Nibbling the Enchilada

Starting at a mere 500 feet in a Palm Springs parking lot and rising to 10,500 feet at the top of San Jacinto peak, the Cactus to Cloud trail is something to reckon with. Given its extreme ascent (10,000 feet in 16 miles, or 625’ per mile) it’s been dubbed in some quarters one of the hardest trails in the world.

Another component of this trail’s prowess is the temperature swings it can throw at you. At the base, temps climb as high has 115+ degrees and, at the summit, plummet to as low as sub zero.

Today i took a little spin on the Cactus to Cloud trail. It was my first time on the beast so i chose to experience some of its grandeur by climbing 4,000 feet in 5 miles, just enough to get taste of what the full enchilada might taste like. I must say that the flavor was enticing and spiced with magnificent views of neighboring San Gorgonio, the Coachella Valley, cactus and wildflowers.

I’m looking forward to returning for the full course.

P.S. If you’re looking for the other kind of Enchilada, check out Las Casuelas in downtown Palm Springs. They make a fine one that goes down very well with a Cadillac Margarita.

Sugar Moon Rising

Was on my way home tonite and noticed at the top of the hill a large, full moon rising in the night’s sky. I quickly assembled my Nikon DSLR and 600mm telephoto lens to capture the moment. Turns out the Sugar Moon gets its name because it coincides with the tapping of the sweet sap of maple trees, and is symbolic of a lot of good to come.

Goodbye Winter - I'll Miss You!

With the official start of spring occurring this week, I must say that I for one will miss winter, especially this winter, which brought more snow than we’ve seen in Southern California in many years. My best day was a four hour snowshoe trek through knee deep powder in the the San Bernardino National Forest followed closely by several ski runs on untracked powder.

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”   Jack London

Escaping the Hordes

Getting from place to place is always more interesting in the mountains. Here is a shot from Harding Truck Trail on my descent from Modjeska Peak, the lower of the two peaks that are Saddleback Mt. Not a bad place to be when trying to escape from the OC’s 3.2 million people….

Training - When to Jump Into the Abyss

You walk out to the edge of cliff. You look down. One hundred feet below you, waves are crashing against the cliff and on jagged rocks.  Currents of foam and rip tides surge in and out with the heavy surf. The problem is your life boat is anchored beyond the waves, and the only way to get to it is to jump into the abyss and swim for it. If you don’t jump, you will soon be consumed by the angst ridden Troll of Runner’s Doom. The ghost that haunts you everyday.

But when do you jump? Jump too early and you get hurled against the imposing cliff by a crushing wave. Jump too late and you’ll be dragged over the jagged rocks under the receding swell. The only choice is to jump at the exact right time, then be carried to safety beyond the violent break.

I’ve come to learn that training for ultramarathons is a lot like jumping into the abyss. Jump in too early and you get crushed month after month by energy sapping workouts, burn-out and eventually injury. Start too late and you’ll be battered at the race by showing up unfit with miserable race results and possibly staring at a DNF. The only choice is to start just at the right time.

These days, my modus operandi is to start 4 to 5 months before a race, but proceed in two phases: 1) a  general aerobic and strengthening phase and 2) a running phase. 

Phase one consists of all kinds of aerobic workouts including hiking, elliptical, spinning, cycling, snowshoeing, running. It also includes strength training including upper and lower body weight training, core work, climbing with weight vest etc. The key here is to keep things diverse and lively. Don’t get stuck on one or two activities, mix it up! This phase is helpful because it builds your aerobic base without the constant pounding from running and therefore minimizes burn out and injury.

Phase two consists of some of the aerobic work above, but a greater and greater emphasis on running. This is when you get to start tracking your weekly miles or hours running, and build toward race day. It is important to stress here however that, while running is the focus at this stage, there is still a benefit to supplementing all the running with running oriented aerobic workouts. I’m suggesting 20% of your miles (even in this phase) are running-related including climbing big hills and mountains, climbing on treadmill with weight vest, elliptical etc.

That is it for now. I’m falling, I’m falling….

Keep it real runners!

Snow Shoes and Contemporary Mores

The sound of the mountain resort at Snow Summit was still loitering in the air over the tall pine trees to my left. A man’s voice was droning on and on over a loudspeaker of some sort. Why on a Sunday morning do they have to do that?

I just kept climbing, up the steep grade, in deep powder cutting what felt like one hundred switchbacks just to manage from sliding backwards head over heels on this near vertical snowfield. Just when I thought I had this snow-trudge figured out, my snowshoe would plunge deep into an abyss. Getting out of these contorted positions I’m guessing was as good as attending an advanced yoga class with ski pants and poles. No preparation possible here folks.

