The Salmon Falls 50k race is in 6 days. I am excited for this race for so many reasons. It will be a great chance to see all my trail friends in one spot, this a new race on a previously unknown (to most) course and it has been a while since I’ve run a 50k and felt fairly well trained for it. I’ve been putting in the work this time. I can’t say that I have been 100% as dedicated and as determined as I could have been but it gives me goosebumps to see results.
On Saturday I met Pigeon for a nice easy 10 mile run and while running we shared how we’ve been feeling physically lately. I told her that after last weekend, I kind of feel like I have been hit by a truck. She turned to me as we were running and said, “Well, you kind of were! That was a big dog that barreled into you.” Good point. Still, mentally I have been fighting internally as to why I was sore and tired after that run whereas in runs past I have not been.
This is why we taper. We build the miles up and up peaking at the very top and then let the body come down, heal, regenerate and rebuild itself to be ready for race day. The one reminder in my head that say over and over to myself when that little bit of doubt that creeps in is “Your body will remember. It knows what to do.” That is so true.
Saturday was so nice. A chilly foggy start but it felt great to shake the legs out with Pigeon. I had some time constraints so we had to jet out and jet back for the most part. We did have a tiny bit of adventure on the trail when a fairly large sized coyote jumped right out in front of us and across the trail. After last week’s dog incident, I definitely held my breath when I saw him running towards us.
After the run I race home to be with my girls while Vans attended a class down in Sacramento. The girls and I ran some errands and then came home and decided to be lazy.
Again, letting the body do what the body wants to do and if that means snuggling with my Squeaker on the couch, so be it. 🙂 Love that kid.
With all the extra time this past week I’ve been trying to get the girls out and moving. Wednesday night the Peanut wanted to go to the track and do some “running” … who am I to say no to that!?
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We did four laps combining running and walking. Mostly we talked about the girls lacrosse team that was practicing in the middle of the field. The Peanut was intrigued as was I since lacrosse is a new to me sport.
Today brought sunshine when originally they were calling for rainy skies. Once Squeaker found out that the Peanut had gone to the track with me solo, she wanted to do the same.
So we ran around a bit and then ultimately played on the high jump mats while the Peanut and Vans biked their way to the track (a big deal for the Peanut).
We’ve been living and working in one of the foggiest weeks I have ever seen here in Northern California so today’s sunshine is just glorious. I truly wish the weekend could be extended.
This week will either fly by or go painfully slow. I hoping it goes fairly quickly. Not sure how many photos I will have for the race next weekend since I won’t be carrying my camera with me. Vans and the girls will be out there so hopefully they can snag a few. Until then….
That Dam(n) Race Half Marathon and 10k race celebrated its third anniversary this past Sunday and I was FINALLY able to participate! 2012 was its inaugural year and I was all signed up to do the half and Vans was signed up to do the 10k but unfortunately, Squeaker fell ill right before the race and I stayed home snuggling her all day long. Vans went on to run the 10k and had an amazing race.
The second year, the entire family volunteered to help at the race but Vans was super sick and it was quite cold so we didn’t stay long after the race. The girls and I had a blast though but I was due. I was due to finally run this race!
I registered pretty early for the race, determined to add it to my calendar. It did fall during a time in my training schedule where I was supposed to do a super long run but I tried to improvise. I reached out to my old Coach Nikon and to Pigeon to ask for their advice. Coach Nikon said I should do the race hard and then make up some of the miles before and after but he said that racing hard would be a great training run any day compared to a long slow day. Pigeon offered up running both Saturday AND Sunday. Well, as it turns out, due to a change in plans, I did end up running a little over 7 miles on Saturday and then did the race on Sunday. Boy did my legs feel it!
I left the house bright and early on Sunday because I wanted to get a close parking space. The fire-station at Cool is notoriously hard to park, particularly when a race is involved and I didn’t want to be a mile or two down the haul road from the start/finish area. When I parked it was dark and I realized that I had left my headlamp at home. Luckily the iPhone has that handy dandy flashlight feature!
Stonegate Girl quickly found me and we left our cars to get our packets. I saw Coach Nikon and the whole crew. It was nice to see everyone! I have missed my old trail people!
Stonegate Girl came and sat in my car with my seat warmers and we just talked until it was time to get ready for the pre-race briefing. Coach Nikon always puts on the best races. He had some neat raffle type gifts that he was handing out to everyone. I think everyone was smiling despite the chilly air and foggy skies.
Soon it was time to line up at the start. I still had my arm sleeves on and I wasn’t sure whether or not I would ever take them off it was that cold!
