Knee Deep

Internet video of a writer speaking about writers writing

2009-10-09T07:09:43Z

Trail user conflicts

2009-08-28T07:10:47Z

Once again I'm reading about trail user conflicts and accidents. People wandering about and forgetting that there are others out there too.

I have something of an advantage since I work overnights and can get out on the trails late morning/early afternoon when there are fewer users, but I call this CRUS aka. Clueless Recreational User Syndrome.

This syndrome is characterized by a general lack of awareness of one's surroundings stemming from said person not having a specific purpose for being on the trail. The trail is an end in itself (just being outside) for these people, unlike a lot of us here where the trail is a means to an end (fitness, training, though fare).

Specific symptoms include:
Erratic actions: not holding a line, sudden stops, starts and left turns
Inability to control animals on leashes
Inability to control kids (not on leashes) esp. kids on bikes out of reach and weaving all over the place
Lack of attention
Inability to hear "on the left" due to headphones, cell phones, or selective hearing
Inability to predict the actions of other users on the path and allow other users space
Inability to comprehend that others may be trying to accomplish something out there related to time, distance or other goals

This is syndrome can be confused with DATUS or Drunk Ass Trail User Syndrome, however those afflicted with DATUS will show more stumbling, vomiting and aggressive behavior than the more common CRUS sufferer.

The saddest part of both of these is that those afflicted rarely understand they have a problem and therefore do not seek help, they simply blame others for their situation. This is comparable to a similar condition found in pool users called PESTY or Phelps Emulator Slow To Yield

They have no reason not to engage in these behaviors because they aren't driven by a time, plan or goal and so don't realize that others might be trying to do something more than going out for a walk. If a bike nearly mows them down they blame the biker and not their own unpredictable behavior.

They also have the gall to be startled when passed as they are tooling along with the headphones or the cell. Not my fault that they can't hear me coming up when they put stuff in their ears and crank up the volume.

Oh well :)

I get that people out there training are also rec users, just not usually as clueless. Trails are also multi-user and I get that too, but on the other hand, the only reason we don't get in a car accident every time we get behind the wheel is that most people have an understanding of a set of rules of conduct on the street and an awareness that if you choose to ignore them that problems will occur. There are user rules posted for most trails, but since we don't need a license for our feet or to use the trail, no one reads really them. Anyway here are a couple of links for bikes in the media in the last few days:

http://www.startribune.com/local/51532117.html
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1105837.shtml?cat=206

The Voices

2009-07-20T11:14:07Z

A lot of athletes and coaches have written about self-talk. The things we say to ourselves about our fitness and goals can be both positive voices (the ones that are the back of our mind telling us what to do to accomplish what we are trying to achieve) and negative (the ones that are just going to shut us down) and are rattling around in even the most confident athletic brain. The most successful athletes learn to listen to the positive and block out the negative, or so we think. But what happens when those positive voices are really the negative ones in disguise? And are they really as helpful as we think?

I started to think about this last week. I was out on a run and as I was climbing the particularly long hill on that route I tried a little positive self-talk, which occasionally leads to self-delusion, but whatever works right? "Keep going," I said to myself through gritted teeth, "you are almost there." Suddenly, another voice in my mind shouted "NO, YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" to which the other 'positive' voice brutally responded "SHUT UP and get the !@#$ up that hill!"

At this point I'm in a quandary. Is this voice that just brutalized my self-preservation voice really all that positive? Can you be Machiavellian to your self. Is harsh self-talk going to help or hinder me in the long run and does that end justify the means. Considering that all this is going on in my head so I realize only I can answer that question, and that by the time I had processed all this I had topped the hill and run halfway back down the other side without thinking about stopping again, I think that neither the positive nor negative self talk is actually the key. What really kept me going was not talking to myself at all, but rather the thinking about thinking was the biggest help in avoiding the discomfort and keeping up my momentum forward. Neither the bolstering, nor bullying myself was as effective since both depended on my being terribly present in the aching moment of my body.

