Adventures on the Summit

Autumn Musings from the Summit

2010-10-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

Fall is here. Frosty mornings, an empty Safeway parking lot and the turning leaves prove my point. Some people are mourning the warm glow and long playful days of summer. Some are quivering in anticipation of shushing down the ski slopes, dancing on moguls and hucking big air. Personally, I feel like I have to get as much running, hiking and biking in as I can before the roads are turned to frozen tundra.

Last weekend, a ski patrol buddy and I hiked from Donner summit to Squaw Valley. The trail weaves along the mountain peaks like the Van Trapp family escaping in the alps in the movie “sound of music”. We both have wanted to do this hike for a decade or so and hiking guidebooks and websites rave about this route as the most scenic of the whole pacific crest trail from Canada to Mexico – and they are right!

It was 43 degrees and breezy when we left at 9 in the morning. We bundled up in multiple synthetic layers to fend off mother natures’ blustery frozen breath as we trekked along the alpine ridges. The valleys and gorges fell away dramatically – on one side; like a sheer stone waterfall, on the other, like a queen’s robe – flowing gently down and creating the headwaters of the American river.

For 6 miles straight, a steady frozen wind constantly tried to blow us over the steep east ridge. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine a jet plane thundering by or a herd of stallions running past my right ear.

We decided to rest atop the 9,000 foot Tinker’s knob. As we crawled to the crest of the cone of steep rocks, we turned to marvel at the 360 degree view and were smacked in the face by a sneak attack gust the exact OPPOSITE direction as we’ve been feeling for the last two hours! Crazy. How does the wind know to change direction so that it’s in our face at all times?

Equally miraculous, we found a comfy crater amongst the shards of stone where there was not even a hint of breeze. We peacefully snacked on crunchy salty GORP, sweet thirst-quenching orange slices and creamy string cheese in our little eye of the hurricane.

We then descended to the next valley and found little streamlets that were starting their journey to the sea. Autumn trees waved their colorful foliage our way. We were mesmerized by bright aspens quaking their lemon colored pom-poms in the breeze and the burning chimney red bushes shouting for our attention and turning our eyes off the trail to the fiery meadow below.

While ambling along, somehow the multicolored leaves reminded me of a traffic light. With 6 hours of hiking, one has time to let their mind wander off creatively … it’s almost as if we’re zipping along the highway of life and Autumn shows up with bright reminders for us …

Spring is like the green light of life – everything’s flowing, green and alive, we’re all feeling free, not a care in the world, speeding along and enjoying life … it’s like a rebirth after old man winter has had his way with us … ahhh, warmth, sunshine, vacation …

Autumn is the yellow light – which to some folks means hurry! Get out there and play – even if it’s cold out. Old man winter is on his way again … Autumn reminds us that life is short by grabbing our attention with yellow and red lights. Others of us interpret the yellow light as a sign to slow down and prepare for winter – seal up the windows, get our warm clothes out, chop wood … The red lights reminds us to stop and smell the fresh air, feel the cool breezes and enjoy the scenery.

Winter isn’t on the stoplight of life …it’s like a crystalline cold white light that shines and drowns out all the other colors … During winter, we get to choose any color from the full spectrum and live accordingly.

Then, the days slowly get longer again, and a small green bud light fights it’s way through and reminds us it’s time for spring again …

The point of my story is to enjoy the beautiful colors around you and make up any interpretation you want to live your life to the fullest.

The Sage's Weekend of Truth and Embarrassment - Part 2

2010-10-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is part 2 of a series, so if you haven't read part 1, please go read that part of the story ... go ahead, we'll wait ... Great - welcome back to part 2!

Normally we awake Saturday morning, feeling thirsty, a little fuzzy from the evening before's libations yet are very excited about the day's events to come. As some groups of guys do when we're away from home, we throw health and self care virtues out the window. So we begin our day with a bacon, egg, toast, butter, coffee, hash browns breakfast - it's great to hang out and smell the delicious sizzling greasy bacon frying away while we start stretching for the bohemian Olympics to come.

Every year since the inception of the Sage's Weekend of Truth and Embarrassment, we have started the day with a warm up run - this is optional, but since most of us are former running competitors, we love to get out and run 5-10 miles to start the day. We start a little stiff and slow, but soon we warm up and inevitably someone starts sprinting to egg on the others. So immature, so silly - yes, that someone is usually me :) It is so beautiful around serene lakes - the mirror reflection on the water, all the trees, the smells of drying mule's ear leaves blowing in the sun ...

OK, so we've picked T and A teams, have team captains, and are nice and warmed up for the first event - the dreaded summit bike race. Now remember - most of us are now in the 45 - 50 age range, and vary from 0 - 30 pounds over our college weight ... not to mention varying levels of conditioning. No matter. We all race anyways ... we total up the individual times from members of each team, and voila - lowest cumulative time wins.

So we line up at the stopsign at the west end of donner lake - around 6,000 feet elevation ... we all take off like rabbits ... the first mile feels pretty good, but we're breathing like freight trains and legs are already tired ... that's just the first mile of 3 - all uphill! Uh, oh, now it gets a little steeper on the second mile. All of our egos still think we can somehow speed up and catch the guy in front of us ... or at least, god forbit, keep from getting caught! We're breathing like fire breathing dragons now ... we can even feel the fire in our throats as we approach 7,000 feet. The last mile seems to go on forever - where did all these turns come from? It seems so easy when I drive my truck up this hill! Finally we round the last bend, lungs bursting, quads burning and egos yelling in our brains to sprint to the finish ... tiny voice in our heads saying "stop this hurts - go ahead and lie down on the pavement" is completely drowned out.

The little voice takes over when we get over the exuberance of winning or ignore the pain of losing - hey, there's 4 more events coming - anything can happen! We go back to the cabin and enjoy the first cold beer of the day before the swim race.

The swim race is hilarious - we swim about 30 yards out to a moving canoe and back to shore to hand off to our next relay teammate. No holds barred, there's underwater blocking, feet pulling, some guys can hardly swim (hey, we're runners) so it makes the rest laugh so hard that they can't breath or swim! The serene lake water looks like a herd of piranhas were consuming a cow out there - a veritable maytag of arms and legs.

Lunch is delicious and usually so heavy that if we had the swim after lunch we'd all be anchors. After a run, bike, swim, lunch and a few beers, we all feel like taking a nap. As guys, we are obligated to act like we are not tired at all ... so we go play volleyball. If you're a woman reading this, it probably makes no sense at all, I guess that's why women and men are so intrigued by each other :)

Volleyball.

