Transition back to trail running seems complete

A good week of training, with 14.5 hours in the books, 128k (89k bike and 39k run), and just over 5000' vertical ascent. This seems to be a good volume level for me to sustain through August, and maybe juice up some of the slow kilometers with a bit more intensity. 

Heat wave impact on Swiss glacier



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/melting-swiss-glacier-uncovers-missing-1986-climber/ar-AA1etF76?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=65bfc9c3b41c4385ac7377350b084363&ei=21#image=1

Skiing 8000m peaks

 Andrzej Bargiel has now skied K2, Gasherbrum II and just a few days ago, he climbed and skied Gasherbrum I … all 8000m peaks. Notice he is using skimo bindings. 



https://youtube.com/watch?v=kv7ziIxWtWM&feature=share

Kilian Jornet and his NNormal



https://youtu.be/XOmCLl1z7c0

Graphing changes in my training

Both graphs cover the same time period, and you can see that as I was prepping for a four hour mountain run toward the end of May biking dropped substantially.  Then after I came back from skiing in the Sierras in June, biking picked up substantially asK got ready for the Prouty ride. Now that I am preparing for August/September uphill mountain races, you see the slopes starting to flip again … running on the rise and biking on the decline. 

Great gear tips for next skimo race season

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3Dhttps://tinyurl.com/SkimoRaceGearGuide%26amp;sa%3DD%26amp;source%3Deditors%26amp;ust%3D1690253363411027%26amp;usg%3DAOvVaw3M43oMl_VIV-i2ZZRRwjjB&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1690253363456605&usg=AOvVaw1gGBZ6JGb2FXCiCw3X0Pyv

BLAST FROM THE PAST … june 1981 on denali

An article from the Berkshire Eagle, however the summit temperature was -25 Fahrenheit! The picture was taken by my partner Mark Ewing.

Summer in the Adirondacks

Despite heat, humidity, thunderstorms, too many tourists and bugs, it's still a wonderful time of year. (Of course, it's not as wonderful as winter in the Adirondacks.)

I had a good week of training, logging 16 hours, 124k (87k bike and 37k run), with 5000' vertical ascent, as well as three yoga sessions and a couple of strength workouts. The highlight was the hike up Moxham Mountain with Ted.

New lift connecting Zermatt to Cervinia opened yesterday

https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Article/Matterhorn-Alpine-Crossing

Starting to think about winter?

Take a peek at this four minute video of a World Cup skimo race in Val Martello last winter.

https://youtu.be/SploOZSp-X8

Uphill running … to do or not to do?



Heading uphill forces you to slow down and alters the ideal run-walk transition. For most people, walking is more efficient than running at slopes greater than about 15 degrees (equivalent to a 27 percent grade). For elite runners, running might still be more efficient at somewhat steeper slopes, but eventually everyone reaches a point where walking is the most efficient option. Note that "efficient" and "fast" aren't the same thing: if you're just climbing a short hill, you might still choose to sprint up it even though walking would be more efficient. But if you've got a long race ahead of you, efficiency matters—and most mountain runners have had the demoralizing experience of grinding up a steep incline then noticing that the person beside them is climbing at roughly the same pace even though they're walking.

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/uphill-trail-running-research-2022/

Beautiful hike up Moxham Mountain

Just outside Minerva and North Creek, an out and back 8.6k trail (1400') with several overlooks and a bald summit with superb views. 

I haven’t given up biking but …

I am starting to shift towards more running and hiking to get ready for some August races, and a September mountain trip to the Alps.

The Perfect Race For Me

An all uphill race, riding chairlifts to the bottom of Sunday River after every lap (1,200' vertical ascent) … if the weather looks good, I am in for 12 hours, if not I'll sign up for the six hour gig.

Fewer hours last week as I tapered for the Prouty …

But quite a good week, as I had fresh legs for the big ride, and was able to keep my heart rate in zone 3-4 for 2.5 hours. So, I logged "only" 11 hours, and 184k (166k bike and 8k run), with 4125' ascent; however the intensity was high and my body handled that intensity easily.  All these Union alumni brought different instruments to the event from my klunker to a $12,000  colnalgo. 

Attempting to run the Via Alpina in less than a month

Pretty mind blowing … https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/trail-running/paul-bonhomme-starts-via-alpina-zero-to-zero-run-across-the-alps-28-days.html

Longest MTB ride yet

Yesterday, a bunch of college buddies and I rode various distances for this fundraiser (the Prouty) for the Dartmouth Cancer Center. (The picture is missing Dick, who was the only one of our crew to ride the 100 miler, and he is still out on the course.)