Since then I've had mixed success replicating the thinking about thinking as a way of improving my workouts. The voice that I can't label anymore since it could be considered negative, but has had a positive result, basically told me to take last week off after Graniteman (and I feel a whole lot better this week) so I have not had any running workouts to experiment with until later today.

I know this mental state is also called 'the zone', 'meditative', 'flow' and a whole lot of other stuff by people more qualified than I, but I think realizing that getting there is neither achieved by affirmations, nor berating myself, as much as simply finding a thought I can be completely absorbed with (while keeping my eyes open so I don't fall on my face) and letting it roll through my mind will be helpful in repeating this event. Maybe the positive self-talk should be considered just a step toward something even more beneficial toward the goal of continuing and finishing workouts. I guess time will tell :)

GREAT RACE! Buffalo, MN 2009

2009-06-09T11:38:49Z

I can finally write those words without a mixture of dread, remorse for signing up in the first place and happy fluttering giant luna moths in my stomach. I still get nervous, but am no longer afraid I won't finish. This last weekend the high was around 48f, it was drizzling, and DAMN if I didn't feel pretty good by the end. The mental obstacle part is always before and my gut has learned to override any negative thoughts with excitement and anticipation of how good I know I'll feel once I'm done.

It wasn't always this way, as anyone who's gone back and read my posts can see. I've been racing tri's for 5 years now, but it was only last week when I realized that the term "easy run" in my planned workout log is no longer a contradiction in terms. I performed this race, in adverse condtions, at a better pace for the swim and run than in past years, and about equal to my bike splits. I'm guessing my bike splits would have been better if I hadn't crashed once, but who's to say? Having numb fingers and feet also slowed my T1 and T2 times,but all in all, GREAT RACE!

Would I have said that a year or two ago? Probably not. Signing up for races was simply a way to get myself out to excersise. Knowing that I'd race after paying to do so, training was a way to try and minimize the amount of pain I'd experience on race day. As I got in better shape and my numbers got better, there was more motivation to continue and now I'm having fun and doing my best ever.

It did not take me 5 years to get into better physical shape. Given my athletic background and no other mitigating factors like injury or sickness I could have likely gotten into this shape in one year. It took me 4 years to start getting my head to a place where I'd get out every day and not every workout was preceded by mental wrangling and self trickery. It took me 4 years of working out my mind to accept on a gut level that the goodness I feel the other 22 hours each day was worth the test I was giving it for 2.

Just like your body improves when challenged, so does your mind. It doesn't have to take so long physically, if you are already there mentally. Pro's come back from injuries and retirement all the time and get back to playing form pretty quickly. But remember that it can take that long, and that's ok. Don't give yourself a mental black eye just because you don't have the motivation to workout 10+ hours a week on top of everything else. Do what you can and keep doing it, don't give up because you think you aren't going often enough or improving fast enough, you are your own benchmark, just keep putting 'one foot in front of the other, it's the next one that get's you there'

Ghost Dance

2009-03-26T07:46:22Z

City of Lakes Loppet

2009-02-09T11:58:48Z

The Oreo's were eluding me. Like the stripes of zebras which blend together as they run across the Serengeti which make it difficult for the lion to target just one to take down, so too were the stripes of the Oreo's making it difficult for me to focus on one to nab off the tray. I was gliding through the feed station just before the 394 bridge, my body crying out for nourishment and my brain crying out that #551- was getting away again. I finally came to a complete stop and thanked the volunteers before cramming the cookie into my mouth and gulping some energy drink. Then I took off to catch the woman I had been leapfrogging with through most of the Quaking Bog section's twisty downhills and steep uphills. The 2009 City of Lakes Loppet 33k skate race was already half over.

Maplink: http://www.cityoflakesloppet.com/images/pdfs/2009/freestyle-course-2009.pdf

Earlier I had joked with another woman that the start was a lot like a triathlon swim with pointy sticks. In fact, by the time my wave, wave 5, glided up to the line the announcer would caution us that they were running low on broken pole replacements so we should be careful. I took a place 3 or 4 people back from the start since I am not much of a hill climber and that first uphill took a lot out of me the last time I raced at Theo Wirth Park. This may have been a mistake since this year I have been training harder and I ended up at the top of the hill ahead of a few I started behind and flying past a lot of timid down-hillers who would probably catch me again eventually, but insisted on snowplowing which I couldn't abide. Since, as I mentioned I am not a great hill climber, I could not let anyone keep me from getting as much free speed down hill as I could. I wove my way to and fro apologizing and encouraging as I went. Passing people on uphills double poling in the tracks is not something I am used to, but my skis were fast and I took full advantage.

