A Walk In The Woods

It looks like Bill Bryson's hilarious travelogue about hiking the Appalachian Trail might soon actually be made into a movie, and star Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  In a small way, I hope it isn't made because I highly doubt a movie could ever do the book justice.  Alas, it's not up for me to say...

In any case, here is a funny spoof trailer for the movie.

The High

Part of the joy I often take away from attending races, either as a competitor or as a spectator, are the encounters I regularly have with people I find interesting.  While watching the Leadville mountain bike race finish on Saturday I chatted with a guy about endurance performance at altitude and he told me about a race, also happening this past weekend, in India.  In the Himalayas.  It is called La Ultra The High.  In short, the race covers 138 miles, climbs over two 17,5 ft passes, while averaging 15,3 ft.  Apparently six people started the race this past weekend, in the race’s second year, and all six finished.  Including American, Ray Sanchez, who finished second.

Check out the race profile chart below, taken directly from the website, comparing Leadville, the Everest Marathon (world's highest marathon) and La Ultra The High.  Can you imagine running straight downhill- at altitude- for 50 kilometers?  Even if at a slow grade.  Or how about running straight up for 100 kilometers, after running 90?  The long chasm valley between downhill and uphill running is likely indicative of the range of weather and physical, mental, spiritual, even metaphysical, variances one must experience during such an event.

A trip to the Himalayas would be a true life experience.  Running La Ultra The High may be- just maybe- a good reason to go some year.

Spectating and such

There is no place I’d rather be in August than the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado.  The weather is near perfect and there are so many fun outdoor activities to take in, including race spectating.  Since I’ve been in Vail there has been a half marathon and a 10k, both of which I did not run and unfortunately also missed as a spectator.  The D.C. area has no shortage of running events, and the like, happening pretty much every weekend.   Here it is a bit different, though- at least for me.  Pretty much all of the races usually involve trails and mountains, which are more my kind of thing.  Yesterday I decided to head to Leadville and catch a bit of the mountain bike race.  I hung around the finish, soaked up the excitement, took a few pictures with my cell phone and conversed with a few athletes and vendors.  Witnessing the top male finishers cross the line was a thrill, as was watching Rebecca Rusch capture her third consecutive win, shattering her own course record time by 15 minutes.  What an athlete!

In just over a week I will also have the pleasure of spectating the USA Pro Cycling Challenge as it passes through Vail and nearby towns.  Top riders from the Tour de France (Cadel Evans, Schleck brothers, Ivan Basso, etc.) are among the athletes expected to compete.  The same week will also deliver runners from the TransRockies to Vail and Avon (Beaver Creek).  Friends from D.C. and a few other places are set to compete.  Catching up with them at the event stages will be a lot of fun as well.  The number of high caliber pro and amateur athletes who live Colorado is nothing short of remarkable.  Add to that the number of athletes who descend on the Rocky Mountains each summer (and winter for winter sports) to train and compete.  It is no wonder there are so many great events held in Colorado, all of which make for fun spectating.

Here are a few visuals from yesterday's Leadville 100 mountain bike race:

Winner: Olympian, Todd Wells.

Alban Lakata, the beast from Austria, taking 2nd.

Co-Outdoor Mag mutant, Alex Grant, taking 3rd.

Finish line media.  Obviously a popular event.

Next up the run.  Runners, take your mark!

Race Across the Sky

Attended a Vail symposium this evening and watched the 2010 Race Across the Sky movie, documenting last year’s Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.  The film itself was pretty great, as far as race documentaries go.  If I were competing in the bike event this coming Saturday I would have been on pins and needles in my seat.  And since I am not, I must say, it definitely got me even more pumped than I already am for the actual running event in 10 days.  The scenery footage.  The excitement.  6^th Street.  Powerline.  Ken and his trusty shotgun at the start and finish.  Good stuff.  In addition, if I were a mountain biker I would definitely attempt the Leadville mountain bike race.  The race looks super intense- especially up front.  Those guys hammer.

