A1, Yosemite, CA.  We fired it in 13 hours- climbing as fast as we could for the 2000+ foot route.  Very committing.

Thank God Ledge, NW Face of HalfDome.  After 2000' of climbing the route hits a steep and blank spot.  Thankfully, Thank God Ledge traverses 100 feet left providing a reasonable passage to the last pitch.  Royal Robbins first did this pitch on the first ascent of the route in the 50's and said "Thank God."

B after finishing of the "Scenic Cruise" at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Long, hot and tough- we were glad to be out of that Hell Hole.  Gunny is known as "Yosemite...for grown-ups."  An intimidating place to climb for sure.

Arizona trip

Well, Javelina didn't go as planned.  I went out aggressively with the leaders- hoping to run under 14 hours.  I managed 70 miles in about 10 hours, but had to quit to avoid serious injury.  The last 40 of those miles were full of pain from a foot problem.  My feet had been aching coming into the race from the Bear 100, but I thought plenty of rest would fix them.  I also started in Hokas because the softness seemed to help the pain.  While running, I took some Ibuprofen and that worked for a while, but as the heat grew into the 90's I was unwilling to take any more meds for fear of kidney problems.  I had the lead after the 50k mark (3:54), but I had to stop after the next lap to ice my feet.  There, I changed into a SCOTT road shoe (AF Trainer) and that felt a little better.  Hal and an Arizona guy named Catlow passed me while I sat in the aid for 15 minutes.  I decided to try to go some more.  I managed another good lap to mile 60.  The pain was unbearable as I climbed up the hill to Jackass Pass at mile 70.  I stayed close to second place on the way up.  There, I asked the aid volunteers if I dropped, if I could get a ride back to the start.  The foot pain was severe and I feared it was breaking a bone in there.   I decided to quit.

I felt great, except for the foot thing.  I had to hang there for a while before my ride left.  I cheered on the other runners while I drank some beers.  First beer in a while.  It was great hanging out with Ian and greeting Hal at the finish.

The next day, presumably from limping for 40 miles, I had a big black and blue bruise indicating a bad strain of my right calf.  This was from favoring that bad left foot.  I had a lot of pain in my right hip/groin too.  I came into the race fantastically fit, but my tissues were obviously still recovering from the strain of the Bear, less than 1 month earlier.  The effort felt easier than any ultra I had ever done.  I had an unfulfilled season and I was trying to get one more good one before the fall fitness wore off and the snow fell.  I will learn from this and move on without regrets.  I had a nice time down there.  Running with Hal K, Joe G and Ian was fantastic.  We kept a good conversation going for the first 30 miles. They gave me a drop-down finish of the 100k- 8hrs 53 mins.  I'm not a fan of consolation prizes, so I didn't take a buckle.  I quit the race, plain and simple.

Now, I am taking a full month off of running.  I am almost 2 weeks into it and my feet, calf and hip still hurt.  I had a weird year- some success and several near misses.  My energy has never been higher as I make out 2014's race calendar.  I am actually looking forward to the torturous grind of training season.  I have some really big plans...

Early in the race- Hal, me, Joe G, Ian (Coury Photo)

Leading after 2 laps.  It was getting really hot. (Coury Photos

The Rhodes kids were a fantastic crew.

Arizona Hot Springs, near Hoover Dam.  Brandi and I stopped here for a quick run a few days before the race.  A great wash leads down to the Colorado River.  From here you climb up a very narrow slot canyon and climb up a ladder to the very hot pools.

Snowbirds

Not much running going on lately- 5 or 6 runs since the Bear.  The energy is great now- but I'm still very cautious of any lingering issues.  Every run has been a fast tempo effort of 8 to 14 miles and a PR with each one.  The pace of these runs indicates my peak is still on.  Lots of hunting and wood cutting, splitting and stacking.  Very committed clean eating lately.