Coach Nikon blew his little horn and we were off and running. It took a bit for my legs to warm up and catch on that I was running and in this race, the hills come pretty quick. It felt odd at first to be running up some of the hills we typically walk during our training runs but I wanted the race to feel hard so I could say we gave it a good effort.
Stonegate Girl stuck with me the entire time. It was hard letting people pass us from time to time but we were focused on the task at hand, just running and not getting ourselves injured.
Up and down this race goes. Stonegate Girl had never been on some of these trails and was totally blown away by the beauty of it all. It was then that I wished that I had brought my camera. Luckily Stonegate Girl had her phone and snapped this awesome shot.
Fog!
Soon we approached the hill for which this race is named. That Dam(n) hill is brutal. Switch back after switch back you go. What a great training hill!
I was feeling pretty good minus my stomach. I have continued to battle stomach issues lately and it was just hovering below the surface on this run. I knew I would only be able to run for so long before I needed to find a place to duck off the trail. Unfortunately on this portion of the race, there are not many spots to do this!
The volunteers at the aid-stations were awesome. They cheered us on and wanted to know if we needed any water or fuel. I don’t think we stopped at one aid-station. We used our own water and our own fuel most of the race. Always good to practice using what you may use in a race down the road.
Stonegate girl and I finally came to a spot that allowed us to duck off the trail and take care of business. I hated stopping because I knew it was wasting time but I had no choice.
Once we were moving again we came upon a pond and Stonegate Girl was beside herself with the beauty of this race. It was super well marked too, no getting lost on this course!
Finally, we could hear the finish line and we could see the line of cars lining up and down the haul road. I was ready to be done. My legs were toast and it felt like I was running in quick sand at times. My legs were spent and so was my stomach (again). As we were approaching the finish line, I saw a sight for sore eyes … and I kind of teared up a bit.
There she is!
My girls and Vans were waiting right at the entrance to the finish line! I was so happy to see them and they were wearing their big clunky rain boots because it was muddy out (great for mud, not for running!). 🙂
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Brining me to the finish line!Stonegate Girl and I post race
My girls love this race and they LOVE Coach Nikon and his family. I think if the Peanut could, she’d go move in with Coach Nikon’s daughter Cheetah.
LOVE this race!
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the race and just talking to old trail running friends. Peanut was put to work though. She had to earn those extra “finishers” cookies. 🙂
Helping Coach Nikon and Cheetah hand out awards!
Squeaker just follows along and was enjoying the pizza, cookies and music. I truly am so lucky to have such a great cheering section.
I like this song Dad!My cheering section waiting for me to finish!
This was a great race and I would really like to run it hard some day. I know what I need to work on though because twos days of running had my legs feeling pretty wobbly after the race. Luckily there was a massage tent which I took full advantage of! It really helped knock the kinks out of my legs. My recovery has been slower than normal lately and I truly believe my lack of stretching is to blame (I know, duh!). I have been working on it! I also think a lack of quality strength training is hurting me as well.
I am looking forward to Coach Nikon’s other race, Miners Revenge in April. This is an amazing course and I am spoiled. Coach Nikon really puts on one of the best events in town. He is race directing his first 50K this February too! Check out this link to the Salmon Falls 50K! I am VERY tempted even though I swore up and down that eventually, I’d like to go back to doing shorter distances for a while. At least until my girls get a little older. I know I say this all the time, but it is hard being away from them for so long and ultras require time to train which of course I have been doing a terrible job of lately.
This Saturday will be two weeks until my 50K. After my run this Saturday it will be taper time!! We have a busy weekend ahead which I hope to capture on camera this time around and blog about. There may be another race report coming your way involving the ENTIRE family so stay tuned (and cross your fingers). 🙂
This summer has been the summer of new things. The Peanut joined swim team which for us, is an entirely new beast in our world. 5 day a week practices, 15 hours of parent volunteer time, meets every single Saturday morning, goggles, swim caps and lots of sunscreen … all of that has consumed our summer this year. Neither Vans nor myself ever competed on a swim team so we’ve had to learn the lingo and the process. We’ve had some really great friends who have been holding our hands this entire journey and for that, we are super grateful.
The Peanut swam again this past weekend down near our old stomping grounds in Sacramento. With championships quickly approaching, the team has been driving home the message to finish strong in each race.
And finish strong she did! She took first place in her freestyle and her back stroke swims shaving off seconds in both and ending with two new PRs! She was super excited by it all. She is the least competitive kid that I know and could really care less about “times” but she loves feeling like she is helping her swim team win.
Grandma & Poppa came out to cheer her on!