Following the film was a panel discussion hosted by Vail’s very own Xterra National Champion wunkerkind, Josiah Middaugh, peppering Rebecca Rusch, Chris Carmichael, Dave Wiens and Life Time Fitness CEO/founder (and race athlete) Bahram Akradi  with questions .   Eventually Josiah turned to the audience for questions and picked me as the last person to ask a question before ending the panel.  I directed my question at Bahram and attempted to ask in a very general, though sincere, manner how does he (Life Time) expect to manage the Leadville races series going forward, as the expected popularity momentum builds.  My question was very micro- calling out my focus in name, the mountain bike and 100 mile run events- but his response was very macro.  Now, he is the CEO of a very large corporation so I wasn’t too surprised by that.  I was surprised by his authenticity, however, and his deep passion for healthy living, in all respects, and for working hard to help others achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles.  Life Time is a gym business primarily, or at least that is how it began as I understand it.  Bahram believes that fitness and activity doesn’t necessarily belong in a gym, and that people with goals, for example an upcoming race, are very motivated and more apt to keep on track in terms of maintaining and growing in their fitness, than say those who go to a gym simply because they have a membership or do not know of any better way to stay fit.  Sure, there is money to be made in buying the Leadville race series and other “epic” race events as he called them.  He said the primary goal of Life Time is to maintain the nostalgia of the Leadville events, and all other races they have bought, and attempt to give athletes- all athletes- the best possible experience they can.  If that means making some improvements he said that is what they will do.  Or making no changes whatsoever if none are needed.  Bahram is such a health conscious guy he is removing all food and drink, beginning next year, from future Leadville races that have artificial coloring, additives, etc.  He said all foods provided during future events will be organic.  Period.  That was one example he gave of making improvements.

I can’t say that I don’t think race entry fees won’t rise.  I think they will.  And not just at Leadville.  No matter, something also tells me that the popularity of the Leadville Trail Run 100 will continue to grow.  It started before Life Time bought the race.  It started before Born to Run was published.  And it will continue.  Who knows, maybe it will become so popular that very soon the race will require a lottery to sort out entrant demand.  Maybe eventually it will adopt qualifying entry races, like Western States and the Leadville Mountain Bike race.  Western States continues to dominate as the competition-race-of-choice in the US 100 mile circuit but if any race could overreach WS in this area, any race at all, it has to be Leadville.  It won’t happen at Hardrock and we all know why.  Leadville is the only logical next possibility, if that possibility even exists- which I think it does.  What would it take?  Only one of two things, really.  (1) This one is easy.  $.  Life Time could pony up a purse.  But that probably won’t happen so it would probably take (2) a critical mass of inner-circle-elite-type-and-minded athletes (I mean that in a friendly way) huddling up and all agreeing to enter and run the same 100 mile race.  That race being Leadville, of course.  It fits the bill in many respects.  It can support the crowds.  Etc.  I am not suggesting that this should happen.  Or that I want it to.  Or even that I think it will necessarily.  I more or less see it as a possibility.  Why?  Up until a few years ago the Leadville Mountain Bike race was a popular event and everyone loved it.  Then something special happened.  Lance Armstrong showed up and broke the course record in epic fashion.  Not only that a movie documentary was made on that particular race and it was a big hit among mountain bikers and cyclists everywhere.  Now the Leadville Mountain bike race is on every cyclist’s to-do list.  It has to be one of the biggest, most popular mountain bike events in the world.  Am I right about that?  Say something similar happens with the run: a crush of special runners show up (not that special runners don’t show up every year) and produce a truly epic event.  The race is caught on film, distributed as a documentary and becomes a hit.  Boom.  The Leadville Run’s popularity mushrooms even more, possibly eclipsing Western States in terms of demand and competition.  Stranger things have happened, no?  As I said, I think it could happen.  Not that I hope it does.

Here is a YouTube link for the film trailer.  If you are into endurance sports, particularly cycling and mountain biking, you can’t help but want to see it yourself.

2010 Leadville Trail 100 race report

The Leadville Trail 100 is 11 days, 13 hours and 30 minutes from now.  To say I am excited for this event is a gross understatement.  To suggest I haven’t gone to bed each night, or woken up the following morning, for the past several weeks in a row, thinking of the race, would be a herculean underestimate of my focus and desire for a good race.  What is not to be excited about as Leadville nears?  How is it possible to over obsess on something that one considers as valuable to life as sunshine to a tree?  Why does a stream flow downhill is nearly as relevant a question, in my opinion.  The answer is just as obvious.

Given the fact that I am enjoying the pretty side of August summer weather high up, in the Rockies, with trails leading into the forest in every direction, except down, I can’t say that I am fully excited about tapering at the moment.  Imagine yourself in elementary school during recess, seated Indian-style in time out, staring out to the playground, watching friends run, swing and laugh; you, squirming against a brick wall, chomping at the bit.  Yeah, it’s kind of like that here for me now.  The sun is shining.  The aspen leaves are swirling and dancing in unison as the wind passes through.  The mountains are tall and green.  Beckoning.  And I’m mostly sitting on my ass.  Damn this chair!  Damn the taper!

Yes, this is one of the ways we running fanatics, naturally pre-disposed to obsess, obsess over upcoming races.  We complain when we’re not doing anything other than running and then we complain about not running when we actually stop running.  It’s a crazy, mixed up world.