I hear the Top Gun sound track in the background - we picture ourselves as if we were still in college - hard bodies, jumping over small buildings in a single bound, shiny glistening muscular sweaty torsos ready to film a commercial ... but then reality sets in. Beer bellies are starting to form (I'm being nice in some cases). Ouch! that ball is hard as a rock. Aren't there some kind of arm pads for this sport? But hey, it's super fun and we all do our best. I think I beat my vertical leap record of 1". The funnest part is if you're on "Sport a Tan's" team - he grew up in Santa Barbara on the beach - if you're on his team, you don't really have to hit the ball his serve is so good. Wow, where'd all the beers go that were in the cooler? Darn bears - next year we really have to put the beers in a metal bear box!

Stay tuned for part III and the big life lesson and next year's resolutions ... thanks for reading :)

The Sage's Weekend of Truth and Embarrassment - Part 1

2010-09-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

Every fall now for the last 6 or 7 years, a group of hand picked men get together at "The Sage's" cabin in Serene Lakes in Soda Springs. Most of these men used to zip around as skinny elite track and cross country athletes and graduated from the flat, cow-dung smelling campus of UC Davis. The Sage is a former dean and economics professor that founded a little known business school, wrote a dozen books and is now a relaxed president for a foundation that teaches economics throughout the world and is a jazzy tenor saxophone blower.

The Sage has also raised 5 kids that have 6 or so kids of their own - a legacy of sorts. This weekend all started when the Sage declared that he would stop drinking for a year, and needed a physically, spiritually and intellectually supportive weekend with his hand-picked group of friends. As the sun rises over the mountains and casts a salmon glow, I write this and recollect the weekends over the years. Many of us have been friends for 25 years or so - what a great way to catch up, compete, lovingly give each other crap and laugh. We've all gone on to a variety of successful careers and family and share the pursuit of excellence physically, intellectually and being heart filled gentlemen.

Is this a weekend of debauchery or is there something a little bit more?

We start gathering at the cabin on friday late afternoon ... the men filter in from across the country - some go off for a mountain bike ride,some run around the lake, and some start refreshing their travel parched lips with a cold one immediately. Periodic roars of welcome and reunion echo across the lake as each member arrives and bear hugs and belly bucks ensue. We plan the bohemian olympics and pick teams for the events. The team names start with T and A ... you choose who you will vote for :) The best cooks in the house prepare steaks, potatoes and other mouth watering delights. Good wine flows around the table as we share hilarious stories. One of these elite members has almost 5 acres of Napa vinyards and makes us amazing succulent bottles of chardonnay. Later, we climb into our beds and crash - smiling from the evening of camaraderie.

Generally we start saturday morning with a warm up run and the competition begins with a bike ride, climbing from Donner lake, climbing 1200 feet to the summit. We then bring our flaming throats and lungs from hyperventilating in the mountain air and our lactic acid filled quadriceps back to the cabin for lunch and some throat cooling libations.

Phew, that's only one event out of 5! Haven't even mentioned the pontification/debate about world events and issues. Stay tuned for the rest of the story ... and, oh by the way ... the Sage is the author of Beyond Winning - a great motivational read about the greatest coaches of all time and winning principles - enjoy!

This Summer's After-Adventure Adult Beverage of Choice

2010-07-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

Went for a fun mountain bike ride with Carl, Kristin, and Mary Jo last night - great sunset, exercise and few mosquitoes :) We all met for a great dinner afterwards, and enjoyed "Beer-ga-ritas" - like Margaritas, only Beergaritas. Super yummy, refreshing and great for Summit BarBQues, on the beach, or for sunset cruises on the nearby lakes. Don't drink and drive, have fun :)

Here's the Recipe:

1 Pitcher
whole or chipped ice
1 can frozen lime juice concentrate
2 beers of your choice
1/3 bottle of tequila
lime and salt (optional)

Here's the beautiful thing - we've tried good beer, cheap beer, it didn't matter as far as taste - even light beer tastes great (and is less filling) :) We usually go with Jose Quervo tequila - wouldn't go much cheaper than that - dangerous!

Just mix the ingredients and serve in glasses - for those of you who want salt, run a lime wedge over the rim and dip the glass in salt before filling the glass.

A toast to the host, L' chiam, cin cin skaal, good luck, nazdarovie, salute, proost, cead mile failte, iss igla, cheers, salud, skol, Enjoy!

Miracle Body Work Leads to Triathlon Success!

2010-07-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Isn't it exciting to exceed a goal? How fun is it to have things turn out better than expected. Those are a couple of things that make life exciting. Don't you love stories with a happy ending? ... In this story, I came from near despair to exhilaration! I was and still am amazed at how ...

I had a goal of finishing the Donner Lake Triathlon and doing the best I could. This year promised perfect weather and calm water for the 7am start. So, the International distance for this race had a 1.5Km swim (0.93 miles), a 25 mile bike up over the summit twice, and a 6.5 mile run around Donner Lake. The catch ... I hadn't trained very much at all for the run, and only 2 days before, I was still suffering from sharp pain in my left knee ...

Remember my blog about running easy/every other day to avoid injury? ... well, it didn't work for long. I severely strained a medial knee tendon the last day of ski season the third weekend of April. I was able to run a bit, but when I tried to train hard, do big hills or speed work - it fired up like a red-hot poker in the side of my knee. I was bummed, and didn't run for 3 weeks. I tried to run 5 days before the triathlon - I even ran super slowly and gently, and woke up the next morning with sharp pains :(

Dang! (I exclaimed something of that sort) My biking and swimming training is going well, I paid $140 for this race - what can I do? I am finally at an age where I know that racing is not the best way to heal an injury. At this point I just wanted to finish. Then I had an idea ...

Mary Jo had given me a gift certificate for a 1 hour massage for Valentine's day and I had never used it. She said the guy was super good and he used some airy/fairy new age mind/body/spirit stuff with crystals, etc... I didn't mention anything, but a massage from a guy wasn't really my idea of fun ... then I remembered that she was training hard for her first triathlon, and had a hamstring injury not too long before the race. He had worked on her and she was fine in a couple of days ...

So, I called Richard and set up an appointment - two days before the triathlon. I was psyched to try something, but didn't want to get my hopes up. Had to try something. So I went to my appointment and he welcomed me and somehow I felt comfortable right away. He spent over a half hour getting to know me, asking me questions about my past, my goals, injuries, and life. I loved his question "If you had a magic wand, what would you do/create?" That really made me know that he has chosen this as a passion and is doing something he really cares about.

So, he worked on me for an hour, releasing tension, pain and negative energy. I'm not sure how to describe the experience other than he gave full attention and focus and all he had to help me. I don't know enough about energetic healing to know how he does his body work, but I know it wasn't just mechanical massage, and the results amazed me. I left and was pretty sore and tired the rest of the day, so just chilled and read, played a little guitar.