Javelina is next Saturday. I will certainly have my hands full there.  I have always wanted to run a faster hundo than the mountainous ones I usually do.  Something different.  There was a time when my snobbish purism would not allow me to consider doing a loop course.  I guess I fell deeper in love with running and want to experience all of its nuances.  The course makes six 15.3 mile loops, then a 9 mile loop for 101 miles total.  The terrain is desert washes and sandy rollers.  5000 feet gain and 5000 loss.  It has been cold here in McCall, so the heat will be an issue.  I enjoy this type of running when I visit the desert in the winter- so it should be fun.  Hopefully I can recover quickly and get back to my mountains.  I still have a few projects I'd like to play on before the snows come in earnest.

Duck Lake, IMTUF100

A fine day with my wife. 

B hunts the alpine

Big, fresh wolf trax.

March 2013.  Visit to Phoenix and climb Thunderbird Peak.  We are limbering up for the climb.  The Rhodes kids will be my crew next Saturday.  We love our annual visit with the Rhodes family.  This year we are lucky to visit and do a great race.  Let's see- 7 laps and 4 high fives per lap, that's 28 high fives.

Peace.  Rhodes kids atop Thunderbird Peak.

1/4 ton pickup my ass. This Chevy Colorado was once the Old Man's.  He was a famous Chevy lite duty truck abuser.  He had S-10's with 300K on them.  He would be pretty psyched with the shenanigans I've pulled in his rig.  I just rolled over 100K miles since it became mine in 2005.  Sweat and game blood ground into the seats, trashed suspension from crazy overloads, tailgate barely works, I change the oil every 7500 miles, right headlight is held in place by IMTUF 100 reflector tape...great truck.

Autumn in the Salmon River Mountains

Loon Lake from 2011.  Plenty of snow on the hills above it now.

Feeling strong, recovered fast and looking to race again this month.  Took one week of doing nothing, then  felt like running...so I did.  Eight days after the Bear, I found myself at the Loon Lake Loop (10 miles) on the last warm and sunny day of the year.  I had some lingering stiffness in the hips and calves, but it was clear, my body wanted to go.  I managed a PR on the Loop by nearly 10 minutes- 7:30 pace.  The gain on that one is about 2400' and it was muddy and lots of trees down.  This clearly showed me that my body was still in peak form and still viable in a race.  I am considering a "fast" hundred for a change of pace.

See anyone familiar on here? http://www.ultrasportslive.tv/athlete-profiles/.  My friend Myles from Michigan Bluff Photography hooked up this interview.

Link to Bear Splits.  I crunched out the numbers for the Course Record splits vs mine.  Pretty easy to see where it got away from me.

This is interesting. Look closely at the next 2 pictures.  The top picture is pre-Western.  The bottom picture is pre-Bear.  My face tells the story of both outcomes.  I look like I should be sleeping at WS, just a minute before the biggest race of my life.  I looked liked that for weeks before the race.  Pre-Bear, I look fresh and hungry.

Bags under eyes, sleepy feeling.  That feeling just got worse all day until I passed out and DNF'ed at Rucky Chucky.  That is the look of a "slowly poisoned central nervous system...staleness"  Add that to the list of things to watch out for while training.  

Much better.  Agitated, coiled and ready to spring.  Notice B never changes her clothes.  As always, Matty's beard commands respect.

Moving on to recent McCall adventures...

Cold and tired, just 2 days post-Bear.  Still got the "100 mile swol" in the face.  I was psyched to walk about 6 miles in the snow without too much pain.

The girls have their final fall fling on Bear Pete Mountain.  This is what happens when women go into the woods unsupervised!

A decent start.  Harmless fun, what could go wrong.

Must women always be making arts and crafts?  Katie's Natur-Gaiters. The natural gaiter.  

Before you know it, things have devolved into a twerk-fest. Bear Pete (a real guy) is turning over in his grave.   Serious disrespecting on hallowed ground of the IMTUF course.  Do you see what you've done Miley! Their 50K run aspirations are cut in half and suddenly beer is mentioned...ending all hopes of athletic achievement.  

They take the party to Bergdorf for more drunken debauchery.  The hot water adds to the buzz, as any IMTUF 100 runner can attest.

Mark and Bryce join the party after their day of biking Ruby and Loon.