Given that Leadville is now 11 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes from now I thought I might share my 2010 Leadville Trail 100 race report with the readers of this blog, the goal being to perhaps provide inspiration for first time Leadville runners, or hopeful future Leadville runners, or merely provide a wee bit of semi-entertainment for those with nothing better to do.  By the way, during August, 2010, the editors of this blog had yet to coalesce around a media stratagem, thus the launch of “Tails and Trails” had yet to occur until just before Wasatch only weeks later.  Therefore, what you are about to read below was emailed (gasp!) to family and friends in the days after the event.

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Leadville started Saturday morning like pretty much every other ultra race I’ve ever run: early and cold.  It didn’t take long for the excitement to build as a critical mass of 630+ runners toed the start line at 6^th and Harrison in downtown Leadville, CO.  I was calm and ready, despite a lackluster night’s sleep.  Sure, I had been in Colorado the past few weeks acclimating to the dry air and lack of oxygen at high altitude but race day was here and surviving Leadville’s 10,200 base elevation over the course of 100 miles would prove a great challenge.

Like every morning the clock eventually struck 4:00am only this time a sea of thoroughbred runners from over 40 US states and numerous countries began hightailing it due west on 6^th Street.  Though not something I require for motivation or generally seek out in races, the energy of the town during the Leadville Trail 100 is palatable.  6^th Street residents huddled in their pajamas on their front lawns, blaring music, cheering and spinning glow sticks as we sailed by.  Clearly, we runners we not the only scantily dressed loonies hanging outside at 4am in 39 degree weather.  The excitement was fun while it lasted but the day beckoned, and the mass of runners headed for the first marked trail out of town.

I mentioned this race was crowded but what I failed to mention was how ambitious the crowd appeared to be.  I came to Leadville planning to run the first several miles, like 40ish, conservatively.  I wanted- nay- needed to warm up my legs and my lungs.  Proudly, I succeeded in this goal and immediately realized others did not share my vision.  I pulled into the first aid station, MayQueen – mile 13.5, in 40^th or something place.  Fine by me.  I was happy to let these runners carry on, able bodied or not.  I knew they would come back to me later in the day.  And I didn’t care much really anyway if they didn’t.  My obsession over the race in the preceding weeks taught me that if I hit my time goal an overall satisfactory finish place would be secure.  After all, this was the 28^th running on the Leadville 100.  Ready data exists and I took advantage.

Leaving MayQueen I ran with Rod Bien and Jason Lantz, two very kind and capable athletes, all the way up to Sugarloaf summit, minus a bit of speed hiking at the base over steep pitches of technical grade.  We passed several runners through this stretch.  Unfortunately Friday’s meals did not sit well with me up to this point so I marked the trail a few times.  I pushed it only slightly going down the backside of Sugarloaf, aka “The Powerline”, and into Fish Hatchery, mile 23.5, because I wanted to make up for unwelcomed pit stops and maintain a certain level of consistency with desired split times.  I breezed through Fish Hatchery and kept running in the company of Jason and Rod, and a few other runners we picked up along the way.  I was content and ‘running within myself,’ as they say.  This part of the course, scenery wise is excellent, only the actual course itself is not.  Flat, paved road for about 5 miles. Trails and gradual hills soon returned and we arrived at Halfmoon aid station, mile 30.   After Halfmoon things spread out a bit in my company and I motored up and down rolling trails often by myself to Twin Lakes, mile 39.5.  This is where I saw Gaby for the first time.  I arrived in 17^th place and behind on my time goal.  “What’s up” she asked.  “It’s hard” replied.  I realized then and there my overall goal time was likely a bit too ambitious but also knew I could easily pull ahead of several runners still in front of me.  And that I soon would.

Twin Lakes crouches beautifully at 9,200 feet, the lowest elevation grade of the course, and at the antapex of several large, imposing mountains.  From here the course crosses a river and traverses a beautiful meadow for about 1.5 miles and them, bam!, winds straight up Hope Pass to 12,600.  By the time I reached Hope Summit, mile 45, I was in 8^th place.  My name is Neal, and I like to climb.  Running down the backside of Hope then up to the 50 mile turnaround point at Winfield was exceedingly beautiful but otherwise rather uneventful.  I remained in control, ate, drank, etc. and stay focused on the real work ahead of me: grunting back up Hope in reverse.  This is an extremely daunting task under the best of circumstances- altitude or not, race day or not.  Negotiating trail space with the plethora of descending runners as I re-climbed Hope was tricky, even though most of the runners were very gracious and granted me right of way since I was head of them.  All was well.  During my re-climb up Hope I was, shockingly, passed by a very loudly wheezing runner and his pacer, and then I also passed two additional runners.  7^th place.  I re-entered Twin Lakes, mile 60.5, moments behind Wheezy.  I saw Gaby again, joined up with my extremely fit pacer, Tony Stafford from Boulder, CO, and exited the aid station in 6^th place.  Wheezy was apparently content to hang out at the aid station longer than me.