My goal this year was 2:30, a reasonable pace, but right at the edge of my ability. By the time we came back down the starting hill and crossed the bridge to the rest of the Theo Golf Course I was right on track, 8k or so in. I had fallen twice tangled with other people’s equipment and had to dodge more than a few pole tips headed for my face, but the tri swim metaphor held sound. You can't take that contact with other racers personally in a race, even if it is deliberate, because you need all your energy to go into your forward progression, not worrying about what anyone else is up to. You have to be zen and flow like the river around the rocks, at least that's what I told myself after a grumble. It works in triathlons, it works on the x-c ski course, and it works in life too if you can manage it.

Once we left the golf course my wave had shuffled itself loose. The trails were less congested and the abilities of those around me pretty much matched my own. The trails through the Flower garden were showing wear and there was more than one icy corner with a berm of sugar snow kicked up by those snow plowing. Not nearly as bad as in past years however and unlike previous years, on the other side of that berm there was still good trail on the outside of the corners if you could just spot it in time and use it (fastfeet, stepturn). Only the hill just before crossing Wirth Pkwy really stood out as horrible since it is not only steep, but the sugar snow also absorbed my skis up to the ankle.

Crossing 394 we hit the lake sections and the v2 really began for me. I was still on track to make my goal time, but I had found another goal: beating # 551-. She passed me in the bog, but I just knew I could stay with her on the wide-open flat trails on the lakes. I chased after her having lost her for a bit after my cookie stop (maybe they shouldn't offer tempting camouflaged cookies :), and spotted her just leaving Brownie Lake as I turned the corner. Finally leaving 3 or 4 people behind whom I couldn't shake in the bog, I blew through Brownie and hit Cedar Lake at full charge. Spotting my quarry I move to the left to pass the last person between her and myself.

At this point I feel it is important to share a certain quality I tend to have in these sorts of situations: sometimes I find obstacles were none exist. OK? Back to the story:

I was comfortably at top speed, nothing but clear trail ahead, when then and there I did something that every x-c skier has done at one time or another. I firmly planted my right pole just inside my right ski. There is no photographic evidence of this event I can only imagine the expressions on the witnesses faces, but I am certain the following crash looked as painful as it felt. Since the hand is strapped to the pole, when you pull a bonehead move like I just had, that arm is then also useless to help cushion the fall. Maybe this is a good thing, since these sorts of falls can easily break wrists, but the benefit of saving my wrist from a potential break came at the expense of absorbing the full impact with my face. As people who know me can attest, I have lead with my face during falls in the past - but you never quite get used to it.

As I lay there adjusting to the pain in my face and assessing extremities, all those whom I had just passed skated by and politely asked if I was all right. I was I thought, and I let them know politely in return, but I lay on the trail a full second longer just to be sure. Getting up I touched my face to find it only a little bloody and my head only a little achy. Taking off again I was surprised at how quickly I caught and passed the group again, going on to hunt down #551-, again.

Finally mid-Cedar lake, after passing a dancing man who resembled a Yeti in his furry white hat and coat (I know I wasn't hallucinating because someone else commented on him too), I spotted my mark and started reeling her in.

I have long legs and a long stride. This is not helpful on the uphills in the woods but on a flat out, wide-open lake, as long as I didn't take myself out again, I am downright speedy. I could see that I was gaining on her so I settled in at a pace just a little faster than comfortable and held on. Oh that felt good, rounding the isle in Lake of the Isles. Two hundred yards from the finish I caught her and passed her, digging in for the slight climb to the finish line. One hundred yards from the finish she passed me back, and I had no response. I checked my time: 2:24. That was 46 minutes faster than the last time I raced that course two years prior and 6 minutes faster than my goal time. I accomplished my goal! W00t!