Other new things happening this summer is the fact that I will be pacing at my first 100 mile race next weekend. Pigeon will be running the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 and I will be pacing her the last 20 miles to the finish. I cannot even begin to put into words how excited I am for her and for this race. 100 miles aside, this race has so much more behind it for Pigeon and I am honored to be there for her. I’ve shared many many miles this summer with her getting ourselves to this point. The show begins next weekend.
As I mentioned in this post here, Breakout Fitness Folsom closed it doors quite unexpectedly leaving me to find a new place if I want to continue strength training at 5 am. As luck would have it, there is a gym less than 5 minutes from my house called Full Throttle Fitness. When I researched them I liked that they did a lot of the same things that Breakout Fitness did (TRX, HIIT, weights) but in an entirely different way. Can I just say that I am fully in love with my new gym and my new workouts!!!
While the style is completely different, I leave feeling like I have left it all out there and I have the sweat stains to prove it. Full Throttle mixes strength, HIIT and cardio in such a way that you are moving for the full hour that you step foot in that gym. Combined with the fact that the cost is way less than before, the distance is closer and I get a regular gym membership to boot … this was a win win situation. As much as I feared change, this is one piece of change that so far, has been working out really well for me.
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I have one more item to talk about but I am going to save it for another post. I am embarking on another journey in a few weeks. Something that came quite randomly out of the blue a few months ago and I decided to go for it. No, I am not leaving my job and no, I am not adding another job to my list. 🙂 It will however, involve a lot of time management on my part, as well as on the part of my family.
I’ve also added a 50K to my race list. The race is not until November but it is definitely a race outside my comfort zone not to mention outside the local area! I will be running and training with a whole new group of girls too which is always interesting based on everyone’s pace, level and experience.
And while the summer is not over (yet), I am sure there will be more exciting changes in our future.
In the words of Sally Edwards, “When was the last time you tried something for the first time?”
We agreed (me, begrudgingly) to meet at 6:45 somewhere in the middle and carpool ourselves to ADO (Auburn Damn Overlook). It was the day after the Fourth of July! Granted, we (meaning me), did most of our celebrating early in the day and on the evening of the 3rd of July, but I wanted a few more minutes of sleep. Luckily, Pigeon let me sleep a few extra minutes and pushed our run back (she originally wanted to be IN Auburn and running right at 6:45 am).
When we got to Auburn, we hopped out of the car and pretty much just took off. I wore my Ultimate Direction Jenny Vesta because the past few weekends I have been testing out how I want to use it when I am pacing Pigeon in two weeks. I think I have decided on a plan of attack. I’ll use the hydration bladder and one bottle (jug) to allow myself some extra storage room.
Deer!
Almost immediately into our run we hear something off to the side and not 5 feet from us are a couple of beautiful deer having some breakfast. I just knew it was going to be one of those days on the trail. The kind of day where it is just gorgeous out and I find myself smiling from ear to ear no matter what.
The first couple of miles Pigeon and I talked, a lot. We talked about the recent happenings in our lives and also about TRT and what lies ahead for her.
The trail was dry and very dusty. When we approached the first “stream” crossing waterfall or watering hole, (however you want to describe it), Pigeon immediately got down and doused her bandana to wear around her neck. Even at 7 am, the temps were getting pretty warm. This SHOULD have been an indication or warning to us that the day would be a hot one, but we both sort of just shook it off and kept running.
We ran down towards No Hands Bridge, across and up towards K2. I knew where we were going without even having to say it. I didn’t mind. There is a porta potty at the end of No Hands so I decided that was the perfect time for a quick break.
The climb up K2 felt pretty effortless for both of us. We’d climb, talk and stop on occasion but for the most part we hiked pretty solidly all the way up.
The view from K2
I was pretty excited that I was feeling really well. I had some tummy troubles in the beginning but I always have tummy troubles. Once that subsides, I am generally a happy camper.
Pigeon always tests me out on the trails. She’ll ask me ‘which way’ at every turn or corner. She knows that I am generally looking down (trying not to fall) instead of watching where we are running. I think I can safely say, that I can park at ADO and run to No Hands, across and up K2 and possibly even the full loop without getting lost.
Which is kind of funny because if I park at the Cool fire station and you ask me to run to No Hands, I’d probably get us lost. 🙂
As we were coming to the point in our run where we could go back down towards No Hands or go straight and head to the Cool fire station we decided to hit the fire station. In my head I was thinking porta potty.
When we reached the parking lot though we both took some fuel and just stood there. We emptied our trash in the bin and pretty much just turned around and headed back out on the trail. We knew there was fresh water at the fire house but neither one of us thought to stop and fill up our packs. We thought we’d be fine with what we had (aaaah, hind sight IS 20/20).