The next day was the day before the triathlon. I woke up and walked out to the kitchen to make some coffee ... hmmm, very little pain in my knee. Interesting. I drove down to Donner Lake to pick up my race packet at 11am and rode my bike easy around the lake. Then, nervously, I tried running on the trails on the west end ... hmmm, no pain and the knee actually felt more stable! I ran an easy 12 minutes and then went for a quick swim to cool off and get my muscles ready for the race. Now for the miracle ...

I am very excited! I did the Donner Lake 2010 Triathlon yesterday and am super psyched about my performance. I came in 67th place and had an overall time just over 2:51. When I added up the times I thought I could do for each portion, I came up with a total time of 3:10. My stretch goal was under 3 hours! What a gorgeous day and amazing scenery. I did not feel any injury pain during the run - truly amazing.

If you're ever in the Truckee area, or even if you have an injury or want amazing mind/body/soul work, I obviously highly recommend Richard Leversee (CMT/LMT) 530-306-6802 www.deepwellbeing.com

Summit Triathlon Training - Rest to do Your Best

2010-06-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning after a very fun evening near Nevada City. Ski Patrol Guitar Mike invited me to the annual "Log Jam" at his friend's house. There were at least 3 bands and 30+ amazing musicians. We got to play along with our guitars and enjoyed wonderful food and adult libations. What an excellent way to carbo load and get ready for today's workout.

For those of you who don't know me well, I live at about 7,000 foot elevation on Donner Summit. A quick 15 minute bike ride takes me down to Donner lake - 3.5 miles away. The ride is quick because it's a very steep descent on windy old Highway 40. Other than rainbow bridge, I can now make it all the way down with no brakes - now that's exhilirating, just have to watch out for chipmonks, marmots, and gravel. Of course, since I live at the top of the hill, every time I head down, I have to head back up - 3.2 miles of solid uphill. I see other crazy people riding the hill every day!

So, you might be asking ... why the title "Rest to Do Your Best"? "Riding a half hour straight uphill doesn't sound like rest to me"!! Well, you're right. But, lemme 'splain with a brief story ... 3 years ago, I trained all spring and summer to compete in the masters cross country series in the San Francisco area. I came in 2nd in my age group by 6 seconds for the whole west coast. I vowed to come back and win the following year ... I trained even harder and aggravated an old Achilles' tendon injury. So, no vindication, and no racing :(

So, I've decided to just run every other day. I also love to bike and swim, so why not a triathlon. I plan on doing the Donner Lake Triathlon July 18th this year :) Well, I thought that if I was only running every other day or so, I wouldn't get in as good of shape. This is proving to be wrong. I'm getting faster. Hard to tell if I'll get as fast as three years ago, but the Achilles' tendon is feeling fine. With the biking, I'm training longer with less impact, so that burns more calories, decreases weight and increases running speed!

So, to either prolong your running racing career or your knees, hips and tendons, I highly recommend traithlon training ... I like to say "it confuses the injuries" :) Thanks to MJ and her bro Jeff for inspiring me to take on triathlons this summer.

Old Man Winter Still Going Strong!

2010-05-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess this blog is aptly named ... adventures on the summit. One thing I'd like to help with is with this whole aging thing. It sure seems inevitable ... here I am 48 years old, but most of the time feeling 35 or so ... but what's up with this impending 50?? I digress ... we see too many people give in to "age" and let their bodies and minds go. We've all observed this over time - it started early on somewhere around high school or college or especially when we started our careers ... we stopped playing, we stopped recess, we no longer had PE.

When a body is in motion, it remains in motion, when stopped, it usually remains stopped. After a long day at work or with the kids, ever try to get up off the couch while watching TV and go workout? Yup, good example. When people stop playing or working out, watch too much TV and don't do enough reading, atrophy begins to set in ... it's sneaky - slowly at first, then gets faster on us.

My dad is a huge inspiration to me. He got me interested in running when I was about 7 years old. He used to take me to a track - he'd run all the way around, and I'd "race" him by cutting across the infield :) Now he's 75 and has a world record holder from Stanford as a coach. He's competed in two world masters championships - one in Italy, and the other in Australia. How many 75 year olds do you know doing that? How cool. I went home for mother's day and he taught me some new stretches and we shared some workout advice. I love it.

So, age is in our minds. Become a body in motion. Challenge your mind, read, play ... sudoku, chess, play catch with your kids ... whatever. Every day in our lives matters - build in some dynamic play and be a rolling stone ... my personal challenge is to do the P90X workout every day for 90 days ... and compete in a 1/2 Ironman triathlon by the end of 2010. What's your challenge? What else would you like to say to add to this post?

Be the rolling stone ...

PS - funny, I started the title of this post in relation to the weather on Donner Summit where I live - we're at 7,000 feet. It's May 21st and snowing again for the 3rd time this month. Then just got on my soapbox and wanted to write about something more important than the weather ... Ahh, I guess spring is all in my mind as well ... :)

Telemark Skiing at Alpine Meadows with Jeff Hickman

2010-05-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just before the ski season ended, my friend Jeff Hickman took a half day off from his duties as a Paramedic Firefighter to help create more Adventures on the Summit. We went over to Alpine Meadows and traversed over the top out to the South Face of Sherwood and enjoyed some late morning corn skiing. Enjoy the videos my friends :) Great buttery corn snow and an awesome day with a great friend. Be sure to treat yourself to a day off and enjoy your friends too!

Click here to see the video Jeff filmed of me

Click here to see the video I filmed of Jeff

and remember to smile while you're makin' turns ... and don't forget your iPhone - we sent these videos to our buddy Scott on the chairlift, and not to be outdone, he sent us back pictures from his mountain biking adventure he was having simultaneously in the San Luis Obisbo mountains ... BYW, for any tech geeks out there that want to have videos on their blog, it's very simple to download videos from your computer to youtube.com and then just copy and paste the URL into the link box on your blog. I haven't found a way to directly download a video to Blogger.com, so if any of you know a more direct way to do this, please share on a comment :) Thanks and keep up the great adventures!

The Summit Rollers Band Plays Again

2010-04-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Last night was a wonderful mix of good friends, great food, music and laughter. Life doesn't really get much better than that. David Harmonica Galson showed us what a C & G harp collection can do. It was really nice to have his wife Diane singing along as well AND they brought some delicious quiche. We had a nice conversation about the complexity of music and how some people can be absolute perfectionists and it's almost nerve racking to play with them. Of course, it really helps us become better musicians! Ahh, the yin and yang of life at play again. Thus far, the Summit Rollers are a low-key, fun group of "musicians" having fun and getting better each time we play.