Later, in the changing tent, I congratulated 551-, who then told me that my passing her gave her that little extra motivation to pass me back and finish strong. Mmmm, I guess that was a tactical error on my part, but I skied a better race because she was there and vice versa, so I feel like we are even. I wish her luck at the Birki!

Post race soup (tasty!) and I'm on the bus headed back to the parking lot for my truck. Talking to my seatmate I have the impression that good times were had by all.

This is why I race.
Not to win.
But to try.
Push myself, play hard in the only life I've got, and meet pretty spiffy people who like to do the same thing.

Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers and other racers for a great event!

P.S. if anyone got a pic of racer 5544 drop me a line, out of 800 some pics I can't find a one :)

Lumberjack Jaunt race report, Brainerd MN

2009-01-27T10:59:11Z

Despite the negative temperatures that left all the racers bristling with frost by the end, the Lumberjack Jaunt in Brainerd Minnesota was a friendly and fun, if small, event. The cold conditions kept many racers away this year, but a small hard core group remained. Bright and cold at the start, the conditions didn't change significantly during the race keeping the snow slow and loud enough to drown out the encouragement from the spectators trailside. Even though I was not able to hear their words, their presence was warming on the inside. Thank you for everyone who came out! In the end, everyone survived to enjoy the fabulous soup and sandwich lunch afterward. Great soup Josh! Well done!

I raced at the Brainerd Arboretum throughout my High school career (yes 14 years ago)but I was surprised by how different this race was from my expectations as the organizers changed the course up by going up Big Ben backwards. The familiar trails have undergone a little shifting in the last few years, but the race course (especially backwards in my mind) is still challenging enough to be a bit of a lung burner for the first few kilometers. The course utilized most of the trails at this venue, but 8k loop was still challenging and scenic enough to keep it interesting though the second lap. I must say that running the race in this direction really did away with the nice easy downhills that favor my racing style :)

At the start of the 16k Freestyle race the official temp was -1, but without great challenge there can be no great reward:

Me and my 3rd place loaf of bread. It's good bread too!

I am not speedy anymore, but I have placed well in the last couple of races due to my ability to gut out the hard conditions and finish the race. If I earn my awards on guts rather than speed...I suppose that's ok too!

more pics:

24 Hours of Telemark

2009-01-13T13:01:08Z

24 hours.
Twenty-four hours of x-c skiing isn't fast, and it isn't flashy. It isn't even terribly fun to watch your athlete struggle on the course and struggle more in the hotel room working up the whatever it is from deep inside that gets him/her back out on that cold, dark course for more torture. It isn't entirely fun to be that athlete either when you are trying to take in more calories and more liquids than any person should in a day. My guts hurt, my chest hurt (I tried to keep the face mask on in the cold air but could not and I’m still coughing), my head hurt, and my soul hurt because I believed during the race that I should have been able to put twice as many laps down. When all was said and done, my GF and parents were there to see me stand as the number one solo skier at the 24 hours of Telemark of 2009. There were three solo men out there for the whole 24 too and I beat the top man by 4 minutes. I put down 20 laps alone in temperature ranges from around -12f to 12f above. The last couple hours saw a solid coating of fresh snow that slowed things down even further, but those big fluffy flakes were beautiful dropping through the trailside cluster of white pines as the sun rose.

This is not a typical race, and it's hard for skier and non-skier alike to understand.

A friend called the day after to ask how it went. I said I won. Then he asked where he could read about my win, I said, "I don't know, maybe on skinnyski.com". After that I went over to the fore mentioned site and as expected the results for this race are a side note. Not many headlines that read "A BIG GROUP OF X-C SKIERS PUT DOWN AS MANY LAPS AS THEY POSSIBLY COULD GIVEN THE CONDITIONS AND THEIR CHOSEN TIME FRAME”. There is a reason for that I guess. This year there was no mano a mano competition between the likes of Chris Ransom and Matt Aro, recognized athletes whose abilities are well documented and understood. For the rest of us out there, how does one represent or measure the guts it takes to go back out for more laps at 3am after already skiing 15 laps in Styrofoam snow? How does one celebrate doing something that few are even willing to try? It is so difficult to quantify this race, there is no way to compare it year to year because of variable snow and weather conditions that make a heavy impact on how far a person can ski. There are likely lots of people on one end of the spectrum of skiers saying "100k solo? Big deal. I can do more than that in less than 24 hours," but could they given the same conditions? Maybe, probably, there are some out there, but they weren't out there to prove it.