When we reached No Hands Bridge again, Pigeon turned to me in the dead sun and said, “So I completely underestimated how hot it would be today. I have very little water left. This is going to be a long hike back.” I also felt like I didn’t have much water in my pack, but I also hardly use my hydration bladder, normally relying on my water bottles up front.
It was warming up pretty intensely on our way back and the trail was getting pretty crowded with hikers, runners and horseback riders.
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Our pace was slowing considerably as we hiked more than we ran. At times, it felt like we were running from shaded section to shaded section. Finally, Pigeon tells me that her pack is completely empty. So I take off mine and I pull out my hydration bladder and realize that it was still pretty fully and I happily poured half of my water into her pack. Another runner was passing us as we were doing this and asked if we were good on water.
HOT
Off we went. This time, I knew that when we approached that waterfall, that I too was going to dunk my bandana in and rinse myself off a bit. I was sweating a lot. As we ran down the hill approaching the waterfall, we noticed that it was pretty crowded. It was full of hikers who clearly looked like they had taken on an adventure without realizing how hot it was outside. Many of them were sitting IN the waterfall.
Pigeon and I ran up, not really noticing too much and just squatted down in the water and took off our bandanas. We rinsed our faces, necks and arms. I looked up and I realized that everyone in the waterfall was glaring at us like we were some wild animals in a zoo who had approached them and were going about our natural course of wild life business.
I wanted to pull out my camera SO bad and take a photo but I didn’t. As we climbed out of the water and back onto the trail, quite a few more hikers were splattered around the trail. I turned to Pigeon and said, “Did you feel like you were an animal in the zoo back there with everyone sort of just staring at us as we cooled off?” She looked at me and busted up laughing, “Yes!” she said.
For the life of us, we couldn’t stop laughing about what had just transpired which for me, made the remaining sweltering miles, fly by a little faster.
When we finally reached the horse staging area, we decided to head straight for the canal. We were pretty overheated at this point and our nice little 15 mile run that should have taken us 3 hours or less, had taken us over 3.5 hours.
The Canal
I have talked about the canal before but I am not sure I have ever posted a photo of it. To many non runners, this probably seems pretty gross …
Pigeon
For trail runners however, the canal is the perfect place to cool off during the hot summer months and in the cold winter months, it provides an amazing full body ice bath for recovery.
You can also clean off your shoes
I am incredibly excited for TRT in two weeks. For starters, Be-Well-Run is flying all the way from Whistler Canada to help myself, Missouri and a few others crew for Pigeon. I love when she comes to visit. Second, just being in Tahoe for TRT is probably one of the most exciting times for a runner. I have crewed for Pigeon a few times (you can read about them by clicking here (2010) and here (2012) and here (2013) ).  In 2011 I skipped but I had an excuse (Squeaker was only about a month old), but Pigeon ran the TRT 50K in 2011 as well, read about that here.
I truly believe Pigeon is ready. Not only is her training spot on, but her mind is in the game. Not that her mind wasn’t in the game before, but I think having experienced this race at the 100 mile distance once before, has put her in a whole new realm of readiness.
The support she has behind her as well, no matter the outcome, is beyond amazing. There is no denying the Pigeon that I met in 2010 is not the Pigeon I run and train with now just four years later. Some of that change comes from life experiences and some of it comes from her amazing and supportive wife Missouri. Most of it though, I think comes from Pigeon’s desire, drive, confidence and diligence in making sure she is 100% ready to conquer her goal. She is a goal driven runner. Someone I’d admire and feel lucky enough to call my running partner and friend.
Too much. I hear those words often and I am probably not alone.
“Don’t eat too much!”
“Don’t do too much!”
“Don’t drink too much…”
Errrr, am I the only one who has heard that last one? (kidding!)  Generally I hear, “Don’t WORK too much!” That’s a common one that I am sure a lot of people hear but in my case it is generally directed at the fact that I have three jobs, run ultras and do a bunch of random things on the side.
This week I was tired. No doubt a result of last weekend’s run (you can read about that by clicking here) or perhaps the fact that Squeaker is sick this week and up a lot throughout the night … or maybe the fact that work has been extra frustrating and stressful lately. Most likely, a combination of all of that I am sure.
Still, I posted something on Facebook and a lot of comments came back saying things like: “burning the candle at both ends” or “too much on your plate girl!” While I don’t disagree that is true, I do feel that I am handling ‘my plate’ fairly well albeit not the way in which I would handle it if I only had ONE plate. But who has one plate in life? A mom certainly never has one plate. We juggle so much that it makes clowns look like amateurs.