When I crested the main vert section, I was welcomed by a blistering alpine wind that sent hardened specs of snow into the frozen skin on my nose. I’m not complaining here, mainly because I’m always looking for a lesson or a new experience of some kind to log into my bag of tricks, to take with me on my next big adventure. Given I’m signed up for a 50 mile, a 100 mile and a 200 mile race this year, I’ve felt a draw to get into the elements again. This day being a good reminder that nature is always there with a surprise for me, as long as I’m willing to venture into it. Seek and ye shall find, as it were.

This four hour effort felt hastened by a book I listened to the entire way, mainly because I couldn’t stop listening. Her colorful and descriptive story of descending into neurosis was only bearable to listen to because she told it in such a relatable way. But then I found out that she (the author) didn’t have much of a happy ending, and she didn’t survive the success of her own hard lived experiences that she so ably transcribed into this indictment on contemporary mores.

On snowshoes…and mores…keeping it real.

Taming the Elephant

There are moments, flashes of them, sometimes strung together in a timeless sequence that I only wish I could recreate on demand. When I close my eyes sometimes they come back to me in a flashback. Like the moment I was moving along a ridge in the Wasatch Mountains on a moonlit path. All distractions melted away. Fatigue? Thirst? Pain? Gone. Bodily sensations and thoughts? Gone. At least for those few precious moments.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the mind is like an elephant. Large and wild, easily distracted and not easily tamed. The monkey is distraction, unpredictable and elusive. The elephant follows the monkey, endlessly, always to different objects. This is mind wondering, which we all do. The monk, or meditator, follows in pursuit of the elephant, seeking to tame the beast. But the beast is large and unruly and is constantly chasing the monkey to different objects. 

Eventually, through much training and effort, the monk subdues the elephant, and is able to hold the elephant steady. The mind is at ease. Then the monk begins to lead the elephant, and the monkey follows, and the mind is subdued and under control. 

Call me a mystic or want-to-be shaman, but if there is one thing that stands in the way of what we seek, it is the elephant. The large, wondering, undisciplined elephant.

I think I best tame this beast.

AMORE Runners!

2018 Started out with such promise! But as the days and weeks and months wore on, I simply wore out. I think my ambition got the better of me. It’s not that I didn’t embrace the idea of running several big audacious ultra’s - Hard Rock, Bighorn and Rocky Raccoon to name a few - because I loved the idea of it. It’s just that, well, the idea is all I could muster. It was when the idea needed to transition into reality that I kind of hesitated, stumbled. The old “I’ll start my training next week” syndrome started rearing its head. This lead to “I’ll skip this race and focus on that one” which pretty much is an apathy spiral which, I believe, plagues even the most ardent runners (admit it folks).

But so what? So I took the year off from formal “racing” and kind of chilled out. No big deal. Instead, I had some great hikes up Mt. Whitney and San Gorgonio. I did some camping, some philosophising, and even some tree analysis, among other things. All in all a good year!

Looking back I’m pretty sure I forgot the basic rule of running which contributed to the spiral. I’ll describe that rule here as AMORE!, which is Italian for love. If you are thinking I’m using AMORE in the context of love running, or the love of running, you’re on the right track. But there is more here than meets the eye. To me AMORE means more than love. It is an acronym about running that always proves to be true. The rule is it’s better to slow down and go easy on yourself. Not push the pace all the time. Because when you do this, you: 

A - Avoid burnout, stay fresh

M - Minimize injury, stay healthy

O - Observe your surroundings, get outside of your head 

R - Run longer, wear down your prey 

E - Enjoy the darn sport!!

Keep if real runners!

The Calm and the Quiet

Equanimity, defined as an evenness of mind, especially under stress. A few years ago I wrote about it. I’d been struck by the sight of two “monkish” people sitting, ever-so-calmly, in the middle of New York City’s Central park, meditating. They appeared like living statues in quiet   defiance, keepers of calm in a chaotic world swirling around them. I felt a tug of attraction to their solitude.

A few halfhearted attempts to seek equanimity through meditation followed. Then there was the clobbering. The realization that developing a ritual of this sort isn’t going to just happen from my on-again-off-again curiosity. Some meditation books and a few teachings followed. But that is where it stopped.

This is a running blog. Which is why I’m writing about meditation. Because, from my perspective, the two are intertwined. Running is meditation. Just not the sitting part. Awaken. 

More to come on this topic in the new year…

The Mountains Are Calling

Looks like it will be something new for me in 2019. After throwing my proverbial hat in the Hard Rock 100 keep-the-newbies-out lottery system, I’m setting my sights on something different - 200 miles on the Tahoe Rim Trial.  