I was the solo woman in a field of one, I know I can.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum saying, "I could never do that" and "those people are crazy why would they do that?" Again, they will never prove whether they can or can't, because they haven't tried either.

Instead of all that talk, I was out skiing. Yes, I hallucinated a little, seeing movements out of the corner of my eyes on downhills. Little gnome people in pointy hats kept popping up and then hiding as I went by. I also skied with the full moon pacing me through the wind scoured limbs. I skied weightless. I hopped in the tracks and closed my eyes, gliding along, feeling like I was a half an inch above the snow on a pillow of air...well, until the next uphill. I watched the firelight dance through the moon shadows at the road crossing just a short distance from the line that recorded yet another lap. Above all, I kept moving, through sunlight and moonlight, through darkness inside my head, and out on the trail. This race allows for a microcosm of life to happen in a short time. I had a spiritual crisis and awakening, I remembered something my spirit sometimes forgets in the chaos of life: to live for the moment, sending the pain of the past and fear of the future away. I felt filled with joy and the weight of frustration in the time it takes to go down and up a single hill, and in the time it takes to change into a dry set of ski clothes and choke down that 15th gel.

Above all, I did it. I put those skis down one in front of the other and did it. Really it doesn't matter if anyone could have done it better, gone further, dug deeper, because that anyone wasn't out there with me to try.

There is a difference here, between other endurance events like Ironman or double Birkies and the 24 Hours of Telemark. This race is harder and easier than all that. For this kind of race, in a way, THERE IS NO FINISH LINE. There is no set distance to train for and focus on. You go, and go and, until there is no time left, you go some more. It is all up to you how far you go. No one is going to tell you need to go a little further to finish, just a little further and you are done. That light at the end of the tunnel isn't lit. This race, and other 24-hour races are more like racing in a dream. One where you are skiing as fast as you can, but the faster you go, the trail keeps getting longer, stretching out ahead of you into darkness. The distance you complete is your decision, a decision you have to make overtired, wrung out, nauseated and hurting. I finished the Ironman and yes it is hard, so very hard, but there the decisions have already been made for you. The 24 hours at midnight is like finishing the Ironman and then having to decide whether to go back into the water for another round.

I'm not saying doing this race makes anyone better or more adept than anyone else, but I am saying that this race and those who do it are entirely different but beautiful animals.

Thank you to the volunteers and other racers out there for an awesome event, and here's hoping to see more out there next year!

24 hours of Telemark countdown!

2009-01-07T07:29:09Z

As always, before a big race I get a little worried. The 24 hours of Telemark is this weekend and though I have done this race 3x before, I still get nervous. This time though I think I have my nerves bundled just about right.

Based on current stress research the stress level/performance ratio can be visualized as a bell curve. Too little stress, your body and mind don't really seem to care enough to put that much effort in, and performance decreases. Too much stress and you are wound too tight to perform well too. Worry just enough and stress a little bit and your performance will peak. So I am hoping that is what's going on here, I guess we'll know after the race. The hard thing to not stress about is that I don't know where my ski fitness is this early in the season. I can't do any early season races because I don't want to goof up my training and taper for this race, so here I sit fretting.

But the main thing I am doing this year to funnel worry into action is adjusting my nutrition plan based on what I learned during and training for the Ironman. Yes I may have over thought it, but avoiding abdominal cramps is important, partly because of performance goals, but mostly because THEY REALLY HURT! My insides are one of my biggest limiters on these big long races so yes, there is an excel spreadsheet and math involved. This is the same plan as last year with a few adjustments. Totaling up my caloric requirements for this race is hard, but as near as I can figure, to keep fueled x-c skiing I need approx. 200 cals per lap to keep going. My goal being 40 laps (200k), makes the number of calories I need to somehow choke down and process, around 8000. This number is fairly high because I am a fairly big woman - 6' 185lbs of bliss.