Moms are typically able to juggle kids, work, personal lives and everything else that is thrown our way pretty easily. Sometimes however, the body says otherwise. As much as our minds want to go, go go all the time, our body needs to be honored.
This week, instead of working out at Breakout Fitness on Monday morning at 5 am, I opted for sleep because Squeaker woke up. Tuesday morning I made it, but didn’t really “feel” like I was working out vs just going through the motions. No one wakes up at 4:30 am just to go through the motions.
When Wednesday rolled around and the Squeaker came in like a burning ball of fire and curled up next to me scalding my pjs, I decided not to workout once again. Squeaker is not alone in feeling “off” this week. To be honest, I haven’t felt quite right for weeks. Something is off in my digestive track and I just keep feeding the problem (no pun intended) instead of figuring out what is causing my discomfort.
I’ve resorted to eating pretty bland with no relief or results. Sadly, I am one of those people who holds their stress in their belly. I may look fine on the outside but my belly is in knots. Work has definitely been less than happy lately, my other jobs are fine although they take me away from my family time and that stresses me out too as the girls are at the age where they WANT to be with me. The Peanut is going through some emotional things right now that have me a little bit worried. I am thinking constantly about the fact that I have to run a 50K in 3 weeks and a 50 miler in about 4 or 5 both of which I don’t feel I have put in enough miles towards and if I have put in the miles, why am I not recovering as quickly as I used to? Stress. It all comes down to stress, poor sleep and diet.
I eat well. There is no denying that I eat probably far healthier than most (I could probably cut back on the wine but it is good for the heart right?). I lack sleep. QUALITY sleep. But I am a mom. I have a two year old that is having nightmares and/or is fighting a cold so she is up and only wanting the comfort of her mother. Unfortunately, that comfort comes in the form of taking her back to her room and sleeping on her hard cold floor which really doesn’t treat my aching tired muscles very well.
In an effort to combat that situation, I miss out on morning workouts which will result in guilt and more stress about lack of training. A vicious circle that goes round and round sometimes.
Of course there is the logical side of me that says, “Snap out of it Trailmomma! There are people with far greater worries in life than what you are faced with! You have a healthy happy family!” I need to just chill out. I do. I admit it. I also need to create another day in the week or learn to say ‘no’ to some things in life.
But I enjoy the things I take on. I wouldn’t take them on if I didn’t enjoy them! I enjoy working for the Kings on occasion (namely weekends), I enjoy working for Gold Country Run and Sport on Sundays, I enjoy my FT job (okay, that’s not entirely true but I like my manager and we do have a mortgage), I enjoy long runs with Pigeon and friends, I enjoy blogging here and I enjoy taking a class. Wait. Did I fail to mention that I am getting a certification from Cornell online so that I can have a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition? Um, yea, I am doing that too. There are many other reasons cialis prices Recommended site because of which men are facing today. Alcohol, high fat-content meal and energy drinks are not allowed to express viagra tablets 100mg their emotions or weakness in any form. The study shows that although viagra prescription http://raindogscine.com/anina-en-san-pablo-nueva-york-y-buenos-aires/ ED is not life threating, it can be extremely embarrassing,so it’s not surprising that men that have trouble getting or maintaining an erection are the many side effects caused by this. The medicine works to stop the obstructing free viagra sample action of the enzyme and promoting strong and hard erection.
I’ll probably write more on the certification when I finish the course. It is only 6 weeks and while not entirely at your own pace (you do have to follow a curriculum) it isn’t as high pressure as I thought but I do wish I could devote more time to study and learn. It is fascinating information and has really changed a lot about how I look at food and food intake in the face of major diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
It has also changed my thoughts on taking additional courses while doing what I am doing. This course has some flexibility, some of the other courses I want to take, do not and I would undoubtedly need to create more time in my day to take on something a little more intense. Just more food for thought (there I go again).
So really, there is no point to this post. I am just sort of randomly writing about what I am facing right now. Perhaps blogging is my therapy? My way of alleviating stress in my life? I certainly don’t stress about what to write here because honestly, I don’t have that large of a following and while this blog gives me great pleasure, I do hope to grow its readership some day but in order to do that, I guess I should have a common goal or purpose. However, for the time being, I love posting about my training runs. Whether they are interesting to anyone else, it doesn’t really matter. They serve as a way for me to look back in time and see what I have accomplished. A way for my girls to hopefully look back and see why their mom was nicknamed Trailmomma.
My plate may be really really full right now … but my heart and brain are as well. Things happen for a reason in life. Doors open and door shut and who knows where my life may take me this year. I guess I just have to wait and see what my plate is served with next.
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