It's a group made up of Sugar Bowl ski patrollers - thus the name "rollers" ... although that can be for "rock n rollers", hey, we just "roll" with it, some alluded to "rolling" homemade green cigarrettes, ... you can make it mean whatever you want :)

Chris Guitar Kraft is taking guitar lessons, and making progress with leaps and bounds - it's great to be a part of. He's a decent guy even though he's a snowboarder and skiis at Squaw Valley sometimes. Vicki "percussion/guitar/vocals" brought a fantastic green salad and some dressing - Yum. She's been quite the motivator for our band to learn some sensitive chick songs - you know, like Jim Croce's Operator or Time in a Bottle. We continue to resist ... and it's fun to see her swoon and her knees buckle whenever we play a Paul Simon song.

Mike Old Martin Guitar McDonnell and his wife Beverly joined us, brought appetizers and chicken. He's the real backbone of the band. He has a 2" thick songbook and knows all the songs, his timing is impeccable and he has a great ear. Note I said ear, not voice ... I'm just teasin' - he's always on key, mostly a lower key. That's the thing about music and some artists - if you try to stay on their key, you might end up with a hernia.

Mary Jo keyboard Lund is a darling and brought a nice veggie plate with hummus. She definitely knows how to read music, sing and play the keyboards - her Lutheran versions of popular songs like Amazing Grace pretty much brought down the house.

Hope you can join us on the summit for our next practice. If you're not a musician, just enjoy life and listen to the music of others ... and it's always safe to sing in the shower ...

Our Six Senses Powerfully Ignite Every Day

2010-04-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Mary Jo read me an amazing excerpt from the Book "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Banbreathnach this morning and it made a huge difference in my day ... simply put - be curious, use all your senses, be fully alive, regain your childlike wonder for our amazing bodies and the planet ... for that matter the universe ... please share your amazing experiences related to this ... I anticipate an incredible discussion and learning more about you and your lives ...

I've been living on Donner Summit for over a year now. I moved here because it is so gorgeous, the weather has a full spectrum of seasons and even temperatures throughout the day - makes one feel fully alive. I noticed that lately as I drive to town or to the post office box, I have been spacing out ... taking the miraculous views for granted ... just staring at the road. What a shame. We all do this. Whether it's our job, our kids, the scenery outside, our bodies, our loved ones. We start taking it all for granted. Remember how excited you were when you were dating or first got your job? Well, we can choose to be fully alive, curious, aware and grateful for the blessings in our lives.

Go forth and enjoy your day my friends ...

When's the Best Time to Workout?

2010-04-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

Are you a morning workout person? How about noon, early afternoon, after work, late evening?

I don't know if there's any one particularly good time to workout. I'd just like to share some thoughts, get your feedback and ideas and help inspire you to just get 'er done. Consistency is the key to any fitness/workout program. So that's the single most important factor - when do you like to workout?

Morning - Pro's - get the workout done early and don't have to worry if you'll workout today, also it kick starts your metabolism and burns extra calories during the day. Also very good for people who like to workout outside in hot climates. The gym may be less crowded in early morning. Con's - if you have any injuries it may take longer to warm up in the morning and working out without warming up and stretching can cause injuries, aggrivate existing ones or make it longer to heal.

Noon - Pro's - great for people who work and can take a lunch break and workout, nice break in the work day - creates more energy and clearer thinking in the early afternoon when most folks are in a low energy mode. Con's - may not have enough time to properly warmup/warmdown, and also may be a tendency for you to "wolf" down your food (how'd they get such a bad rep?)

Early Afternoon - Pro's - my personal favorite time. I live in a climate that is cool a lot of the year. Both the external temperature and my body are warmed up and ready to go. Also, I get up early and start work - I'm the type to just go, go go ... so this is a wonderful time for me to take a break, re-energize & workout. Often, I'll cool down, then rest a bit by reading educational, business or fitness books on the couch before I go back to work. Con's - can't think of any - help me out here people :)

After Work or later in Evening - this time takes the most discipline - many people are tired after work and the temptation is to just rest and say "I'll work out double tomorrow" ... well, those tomorrows add up fast. Pro's - your work is done, you can workout without the stress of having to return to work. Great way to reward yourself, also good for hot climates, social workout people have many people to talk to at the gym between sets, many areobic classes are offered at this time. Con's - procrastinators or tired people may be tempted to skip the workout, some folks have more trouble sleeping if they workout late, may postpone dinner time (although studies are now showing that time of eating is much less important than what you eat and how much).

Whatever time is best for you, I highly recommend putting it in your calendar or planner and being consistent. I remember when I was running 60 - 100 miles a week - my body was sooooo tired, and I dreaded working out sometimes ... I'd just plan out the time to run, and then trick myself into STARTING the workout - I'd say - "Jimbo, just get your running clothes and shoes on and go out the door" - and once I was out the door, the workout would be great ... so get those workout clothes on and just "START" your workout ... you can reply to this post later ... OK, GO! have a great day everyone :)

Ahhhhh - Stretching, the miracle workout

2010-04-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Skiing on Donner Summit is incredible. It's mid April and we've had 2 and a half feet of fresh snow in the last week, spring conditions and more storming. I've been skiing for the last 5 days now. We all know we should vary our workouts, so I ran 5 miles on friday after skiing. So today was monday and it was back to work - get unpacked, organized, make client phone calls, catchup on e-mails ... you know the story ...

At the end of the day my shoulders were all tense, I was tired and achy all over. It's stormy and super windy outside ... yes, a bit wimpy, but I didn't feel like working out. Then I remembered I had an hour long stretch workout on DVD. Wow - I just finished the P90X "X-Stretch" DVD workout and feel refreshed, invigorated, relaxed ... and as you can see - focused and creative enough to write this blog entry tonight.

Why don't we stretch more often? We know it's great for our health; it helps us prevent injuries or even heal them. Stretching also incorporates breathing - a form of dynamic/static meditation that calms us and erases stress from the day. Some folks complain of having limited time. Well, I recommend short 5 - 10 minute stretch breaks sprinkled throughout your day - how nice is that? Hey, smokers take breaks, why can't us healthy people too?

And, here's the kicker ... I know you don't want to hear this, but it's pure wisdom/truth ... whatever muscle/tendon you don't like to stretch ... which one(s) are the ones for you? You know the ones! Yes, those are the ones that will help you the most, so just stretch those suckers ... relax, breath and soon your body will be in balance, those nagging injuries will disappear and you'll write in to this blog to thank me :) Have a great day everyone!