Difficult as it is to conceive eating and drinking that much, there are also the limitations to factor in on the type of foods I can have during this race. No calorie dense foods like meat and cheese for example. Tomato products are out (acid) as are a number of other things that don't pass the burp test (I'll eat something and then go out for a run or ski, if the food is going to cause problems further along in the digestive tract, it usually won't burp well. For this reason apples and pesto sauce are both out too).

Two new things: I am going to keep my food and drink warm and I have grouped all my food in bags based on calorie count. During the Ironman I noticed my body responding best to the warm broth and the air temp coke. For this race, though the forecasts are going up and down a bit, it looks like I am going to be in some sub-zero conditions on the overnight. It stands to reason that the less energy my body has to put into warming the food to process it, the more energy I can put into keeping myself warm and moving. We are even going to try to keep some food warm in a cooler trail side.

Here's hoping.

The grouping is more for my support team (parents and GF) than myself. Sadly I have memorized the calorie counts of pretty much everything I have. Valuable brain cells lost, true, but I'm resigned to allotting a certain amount of brain space to such endeavors.

The biggest challenge is sticking to the plan. When you are working out, you don't generally get hungry during the workout. If you actually don't stop working out for many hours you have to eat when you are not hungry. Your mind has to kick in and say something like, 'eat dummy or we're going to stop moving soon', to which your body responds:

It's an ongoing struggle many wish they had in real life, but in endurance sports it's a major hurdle that has to be overcome or you are lost and will lose.

As far as I can determine I have prepared to the best of my ability for this race. I've got my food, music, my skis waxed, and my clothes packed. Aside from a small twinge in my lower back that cropped up when I haven't been doing anything to taper for the race(grr) I am as prepared as I can be. I've even scheduled a massage two days out which I hardly ever remember to do. I have been shooting for 40 laps since the first time I tried this race, which is the goal that has helped me increase my fitness each year since culminating in an Ironman finish this fall, so here is hoping I can go the distance this year!

SNIGING FUZZIES!

2008-12-17T11:02:53Z

Never give up

2008-12-12T10:55:01Z

Sometimes you think you can't go on -

Sometimes you think the opposition is just too big -

Too strong -

Going to eat you alive.

But anything is possible if you just keep your head up -

Keep trying -

Stay aware of your surroundings -

And always make the best use of the tourists in the boat:

snowboundfox @ 2008-12-09T02:50:00

2008-12-09T08:50:58Z

How ultra is "ULTRA"?

2008-12-03T12:43:22Z

Seems like endurance events, especially running and triathlons, have begun to get a little exposure to the general population of the US. Beyond the typical televised pro sports (football, hockey, basketball, baseball) here in the US, there is a huge number of people participating in edurance sports that buy DVD's, check listings and wait months for a single event they are interested in to come on tv, stay up late and watch events on the internet and so on, just to see the top competitors in endurance sports. The participant ranks are swelling for triathlons, 5k and 10k runs, and even the longer races that you will not finish if you don't train like the Marathons and Ironmans. So even though many can not conceive of ever running 26.2 miles, or completing the 2.4 swim, 112 mile bike and the 26.2 mile run of the Ironman, people are not surprised when another person tells them they have completed, or aspire to complete, these distances. Though I have heard the "head case" and "crazy" labels applied to myself many times for my participation in these activities, it is still meant all in fun. Few really believe I am going to hurt myself by participating, or am actually dangerously mentally unbalanced. Just getting out and working out. Some even find this something to admire, inspire and aspire to.

Now people drop and sometimes die from dehydration and heart events in events like Ironmans and marathons, but it is expected that help is close at hand in these events and that for a relatively fit person these problems will be the exception and not the norm. But then there is "ultra".