Tony and I motored up the climb out of Twin Lakes and back on to Halfmoon with the hopes of making up some of my lost goal time.  We succeeded and actually gained a few minutes over this stretch.  The only persistent and annoying problem I continued having all day up to this point was drinking too much water, which caused me to pee.  A lot.  The calorie soaked Cliff blocks I gleefully munched on all day made me feel more thirsty than I probably actually was.  So I drank.  And I peed.  This sucked.  Seconds count.  Even in a 100 miler.  Anyway, from Halfmoon it was on to more flat trails, then back on to the terrible paved road section once again, where we saw 5^th Jason Koop plopping along roughly 1.5 miles off in the distance.  Tony assured me not to worry about him at that moment, focus on running- and not walking- into Fish Hatchery.  We made it to Fish Hatchery after a sad pace on the roads.  At this point I would need to eat and drink in preparation for tackling the day’s next great challenge: grunting up Powerline.  Gaby hustled us in and out of Fish Hatchery, expeditiously as usual, and we were on our way up Powerline.  It didn’t take long to catch Jason on the climb.  He was very fatigued.  We exchanged pleasantries and he pointed out that it was at about this point in the race at Western States in June where I passed him.  “Really?” I thought.  “Pleased to meet you” I responded politely.  Then kept going.  5^th place.  My stomach is usually excellent during races and could digest an anvil if need be.  During these hours of the race it taught me who was boss and I was forced to ingest calories the way Mom had always taught me- though I never properly learned- slowly.  Heck, it could have been worse and I knew it.  Fortunately a swig of water with every bite made things tolerable. 

Fortunately we rounded out Sugarloaf summit and moved somewhat sprightly down the front sloping side to Hangerman Pass Road, then on to the final technically trailed wooded base of Sugarloaf during the fleeting moments of sunlight before landing back at MayQueen, mile 86.5.  Ah, MayQueen…the final pit stop before finishing.  As we threw on our left turn signal and pulled into the MayQueen some spectator shouted “you’ve moved up all day.  Great job.  You’re in 4^th.”  “4^th” I thought?  Gaby swooped on the scene like a paramedic, the way she always does, and whispered “Anton DNF’d”.  I inhaled a small cup of burnt noodles, a few other things I can’t remember, drank three types of fluid, ate some more, picked up a light, and was gone through the backside of the tent in which I had entered about 14 hours earlier.  Leadville lights glimmered in the distance.

The Turquoise Lake waterfront trails were nice.  Oh how it would have been fun to run them in daylight.  Unfortunately however for the second time this day I would half-circumnavigate Turquoise Lake courtesy of my not-very-powerful LED headlamp.  I kept eating and Tony kept the pace.  I was far behind on my time splits and as a consequence was unwilling to surrender my hard earned 4^th place.  So we plodded along.  I figured any place greater was unlikely thanks to the raucous campsite cheers we heard in the distance as my nearest competitor, Dylan Bowman, passed through.  We finally made it off the lake trails and on to gravel roads for the last few slow and ascending miles back to the finish at 6^th and Harrison in downtown Leadville.  With no other competitors in sight we anticlimactically crossed finish line threshold at 18:47:54.  All in all a great day.  A big thank you and congrats to Gaby, Tony, race official people, all of the great volunteers, spectators and competitors.  I will definitely return to Leadville.  No question.

Race results here.  Race pictures here.  The first few pictures are from Aspen and Independence Pass the weekend prior.  And, yes, those are pictures of Christopher McDougall (Born To Run author), Jake Gyllenhall and Peter Skarsgard in the mix.  Peter is a runner and paced for a friend.  They came in not longer than me and we chatted for a bit; I didn’t recognize him at the time and impolitely texted race results like a teenager during our conversation.  The next morning he and Jake approached me and Gaby at our breakfast table and we enjoyed a pleasant conversation about the race, running in general, running shoes, my Grand Slam endeavor and a few other fitness related topics.  Peter seemed very interested in learning more about possibly progressing into ultras.  Jake on the other hand was very engaging thogh not as talkative.  (I think he liked Gaby.) They both stated they will keep an eye on my Grand Slam progress through Wasatch.  The pressure!  By the way, this is as much celebrity gossip as you will ever hear from me.  So, enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

Neal

Eat chocolate

There are a few paragraphs in this NY Times blog article, by Tara Parker-Pope, on the potential bonus endurance effects in muscles from eating small doses of dark chocolate that I find interesting.  Check it out. 

Health, looks and aging

Here is a good read in the Post on health and looks with regards to aging.  The guy featured, Jim Pressler, appears to have some things figured out.