You CAN do it ALL

2010-04-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

What a great day. Woke up, had a business meeting on the phone regarding index option trading, returned some client phone calls, had a tasty breakfast of eggos and a hard boiled egg - yum. My good friend Steve is a database and web/seo expert, and he drove up from the Marin/San Francisco bay area this morning and got up to Sugar Bowl in less than three hours. It was a sunny but breezy and semi cold morning - 25 degrees, so the snow was a bit hard ... so I met him at about 10am and the snow was starting to soften up on the south facing slopes.
Thanks to my ski patrol friend David Galson, Steve got a free lift ticket. We skiid all day until about 2:30pm when the snow was starting to get sticky - about 50 degrees by then. Steve is also a former elite triathlete on the comeback path - it was great skiing with him and a very good workout.
Well, there seems to be nothing like a cold beer or two on the sunny deck after skiing - so refreshing! But here was my dilemma ... I wanted to go down to the Martis creek reservoir by the Truckee airport and run 5 miles that afternoon - running and beer drinking rarely mix well ...

I caved in and had a couple of brewskis on the deck with my buddy Steve - great relaxing, conversation and people watching ...
And, here's the great news ... I drove home, drank two big glasses of water and drove out to the reservoir. I started the run slowly to see how I would feel. Felt OK, so picked up the pace ... it was nice and sunny with a cool breeze - lots of dogs were taking their owners for a walk ... some kids were taking their parents for walks as well - all enjoying the fresh air and gorgeous scenery.
How did I do such a crazy thing? Well, one thing of course was discipline and desire - I really wanted to stay on my workout schedule ... another was creative self talk ... I simply told myself that I had "carbo loaded" instead of beating myself up for not being disciplined in the first place - it's all a state of mind ... of course that goes with the caution of not making this a habit ... the "carbo loading" would then seem like a justification or rationalization ...
Anyways - I encourage you to go for it in life, if you have an apparent conflict, sometimes you can have it all - just takes some persistence and creative self talk - have a wonderful day!

How to work out on gloomy or wet cold days

2010-04-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

It seems so easy to workout when it's sunny and warm out - what a treat to go outside for adventure and play. Running, biking, hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, swimming - whatever your pleasure. Even when it's snowing out it's fun to go play outside ... but what about those icy, sleety, cold, rainy dreary days?

I remember when I was a serious runner back in the day - I'd just suck it up and get out there. Nothing wrong with that - especially with today's thin goretex layers, synthetic clothing and non-scratchy wool like smartwool - thin layers rock in weather like that.

I moved up to the mountains a little over a year ago - I used to live in the San Francisco Bay area. So, I've now learned many ways to exercise in the snow, but don't really like the cold rain ... really there's several options:
1) join a gym and go workout there - there's cardio, weights, etc... I know, obvious.
2) there's climbing gyms, yoga studios, rec centers (in Truckee, I've seen indoor lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, judo, etc...
3) speaking of judo, there's always martial arts studios
4) and there's great aerobic, weight lifting, martial art, yoga etc... DVD's - my latest favorite is P90X!

P90X is a 90 day program with DVD's that's super well planned out and the X stands for eXtreme home fitness - all you need is a yoga mat, pullup bar and some dumbells. Tony Horton is the instructor and he's quite fit to say the least. For any video or fitness program, it's best to pace yourself and listen to your body - being consistent is the key and the only way to be consistent is to stay healthy and not injured. you can find the workout series at www.beachbody.com - they have the dvd's, equipment, recovery drink, snack bars, vitamins, etc... there.

I know, this sounds like a commercial, but it's very well designed to confuse your muscles with yoga, weights, stretching, warmup/down, kenpo kickboxing ... there's also a great nutrition book. I'll share more about that later ... so, what's your favorite workout on a yucky day?

Spring Break on the Summit

2010-04-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, spring break - images of tanning on the beach in Florida or Mexico, cold adult beverages, swimming in the warm waters ... and, of course, any other images you might want to conjure up ...

Well it's a little different up here on Donner Summit. March 31st and it's 23 degrees outside, a cold windy (100+ mph gusts) storm blew in over the last two days. I look out over my warm mocha coffee and see pillows of soft snow covering the porch and ski slopes beyond.

For some unknown reason, I woke up tired and lethargic. Ever have one of those nights where you wake up thinking at 3:30 am and keep looking at the clock? I finally got back to sleep at about 5am and slept hard with those colorful, vivid dreams until about 8am. Yet still I was tired, stressed because of all the work I had planned for the day ...

Then a good friend called and said they were out the door to ski at Sugar Bowl ... thank goodness for friends - I chose to postpone my work and was on the slopes by 9:15. I returned the favor and called a couple of friends to motivate them to enjoy this spring light powder - they were already on the slopes! What an amazing day of skiing ... my buddies and I call it a SEG day - stands for "Sh** Eating Grin" :)

So, as we already know, life is short. When life hands you a powder day or a beautiful sunrise to run with or whatever moment you have to seize ... reach out to good friends, life life to the fullest and go play! You'll never regret it.

Prologue - I went home after skiing and had an amazingly productive afternoon/evening! See, you can have it all :)

Achilles' Heel - Dealing with Sports Injuries

2009-09-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the dreaded Achilles' heel - Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Legend states that Achilles was semi-immortal, however his heel was vulnerable. Since he died due to a poisoned arrow shot into his heel, the "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a person's principal weakness. What's yours? I'd venture to say that all athletes have some sort of weakness - whether physical or mental.

Mine is ... well, my Achilles' heel :( I was doing some great training for the men's masters cross country season this fall. Then one day, I woke up and my right tendon was sore. I thought, ah, it's just a little sore, i'll go for an easy run and loosen it up ... went out about two miles and then felt a sharp pain rip up from my heel to my calf. OUCH! I had to stop and walk home. It's been sore for a few weeks now. I've done some light stretching, and iced it. A good friend of mine, Brandon Smith sent an e-mail telling me to do some eccentric calf raises - basically you raise yourself up with your arms, and then lower your body with resistance on your calves about 10-15 reps, two or three times a day. I've done this for several days and it's starting to feel better. Definitely don't do this if you still feel any sharp pain or much pain at all for that matter.

So, they physical pain sucks, and so does not running. So, how do we athletes cope with injury? Most suffering us humans encounter is from not accepting what is. So accepting that we're injured and doing what we know we need to do (stretch, ice, physical therapy ... rest) is the path to being happier - not saying you have to be happy about it, but at least the frustration, anger, irratibility can be processed, felt and dealt with. Another way is to find an alternative activity that won't aggravate the injury. I took up riding my bike to the post office box (about 5 miles round trip) every day. When my heel felt strong enough (not yet strong enough to run), I started a very cool workout program called P90X!! They claim it to be extreme home fitness. I've done a week so far and every muscle in my body is sore ... more on that in my next blog - stay healthy :)

Team Pictures at the Finish of the Great Lakes Relay 09

2009-08-09T08:06:00.001-07:00

Click here to see more fun pictures :)

It Takes a Team

2009-08-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Slept like a rock after two days of racing ... woke up to get some coffee and found that I had aged at least 50 years overnight ... had to use the handrails to get down the stairs of the hotel and stiffly walk across the parking lot to get a cup of joe! Ouch. Had some coffee and chatted with Scott Schmick (team superstar) and Chris Glowacki for a few minutes. I was wearing my flip flops so my achilles' tendons and calves could stretch out while I walked. Ahh - better - got up the stairs without the handrails (lost 30 years).