Ultra is the term applied to a number of distances and events without any firm definition across the bandwidth. One bench mark is 135 miles, but that's just a long day on a bicycle for others. Really an "ultra event" is any event for which the distance is beyond the accepted norm. An ultra running event is beyond the 26.2 mile mark of the marathon. An ultra event is also often termed so because by participating in the event and not paying attention to your health and stress levels during the event, the remoteness of the event, harsh climate or terrain, you could actually die. The "crazy" label is practically tattooed on these ultra athletes in all seriousness. Potential psychological diagnoses such as OCD (compulsively checking and rechecking weather reports and gear lists), eating disorders (from constantly thinking about what and how much food goes in and comes out), and perhaps excersize addiction, waft about them like cottonwood tree fuzzies just looking for a stationary place to land. But those of us who are into seeing how far the human form can take us, the label "ultra" and the consequential funny looks we recieve from the general public when explaining how long our workout was over the weekend, are coveted yet maybe a little elusive. Ultra running has the most established terminology and ultra events, but what about other events and disciplines? (Not that anyone does any of this for anyone but their own internal motivation mind you..)

So here I am lead to a conundrum. Can the 24 hours of Telemark (24TK), a race in which I have participated in for several years now, be an Ultra event if you push far enough? Last year I x-c skied 125k in 24 hours, that is a little over twice as far as the American Birkebeiner which is considered an xc ski marathon. The Arrowhead Ultra at 135 miles http://www.arrowheadultra.com/, considers itself (and rightly so) an "ultra" event.

If I can put down 100 miles this year at 24TK I can qualify for the Arrowhead Ultra, but from the looks of things, you really need to complete some sort of other ultra to qualify for this ultra whether you are running, biking or skiing (all acceptable means of propulsion for this event). So again, is 24TK an ultra? Or am I already an ultra athlete? Or do I have to push just a little harder and a little further to achieve "ultra" status? I think maybe I'm in a kind of "ultra" limbo gone further than most, but not far enough. When can I have "crazy" tattooed on my butt? Indelibly, unmistakeably able to push my mind and body further than 98% of the population of people on the planet?

Or is ultra just a little too far? We are talking the difference between the potential of debilitating blisters (marathon) and black toe nails which fall off at an indeterminate time after the race (ultra), loss of feeling (marathon) and loss of entire body parts like toes (ultra).

Then again, with great risk there is great reward.

Sometimes things just violate...

2008-11-28T22:38:34Z

your sense of all the laws of nature and you are forced to synthesize the new information into your worldview:

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-27T06:21:01Z

Anyone who knows me knows I am terrible at remembering this stuff...But HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEJAYHO!

T S Eliot

2008-11-24T07:15:28Z

T S Eliot at Listal

Well, it could be worse...

2008-11-20T07:07:31Z

No snow yet so I'm still endeavoring to nt kill or maim myself on the rollerskis. But the best part of my week comes in the form of media distribution, Monty Python has launched their own youtube channel!

bringing us this!

and this!

and finally whistle:

and more! All they ask is that you buy their stuff too, I guess I do that anyway, so what the hey!

YIKES!

2008-11-06T08:04:14Z

Jogger runs mile with rabid fox locked on her arm

- PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Today, Tomorrow

2008-11-05T12:56:52Z

Not really deep, but I've realized that the thoughts that are really working ot get me out of the house for a workout is finding ways to convince myself that I really can't do tomorrow what I can do today. Sort of reverse procrastination..what is that? Crastination?

I was looking at the progress of the last three years and imagining how I would've felt if I had started out thinking about all of the work I have now put in to get back into shape. There is no way I would have gotten here. I would've let myself put it off until tomorrow instead.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

2008-10-30T06:06:01Z

It is a struggle to get me out the door again for even the briefest workouts. My left foot is giving me grief. Every time I go running I need to take 4 days off after to let my foot recover. I could understand if it were the right one because that's the one I had surgery on.

I have also let my rollerskis intimidate me for far too long again too. Have you ever seen these things? They are NuTz!!

If you look closely you'll notice there are no brakes on these things. They really don't get going as fast as rollerblades, but I have needed to fling myself to the dirt more than once to stop, hence the raging rash I got on my face a few years ago due to a dive into a poison ivy patch.