I was the only guy on a MTB and rode the 35 miler (really just 50k) and managed to stay on the wheel of the road bikes for the first ten miles, and eventually finished in just over 2:20 averaging 21.3kph. 

To do, or not to do an ultra this year?

At 71 do I really want to be feeling these insane types of thoughts again?

The Top 20 Signs You Are Training (Too) Hard For Your Next Ultra

1. You leave drop bags beside your bed for late night snacks.
2. You find yourself asking strangers in the grocery store to pace you through the frozen food section.
3. You insist your family use headlamp lights exclusively after dusk.
4. Your dog thinks it is so cute the way your feet and arms move when you sleep.
5. You've used your new altimeter watch to chart the elevation climb from the basement to the living room to the bedroom and have set a PR on the course-three times.
6. You wake your spouse up every night shouting "GU, more GU, I need more GU"
7. Three days before the race you try to convince yourself that a quick little 50-km run couldn't hurt and might actually loosen things up.
8. You swear you're trying really hard but you just can't come up with an entry for this Top 20 List.
9. Your friends and family stage a running intervention-before you get outed at iRunFar.com.
10. You wax your chest hair to improve the signal of your heart rate monitor.
11. You start getting really tired of eating all the time.
12. Your mother is trying to figure out what she was eating while pregnant to have such a crazy kid.
13. You set three alarms for your race and wake up before any of them go off.
14. When your coach tells you the three-day Rock and Ice Ultra is a good idea, you agree with him.
15. You refuse to buy the latest Garmin GPS watch because the battery life is only 20 hours.
16. You spend more time getting your gear ready for a long run then getting ready for a wedding, including your own.
17. You don't think of yourself as behind schedule until you've seen the second sunrise.
18. When your work schedule changes, the first thing you do is request vacation time to cover planned races, then you see what other races you can schedule, and then you tell your spouse you don't have enough vacation time to attend the cousin's wedding.
19. You realize that sleep is cutting into your running time.
20. You never leave the house without a piece of toilet paper in your pocket.

Sneak Peek At The New Skimo Gear Coming This Winter

https://skimo.co/preview

Nordic skiing and trail running phenom

https://fasterskier.com/2023/07/sophia-laukli-pro-skier-or-pro-trail-runner-both/

Yikes … I am 71

It seems like just yesterday I got off the Trailways bus, and walked down the dirt road to NCS with two backpacks holding all my worldly possessions!  One of the nice birthday cards I received was from school and camp, showing a child jumping across the Balanced Rocks gap on Pitchoff … it brought back many fond memories.

LESS THAN A WEEK FOR THE PROUTY

A big week reconnecting with family. Selden and I made a quick trip up to Trapp Family Lodge to see Jon, Amanda, and our grandchildren, as well as Grandma-ma Judy. Then a trip to New Hampshire for a gathering of the extended Hochschartner-Murphy-Clancy-Waligura-Boyd clan.

Of course, with the Prouty coming up, I had another good training week logging 13.5 hours, with almost 220k (210k bike and 9k run), and 4300' of vertical ascent.

Shoutout to Bachar, Long, Hill, and Yablonski

All packed into this 12 minute bouldering documentary about Stoney Point in 1970-80s … well done and we'll worth watching.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NgfQbP3xuyQ

Rumored for years … wolves

However, given recent research it seems likely that we have some in the six million acres of the Adirondacks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/climate/how-mistaken-identity-and-one-bullet-revealed-a-star-predator-far-from-home.html

Trail runner, artist, film maker … Max Romey



https://www.trailrunnermag.com/snowball/34381

Tai Chi … balance, flexibility, joint health, and cognitive gains


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/well/move/tai-chi-workout.html?smid=url-share

Evolution of the Dirt Bag

Zen And The Art Of Climbing is a website well worth exploring.  As a followup to this article you might want to read the article on Christmas presents for dirtbags.

https://zenandtheartofclimbing.com/evolution-dirtbag/

Quick Video … dyneema or nylon



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z1pA7BKiQw

Famous Climbing Quotes

https://winterclimb.com/articles/1-climbing-quotes

Well, given the amount of biking I have been doing …

For the first time ever, I have been following Tour de France. Not sure I am going to become a fan geek - like I am for Nordic skiing and trail running - but it is exciting and interesting. (I went with Peacock for streaming as it is only $5 a month, and so I can drop it at the end of the Tour, and it will have cost me just a pittance. Plus, I will have watched season five of Yellowstone.)