Well, it's day three and we all wanted to run as fast as possible. It really didn't matter how sore or tired we were.

Suffice it to say, with proper warm up, hydration and nourishment (and a lot of team support and mental/physical effort), my two legs went great that day. One noteworthy moment was on my last leg of the relay - the 6th race in three days - I was jammin' along on a rolling hilly dirt/sand road, and hit a sandy uphill. I felt like I was running well, but only at a "good" level ... I asked myself ..."self" ... "what would make this a great relay leg?" - the answer was simply to give it my all. Maybe an obvious simple answer, but I believe that's what makes us happy, feel great about ourselves and what inspires others to do the same. It's so easy to go through life and do pretty good ... make today a great day - give it your best!

That's exactly what our whole team did. Steve Miller was our ironcast reliable strong runner - he is also smart and experienced enough not to get lost on even the most complex legs! What a great memory of Steve sprinting up hill on his last leg - passing a younger runner just before the finish. Ken Hoffman was an incredible team captain - he spent weeks on the tactics and strategy - we all had little laminated directions for our legs, knew exactly where and when we had to go (some teams lost several minutes due to teams getting to the exchange areas late). He also has an amazing positive personality - encouraging us all along the way. He ran the first leg of the third day with Jon Killips in memory of his sister Barb Clark (and I'm sure her spirit was with us all).

Jon was amazing - he came off training of about 15 miles a week and did great. Rob Strouse was a newcomer on the team and didn't know what he was getting in to :) He kept a great positive spirit and smile in spite of his pain and was a super team supporter. Tim Becker was the comeback kid - finishing his two legs strong on day three after barely being able to walk after twisting his ankle three times on day two!

And I wish you all could have seen Scott Schmick - he makes running 5:20 miles look easy. The earth trembled and the other teams shook with fear when he arrived on the starting line - amazing job Scottie - thanks for the inspiration and pulling the team to 8th place! Tom Halm was another newcomer - super nice guy for a lawyer ;) 54 years old and still looks like a 20 year old wrestler! He was a wise runner - paced himself well and ran as fast as the kids 20 - 30 years younger than him. Scott Hector is a high school cross country coach and a former great runner - the team was constantly surprised at how Scott ran beyond his physical condition every single time!!

Brad Abendroth is another high school cross country coach, and one of the smoothest, fastest master runners I've ever seen. I'm going to have to chat more with Brad to see what his training secrets are so I can share them with y'all - incredible job Brad!

Chris Glowacki is 54, rides a harley and wears a hippy style headband while he races. Never underestimate a runner based on looks, or he/she will probably pass you. Chris was an incredible contributor to the team. He was our anchor leg runner and finished with a sprint uphill in the sand on the beach! The team had carried two coolers filled with Bud and ice down to the beach to help us all warm down and celebrate ... Chris finished and we all cracked a bud together - solidarity even in the after party! We soaked in the cool waters of Lake Michigan, and Chris regaled us with his story of how a couple of "crack-heads" harrassed him as he raced by ... hopefully they were inspired by Chris to go clean and start running :)

Thanks everyone for a wonderful experience ... and remember ... give it your all.

Warm up Properly for a Race ... Day 2 of the Great Lakes Relay '09

2009-08-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

We now had the full 10 person team for Day 2 - You may recall we only had 8 guys for day 1 - yes a challenge, but Chris Glowacki (former Michigan runner of the year and sub 60 minute 10 mile at 50 years old!) and Brad Abendroth (coaches high school cross country in Michigan - an amazing runner) both had to race more than 24 miles in only two days! Thanks for joining us guys!

So, day 2 begins - out the door at 7am promptly to get to the start of our legs on time ... we figured we'd start at about 8:15 ... we had plenty of time ... or so we thought ... went to McDonalds for a quick mocha/coffee run - well, we were in a small town and with several other racers in line it took 20 minutes for them to get us coffee!! The night before it took two hours to get dinner - you get the picture - 88 teams, more than 880 people in a town of about 100 population ... but I won't bore you with those details ...

I usually get up around 6am, have coffee, write in my gratitude journal and start my work day. I like to take a break around 1 or 2pm and run - nice way to break up the day, and my body's warmed up and ready to go, I'm fully hidrated and good to go ... so here we're starting at 8am eastern - 5am pacific!!

We gun the van to where I would start my leg - get there at about 8:07 ... no warm up! ugh. and ... the coffee was working it's magic and I needed to make a serious choice ... more warm up and hold it or head to the woods with TP? ... I knew the consequences of choosing the former - so headed to the woods ... was quite efficient ... but that left me with only 4 minutes to warm up - I was stiff and sore from the first day's races ... jogged easy for a few minutes and then heard my runner was coming in for the handoff! I threw off my sweats and ran as fast as my sore body could go to the start ... boom - the hand-off and I was off and running leg B-4 (day one's legs are A, day 2 - B, day 3 - C) ...

Ugh. The first two miles I felt heavy, sore, tight and slow and was passed by some super fast youngsters ... I also felt like I was in a corset ... never actually been in one, but just guessing and it's a cool analogy - my diaphragm and stomach were tight and it even hurt to breath ... I gutted it out anyways, but it was painful and definitely not "flying on the wings of angels" - got to the trail portion of the run and felt a little better - it usually takes about 15 minutes for my body to get warmed up and have a smoother rhythm. I passed one guy - wow that feels better ... the trail was gorgeous with a view of the river - a nice sandy horse trail - and if you run on the sides of the trail there's pretty good traction ... after 25 minutes I finally warmed up and ran the last two miles strong - didn't want to be passed again! It's interesting racing in the woods - on the hard pack you lengthen your stride and swing your arms, on the sand, it's little power steps and pumping your arms - constant adjustments ... thank god this leg was over!

Here was my lesson - plan ahead, allow time for surprises, and warm up properly - Magdalena Lewy-Boulet 2009 USA half-marathon champ recommends an easy 15 minute jog, drills - high knees, fast feet, active stretching, and a few 100 meter strides ...