And it really hurts when you take a digger, which I do with morbid regularity. Kneepads help. It's a little odd that after 18 years on x-c skis I still have troubles balancing on one ski. I think I have had more lasting injury and lost skin due to rollerski falls than any other sport, which is saying something. The rollerskate accident I had as a kid is still the worst one time crash if measured by flesh loss and catastrophic injury though. Broken arms heal though, torn ligament and connective tissue don't heal as well.

Anyway, I need to keep a few things in mind:

1. I just did a freaking Ironman - It was the hardest and longest race I have ever done, that includes 24 hours of Telemark (24TK). It's hard to give my self a break though. I am kind of an all or nothing personality. Taking is easy isn't in my normal repertoire.

2. I need to remember that according to objective measures, my base fitness is significantly higher this year than last, my base heart rate is lower for one, my breathing efficiency is up for two, so I don't need to worry quite so much about this year's 24TK. Subjectively I feel as if I have practically devolved into some flaccid sea creature, but this is not the case. Hear that brain? This is not the case!

3. If all I do until January is sit on my butt, I do need to worry. My cravings for junk food are subsiding again at least, I haven't had any McD's, but Arby's and I did brisk bussiness there for a while. It does help working overnights when nearly everything is closed. But

4. My goal this year at 24TK is to improve on last year. I skied 25 laps. That's 125k. This year I'm looking toward 30+ laps or 150+k

So these things seem to be leading me in the direction that all I really need to do at this point is get out of the house. I don't need to got hard or long, but I do need to go.

I knew it! Farts are good for you. Yay Beans!

2008-10-24T10:07:50Z

Now if only science can explain why farts smell different in the shower...sry no cut, no time..

The Stink in Farts Controls Blood Pressure

livescience.com – Thu Oct 23, 3:21 pm ETA smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds.

The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out.

The new research found that cells lining mice's blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents' blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is "no doubt" produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.

"Now that we know hydrogen sulfide's role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension," said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.

Snyder and his colleagues compared normal mice to mice that were missing a gene for an enzyme known as CSE, long suspected as being responsible for making hydrogen sulfide. As they measured hydrogen sulfide levels taken from tissues of the CSE-deficient mice, the scientists found that the gas was depleted in the cardiovascular systems of the altered mice. By contrast, normal mice had higher levels of the gas, thereby showing that hydrogen sulfide is naturally made by mammalian tissues using CSE.

Next, the mice were subjected to higher blood pressures comparable to serious hypertension in humans. Scientists had them respond to a chemical called methacholine that relaxes normal blood vessels. The blood vessels of the CSE-lacking mice hardly relaxed, indicating that hydrogen sulfide is a huge contender for regulating blood pressure.

Hydrogen sulfide is the most recently discovered member of a family of gasotransmitters, small molecules inside our bodies with important physiological functions.

This study is the first to reveal that the CSE enzyme that triggers hydrogen sulfide is activated itself in the same way as other enzymes when they trigger their respective gasotransmitter, such as a nitric oxide-forming enzyme that also regulates blood pressure, Dr. Snyder said.

Because gasotransmitters are common in mammals all over the evolutionary tree, these findings on the importance of hydrogen sulfide are thought to have broad applications to human diseases, such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

The research was supported by grants from the U.S. Public Health Service and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as a Research Scientist Award.

It's fun to stay at the -

2008-10-24T07:17:06Z

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SRSLY? This is easier than walking?

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Success!

2008-10-15T10:47:09Z

Ok, the next time anyone thinks they should tell someone not to try to follow their dreams:

I don't see how this is a fail -

2008-10-13T07:42:06Z

Yeah, so little motivation, working on it...anyway:

Just flip it over and you are even set for winter :) I guess coverage would be the issue...

see more pwn and owned pictures

I'm as paraniod about pollutants as the next person but I do remember when Mr. Rogers taught me about rainbows:

Something to grind on - bicycle safety

2008-10-03T08:51:07Z

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/10/8/143547/109