The absurdity of this aside, I’m actually looking forward to the extra miles for several reasons. First, it’s something I’ve never attempted let alone completed before, which keeps me on my toes more than logging yet another 100 miler. Second, I’m anxious to reevaluate my training approach by logging lots of exploratory miles in the mountains with some overnight thru-running. It’s kind of strange, but recently I’ve been intrigued by the idea of trekking overnight distances that require real gear to shelter from the elements. I guess it’s time I put this intrigue into practice. Third, after taking a year off from ultra events, I’m coming around to the realization that it’s really not the event that matters in the end, its the experiences we encounter along the way to get there. Experiences that, well, kind of keep things real in the surreal world we live in today. 

To borrow a phrase from a fellow blogger/adventurer…the mountains are calling.

Finding Your Dopamine

“The way I train is based on my feelings, that is, on my desire to climb a mountain or to discover a valley.”

Kilian Jornet

If I didn’t know better, I’d say these words were from some new-age hippie prepping for the John Muir trail, not the best ultra runner on the world stage. It is an interesting twist to us runners, me included, that training should be based on the whimsical – feelings and desires – not the more austere discipline and commitment.

I’m not surprised, however, given what little I know about Kilian. Like the fact that ultra running is just one of his athletic pursuits, the other being skiing, which he focuses on exclusively in the winter months. Or the fact that in a typical week of ultra training he climbs between 30,000 and 65,000 feet, training for some 30 hours. (that is just his climbing, not his descending). In a typical year he trains everyday and gets in 1,000 hours.

Why this doesn’t surprise me comes down to something very basic. There is no way in hell he could do what he does – the massive training, racing, and winning year after year – if he didn’t love what he does! No way!

Here’s another quote from this endurance guru…

Enjoy every day and every outing. Training should not be an "obligation", just a way to improve. Training should be spending time doing something you love.

What does this have to do with the dopamine? Let me explain. Kilian talks of mountains and valleys. He talks about running in the mountains is not really running. He calls it “a 5-sense experience.” He calls for enjoying the scenery, smelling the earth and feeling the wind.

Ok, dopamine is neurotransmitter, a chemical that transmits signals between the brain’s nerve cells (neurons). Turns out, the brain neurons that produce dopamine become activated when something good happens, like seeing an amazing sunset, or when we come across something novel, like finding a new trail or discovering a new summit. It’s all about chemicals. Turns out, dopamine is also produced when something negative that is happening to you (pain from grinding up a mountain trail) ceases to happen.

So, it appears to me, Kilian Jornet, the most accomplished ultra runner in the sport, has tapped into the most natural formula for training motivation – dopamine production – by keeping things fun and enjoyable.

I think it is time time to modify my training!

Life In a Center of Influence

His voice breaks through, and from the background comes a softer, female one that subtly follows the highs and lows. They move through the song with elusive grace, tying notes together from varying octaves, like a cat and mouse.

Ever since listening to a certain album in 5th grade, music has been a HUGE influence on me;  from Neil Young’s edgy Rust Never Sleeps, to the Clash’s political classic Sandinista, to New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies. Surprisingly, I’ve even embraced Bruce Springsteen, who I despised early as a west coast punker, but who’s lyrics cannot be denied by anyone who seeks authenticity in people, and in life.

That said, the last time I listened to music during a race was at the Bishop High Sierra 100k five years ago. I concluded then that I would never listen to music during a race again. I fell so many times I think I lost more blood than a visit to the Red Cross ;-/

Hardrock 100 - Who Will Be Chosen this Time?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My application is in (again) for the Hardrock 100 mile endurance run lottery. That’s right, another 100 mile race lottery, which seems to be an annual ritual for me as I head into the holidays. Seems like yesterday when I was at my daughters swim meet 10 years ago checking my phone for updates on the Western States Lottery.

That one I remember, because I got in. It was my first 100 mile race, and I got in! Everything changed for me because of it. My training, my commitment to running, my dedication to make it to the finish line. Lotteries are weird like that. It’s kind of like throwing the dice and seeing what happens. If you come up a winner in a lottery, you feel chosen. Chosen over others who didn’t get selected. Chosen to step up. Chosen to go the distance.

It’s not the same to sign up for a race without a lottery. Heck, I’ve signed up for many a race and not made it to the starting line. It comes down to being distracted, lacking motivation, or just letting life get in the way. It can happen to all of us. Life is complicated!

I’ve never failed to show up for a race after getting accepted through a lottery. How could I? 

I’m looking forward to the odds of being chosen at the Hardrock 100 lottery on December 1.

Fingers crossed!

Into the Mist

It started out as just another run. El Moro state park to Nix center and back. What emerged was surreal - a marine layer of clouds nestled in every canyon along the coast and across Irvine valley.

Another One for Our Little Roses

Another day full of fun and mischief with the peeps from Run for Our Little Roses.