So, that's exactly what I did to prepare for my 2nd race of day 2 ... and for both legs on day 3 ... what a difference it makes. On long relays like this where you're racing 25 plus miles over three days ... doing a proper warmup and warm down adds approximately 2 miles per race - that's an additional 12 plus miles! phew - that reinforces the need to train properly and consistently.

Leg # 2 of the day ... it was raining lightly and it felt great on my bare sweaty chest and shoulders ... the whole leg was on the shore to shore trail in the woods ...windy, sandy, up, down, ... ran alone for the first three miles, and then I sensed a visitor coming up from behind ... I was already running about as hard as I could, but a funny thing happens when you don't want to be passed ... I dug deep and ran even harder ... yes, it was a runner from the dreaded team #5 - and I could tell he really wanted to pass me - he had worked hard to catch me ... he caught me with 1.2 miles to go ... I was a bit delusional with oxygen debt, and erroneously thought I had 0.7 miles to go - so hit the gas and took off - I got a good 10-15 yard lead on him ... focusing on my footing so I wouldn't trip on a root or twist my ankle, swing my arms, breath smoothly, lean into the turns, be as efficient as possible ... hey, what's going on here? I've been cranking for 4 minutes and there's no sign of the finish ... aww man - I realized I had another 1/2 mile to go!!

Had to just dig deeper and keep it going - the human mind is a powerful thing - the body can complain all it wants but our brains are stronger ... I hung in there and emerged from the woods at the finish still in the lead ... collapsed to my knees and my lungs heaved, breathing like a freight train ... the team was ecstatic and their energy was awesome - I had a huge smile on my face - that's what it's all about ...

Speaking of great team spirit, later in the day, Tim Becker twisted his ankle three times on a similar trail - unfortunately for him (and several other runners) the windy, sandy trail with 6"burms on the side were covered with huge bushes and ferns - so he couldn't see his footing ... (he iced, wrapped it, and was able to run the next day) so our team superstar Scott Schmick took Tim's second leg of the day for him and kicked some butt - it's noteworthy that Scott was already racing about 30 miles - amazing!

Tune in tomorrow for Day 3 adventures ... have a wonderful day & whatever physical exploit you pursue ... warm up properly :) it's worth it!

High Performance Running - Incentives work - Great Lakes Relay 09 Day 1

2009-08-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

What makes you run fast? For us, it was our team support, internal motivation and drive, and, well, honestly ... we just didn't want the young whippersnappers to beat us. Here's a 3 part story of how old age and wisdom overcame youth and skill ...

Captain Ken Hoffman led the 10 man team to 8th place performance - amazing efforts by Tim Becker, Steve Miller, Jon Killips, Rob Strouse, Scott Schmick, Tom Halm, Chris Glowacki, Brad Abendroth, Scott Hector and Jim Kaspari.

Day 1 - breakfast was coffee with Carnation chocolate instant breakfast mixed in - the power mocha ... the race started at 6am Michigan time ... 3am California time!! Crazy. So my first leg was at about 6:40 - body was unreasonably awake since I had jogged for about 15 minutes, stretched and done some strides to get ready ... my first leg was just shy of 5 miles ... sandy, winding trail with sand, bushes - had to cross a creek - made it in two steps - tried to be quick on my feet so my shoes wouldn't get to wet & heavy ... did pretty good considering ... while I was in the woods, a young sinewy runner (approx. 25 years old to my 47) caught up to me and had the nerve to pass ... I told myself to run smooth and easy - my own pace ... after all, we all had 5 more races to go ... but the ego is a powerful thing ... so I passed him on the next downhill - that's the old age and treachery part ... held him off until the last half mile and then he passed me again ... then wisdom overtook my ego and I let him slowly pull away ... I finished strong ... but wait 'till next time whippersnapper ...

Then, in the afternoon, I was already a little tight and sore from the morning race ... but ate some good carbs, was well hidrated, and warmed up well. This relay leg was again just shy of 5 miles ... the first two miles I felt a little sluggish, and did the best I could to stay smooth, be efficient in my footplants on the uneven terrain ... the key is to stay off the sand and do everything you can to get some good traction ... and not twist your ankles ... and was wisely holding back a bit for my next 4 legs ... then ...

Well, there's another tricky factor with this race ... no directions - you have to memorize your leg or bring along a laminated direction sheet ... and try to read while you're running as fast as you can on tricky terrain ... a small concession ... there's little blue dots on the trees - about 10 feet up - they indicate where the trail is ... so you have to somehow look down at your footing so you don't twist your ankles, and simultaneously look up at the trees for blue dots so you don't get lost ... some teams have been lost for hours in the woods - that sucks ... the competition goes ahead, and you're super frustrated and tired from running around in the woods ...

Anways, back to the race ... so I get lost for a couple of minutes ... I look around at all the trees ... no blue dots - shoot!! Then, another young whippersnapper comes along - I yell out at him - where's the trail - he points off the other direction ... I thrash through the bushes and woods to take a short cut over to the trail ... just edge him out to get back on the trail ahead of him ... once again, wisdom went out the window - I should have followed him and had him find the trail ... lesson learned and shared with you :) So, we were flying through the woods on the windy trails - like those flying motorcycles in George Lucas' Star Wars film ... Jumping over trees and logs, I led the whole way, and every time I got lost again, he caught up! Sheesh! Finally, at the last turn before the finish - he has the gall to try to pass me ... No f@#^& way I say to myself - and I turned on my afterburners and came shooting out of the woods with him on my tail like a state trooper ... well, inspiration snuck up on me in the woods in the form of a fast young buck, so I took advantage of it - .

The team was psyched and went wild! The first day went very well - and we only had 8 guys that day - the next day, Chris G and Brad A joined us and had to cover 25 miles of racing over the next TWO days! Stay tuned for another great adventure/running lesson/story with Day 2 ...

Rest well to race fast!

2009-07-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! About a week ago, I ran on a 10 person master's team on the Great Lakes Relay - 297 miles across the northern part of Michigan's southern peninsula. Each person on the team ran 5 - 6 legs or races over a three day period. Grueling terrain and effort! Hills, sand, crazy footing and vegetation ... all through the woods - mostly on the famed shore to shore trail (StS). Have you ever ran a hard race and then tried to run the next day? Most people are super sore and if they manage to get out to run (BTW, a great way to get rid of your soreness is to do an easy run the next day and get rid of your lactic acid buildup). Anyways, now you can imagine how tough this relay is - 6 races in three days. I was so sore the morning of the third day, I had to use the handrails in the hotel stairway to get down the stairs in the morning! I was able to get warmed up and raced well that day - but that will be in a later blog. So, how do you rest up for a great race performance? Great question ...