The Adirondacks continue to be soggy

However, there are often enough moments between showers and thunderstorms to get some decent training in. Last week I logged 16 hours, 186k (163k bike and 23k run), with 5200'. I also managed four yoga sessions, as well as two strength sessions, and two easy interval sessions.

Jack Rabbit Johanssen documentary

An excellent 30 minute video about the legendary Jackrabbit … I remember him in 1978 - my first Canadian Ski Marathon - giving out finishing medals. 





https://youtu.be/xCerKQU9SN0

Good article from Writers On The Range

Of course, this is not just a problem out West!  Good article, and I guess the solution is more stringent zoning or building regulations like what we get from the APA.

https://writersontherange.org/the-west-is-an-exploiters-paradise/

Two weeks until the Prouty fundraising ride

I have been focusing on logging MTB kilometers, but I still manage a short run each day with some vertical. My August goals are centered around two uphill mountain races.

Summer time but thinking of skimo

The Pierra Menta: one of the premier Grande Course skim mountaineering races. I think my time has passed, but it still gets the excitement going for next season. I just found this link on SKINTRACK … it's in French but the four stage highlights are visually evocative. Well worth it.

http://www.skintrack.com/skimo-racing/videos-2015-pierra-menta/

Muscle-oxygen sensors

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/muscle-oxygen-sensors-research-2023/

Nordic Olympian Sophia Laukli Wins Mont Blanc Marathon

https://nordicinsights.news/2023/06/25/sophia-laukli-wins-marathon-du-mont-blanc-in-course-record-time/

Training in the first week of summer

An unusual, but satisfying week: logging 15 hours, 144k (121 bike and 23k run), with 5750' vertical ascent. I alpine skied for two hours with skimo gear, had easy interval and strength workouts, as well as two yoga sessions. As usual this time of year: rain, some heat, humidity, and bugs, as well as a couple of bluebird days.

Salathe was a Yosemite badass

https://adventure-journal.com/blogs/news/john-salathe

Courtney Dauwalter shatters the Western States course record

https://www.irunfar.com/2023-western-states-100-results-dauwalter-sets-course-record-and-evans-executes-for-the-win

Western States 100 mile race

Ten minutes into the race, the top two females - Courtney Dauwalter and Katie Schide - are running in the lead men's pack. 

Himalayan glacial loss is speeding up

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/climate/himalayas-melting-water-source.html

Great MTB ride in Minnewaska State Park

I had a great ride with Harry … two hours, 28k, and 1550' vertical

Two hours of Alpine Skiing in the American Dream Mall

I had a ton of fun; the snow was good; the place was well run; and although terrain parks are not my thing, it looked like it had a good one.

The real purpose of the visit was to get a closer look and see if it might be suitable for nordic training. The place opens at 1pm. So assuming employees arrive at noon to get the place ready for customers … that means a lot of snow and infrastructure lies fallow all morning. Europe has several training facilities - snow tunnels - so why not America? (Indeed, the summer before the 2022 Beijing Games, several American Olympians were training in Germany's ski tunnel.)

Bottom line, it appears that by splitting the two main runs into uphill and down lanes, you could put together one continues 1.25k loop with about 275' vertical ascent. (A 15 lap morning workout comes in at just under 20k and 4000' … not too shabby.)

Inexpensive hotel chains and a major airport are close by, with excellent trail running, roller skiing, and mountain biking options a 35 minute drive away. All this could make for a good three day weekend mini-camp, or a classic and skate sprint race weekend.

So, do you think we can host a 2024, July 4th Super Tour Sprint weekend?

Denali FKT … 10 hours-14 minutes-57 seconds



A good recovery week

Back in the saddle - literally - as I try to get ready for the Prouty. So, I logged 13 hours, 128k (98k exercise bike and MTB, 30k run), 4350' vertical, and two yoga sessions.

New Mont Blanc FKT … 7 hours-25 minutes-28 seconds

Hard climbing in the Cordillera Huayhush

Well, my hard climbing days are over, but I would love to trek back in the Cordillera Huayhuash again. 

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/jirishanca/story-135572.html?utm_source=em&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=061623_black_hole_2&utm_klaviyo_id=01GQMSY133HGKT7KSCB0CMAK2H&_kx=VOA8zu5fg4rURwSosHy2WlWapQ1Ue6IQgCg0iNyBd8g%3D.YgU9me

One month until the Prouty

This is a recovery week for me, and I will log only around 12 hours, moreover it's been rainy and so MTB time will be modest. But starting next week, I will need to ramp up time in the saddle, so I can manage the 50 mile gravel ride in good style.

Back running on trails and Adirondack dirt roads