Big races or efforts like this usually require 2-3 days rest beforehand. I like "dynamic rest" - meaning easy runs or hikes, maybe a few strides and easy stretching. Drinking lots of water and eating healthy food! So, in prep for this relay, I trained for about 12 weeks - the last 4 weeks particularly hard. My last run with medium effort was 4 days before the event. Then I Ran an easy 3 miler, then took a day off completely - flew to Michigan from California - thanks Kim for picking me up at the airport! The team leader - Ken, was kind enough to let me stay at his home - we went to the Tuba Museum restaurant in Lansing for dinner (highly recommend it) and got a great night's sleep and then we went to the Michigan Athletic Center [MAC] with his daughter - so I did an easy 10 minutes on the recumbant bike (note - no impact, but nice easy dynamic motion), then 5 minutes on the rowing machine, then 10 minutes on the elliptical machine, stretched easy for a half hour, and then an easy fun cooling swim for about 10 minutes ... ahhhhh

Then we shopped for food at Meijer's for the three day relay, and drove up from Lansing to the start of the race in Oscoda so we could collectively run from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan ... details and pictures to follow ... go team Fortitudine Vincimus (with endurance we win) ...

Uphill Running - Adventure makes it Easier

2009-07-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we go on adventures that are completely unplanned and often those are the best. Last saturday, I drove down to Donner Lake - yes, the lake where the famous Donner party camped and did their best to survive the winter ... and had to resort to local culinary fare to do so. Anyways, that's relevant, because I was reading a great book on North Lake Tahoe trails and remembered Emigrant Gap and Coldstream trails - they are trails that originated with the wagon trains heading west! Wow - how cool to run along and imagine the hardships they endured, and the thrill of adventure they experienced. So, I parked my truck at the south-west end of the lake, and headed into Donner State park and just took the first trail I saw - a fire road heading east. I stopped a couple of hikers to ask how to get to coldstream canyon - one had no clue and another was very helpful. So I ran a couple of miles and then the trail - Emigrant Gap - started heading up hill. I cheerfully ran up, and was marvelling at the streams, trees, nice breeze and gorgeous scenery.

Then the trails paralleled the railroad tracks - wow, I'm getting pretty high up I noted. So, the trail kept on going up - for another 8 miles! It got so steep in a few areas, I had to walk three times ... but at about 8,000 feet, I was rewarded with the most amazing field of Mules' ear flowers in full bloom - same as in the picture. Wow! hard work does pay off. Note - if you ever have to, uh, well, go #2 in the wilderness, mules' ear leaves are soft an fuzzy - kinda like the Charmin of the meadows :)

After another mile or so, I reached the summit where the mules used to pull the wagons over the top - the frontierspeople must have been even more excited than I was. I have to admit - I took about 7 forks in the trail simply using my best directional guesses and occasional glimpses of Tinker's knob and Anderson peak to guide me. The last two miles were downhill - thank goodness. I made it back to my condo and then rode my mountain bike down to the lake to pick up my truck. What a great adventure. I'll have to go back sometime soon and keep an eye out for the hobo camps in coldstream canyon ... and most likely take different forks in the road ... like Robert Frost says "it made all the difference". Happy Adventures ... stay tuned - my next blog will cover the Great Lakes Relay in Michigan this coming weekend - 297 miles, 10 person teams over three days in the wilderness of the upper peninsula ...

Make Molehills out of Mountains

2009-07-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hello again my friends! I was quite relieved not to see any snakes on my 6.75 mile run today - lately I've seen 2 or 3 a day (I'll save the overcoming fear topic for a later blog). What I wanted to share with you is how to make an annoying or challenging thing work for you. There's a very steep section of my favorite run that's about 200 meters long. Phew, it would completely wind me to just jog up it! So, one day, I decided to just sprint up it and get it over with as quickly as possible ... well, yes I was super winded (but I was anyways) AND it only took half as long :) Bonus! and, I noted to myself, phew - what a great way to get in better shape and make all the hills easier ...

So, my nemesis has become my friend. What could you do to befriend an enemy? Could a co-worker you don't like teach you patience ... or even love? Well, I hope this gives good food for thought and hopefully inspiration ... now, I've decided to run up that little steep hill 10 times ... I'm simply adding one repeat per day ... I'm at three as of today ... will keep you posted :) Please share your successes with us ... make it a great day!

Your mind is stronger than your body

2009-07-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yup, overdid it a bit on the wine at our 4th of July dinner party ... sure, that's OK once in a while ... anyways, woke up a bit dehydrated, so drank a big glass of water, had a nice cup of coffee with a couple of friends and went for a walk to the lake near home. It was so serene and peaceful - you could almost taste the freshness of the cool air, and we felt the warmth of the summit sun on our skin ... it was nice that the mosquitoes were calm. What a nice way to start the day and purify our souls. So, why the title of today's blog you might ask? So, after this nice hike, and the previous two days of exhilarating and gorgeous hiking around the Serene Lakes and Donner Summit/Boreal area, my legs were a little tired ... so I decided to go out for a 6 mile run ... well, it turned out my legs felt better than i thought and not as bad as last week, so I decided to go 8 miles by tacking on another beautiful loop trail near Sugar Bowl ski resort and Lake Van Norden ... well, once I was going 8 miles (yes, my legs were getting pretty tired, but I was still enjoying the scenery, sunshine, fresh air, smells, wildflowers ...), I decided to go for double digits and ended up exploring a new trail and running 10.1 miles ... so the moral of today's story is ... just get out there, have fun, explore and before you know it, your mind will have overcome your body's resistance and you'll achieve more than you thought you could :) Have a wonderful day!

3rd of July 2009 hike at Locke Levin Lake

2009-07-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Karl and I hiked up to this lake yesterday - gorgeous weather, wildflowers everywhere. Saw many vacationers driving up highway 80, and were able to crest the hill and feel like we were away from it all. So peaceful to lay on the warm granite rocks and enjoy the birds chirping, the ducks swimming by, then swim in the lake to cool off. One of my favorite hikes in the area - about 6 miles round trip - a very nice workout and great fresh air and sunshine. great for your soul! we saw hikers from 4 yrs old to 80, and a group of about 30 college kids from Cal Berkeley ... fun for everyone.

Morning coffee hike

2009-07-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

My friends and I like to go out for a morning "5 minute" coffee hike. There's a gorgeous lake (Lake Mary) behind my house about 5 - 10 minutes away on foot. A great way to get a really good workout is to start with the intention of going out the door for 5 - 10 minutes. Then, of course, once you're out the door and have walked for 10 minutes (or ran or biked ...) continue your exploration for another 10 and so on ... our last few "5 minute morning coffee hikes" turned into 1 hour to 2.5 hour hikes, complete with hiking to the top of the local peaks and enjoying a 360 degree view - happy exploring! What's your best trick to getting started with your workout?