Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Two Week Summary: Oct 31 - Nov 13

Bit of a catch-up post.

10-31-2011
Mon-AM: 1:17, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Tired. Very warm morning.
PM: 1:22, 2600' ~ Green Mt.
Up 3rd access, down 1st/2nd access. Great outing ending with the sun setting on a 70F+ day. After not being on this route for a week or so (because of snow), it was great to come back.  Love the scrambly nature of it.

11-01-2011
Tue-AM: 1:17, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. At my 7am start the clouds were just kissing the top of the mountain and by the end the ceiling was chasing me back to the bottom. Enjoyed the gloom for some reason.
PM: Fly to Sao Paulo.

11-02-2011
Wed-PM: 0:24 ~ Sao Paulo
Went for a short jog over to Ibiapuera Park and back from my hotel in Sao Paulo. Shin was a little touchy, but I wanted to get out and explore.

11-03-2011
Thu - 0
Filming for much of the day in Sao Paulo.

11-04-2011
Fri - 0
Flew by helicopter to Ilhabella island.

11-05-2011
Sat-AM: 1:22, 1600' Ilhabella Traverse
Started at the park entrance and then ran the 4x4 road that traverses the island from west to east.  I didn't expect to be able to run the whole way and after the shin felt OK decided I would run to the top and catch a ride down in one of the accompanying jeeps.  However, at the top my shin actually felt pretty much fine on the downhill and I was able to run all the way to the beach, much to my surprise.  Really unique run going through the jungle and traveling from one side of the island/mountains to the other. We were going easy the whole way, but I was also surprised to find that I wasn't tired at all on this run (the first sustained run of this length that I've done in over two months) and that all the hiking has definitely developed a basic level of fitness in me.

11-06-2011
Sun - nothing.
Despite feeling mostly fine on the run yesterday, my shin was, of course, pretty tight today.  Just glad I was able to do yesterday's run.  Flew to Rio de Janeiro in the evening.

Hours: 5h41
Climb: 9200'

--------------------------

11-07-2011
Mon - nothing.
Spent all day filming around Rio.  Quite the city and landscape. Shin was sore.

11-08-2011
Tue - nothing.
In Rio all day and then flew home overnight.

11-09-2011
Wed-AM: 1:15, 2500' ~ Green Mt.
Up and down front. Got home from the airport and within a couple hours got back on the home mountain, and my legs felt really good after all the rest.  Shin also seemed to be surprisingly good.  Last 10min to the summit are aggravatingly bullet-proof ice with most of the rest being reasonably dry. Frustrating mix.

11-10-2011
Thu - nothing
Last night I could feel myself coming down with something -- scratchy throat, headache, full body aches, super sensitive skin -- so spent the whole day today in bed trying to get healthy.  Bound to happen after all the travel stress.

11-11-2011
Fri - sick

11-12-2011
Sat- sick

11-13-2011
Sun- sick

Hours: 1h15
Vert: 2500'

Kind of a worthless couple of weeks when it came to physical activity and mountain summits.  So it goes sometimes.  All the travel this month must've taken its toll as it's Wednesday now and today was the first day I felt my body allowing me to get back out on the mountain after taking a week for little more than laying around in bed drinking tea, nursing a headache and trying to not let my swollen throat suffocate me.  Hopefully that mess is finally out of the way for the season.

This morning's summit of Green was brisk and breezy at 19F, but the trail was basically dry until the final stretches of upper Greenman above the northeast ridge.  But dry trails aren't even needed for my motivation and psyche to be pretty much at an all-time high right now--after Hardrock has its lottery in a couple of weeks my planned racing/adventuring schedule for 2012 should mostly fall into place (aside from the Wasatch lottery in February), giving my mind more concrete objects of visualization on my daily jaunts up the mountain.  Right now, if Hardrock doesn't happen for me, I'm hoping to take dual shots at California's pair of 100 mile classics this summer: Western States in June and Angeles Crest in July.

Mountain 100 mile racing's latest evolution has seen the shattering of every classic 100 mile race's course record--from Western to Hardrock to Leadville to Wasatch--except for Angeles Crest.  Over the last 23 years, only Hal has come even within an hour of Jim O'Brien's 1989 standard of 17:35:48, and while the race maybe hasn't attracted the depth of competition necessary to lower the time, the precedent has to be considered stout.  I hope my body gives me a chance to chase it this summer, but with it being only four weeks after what is sure to be a hard-fought race at WS, I'll be satisfied with just a strong finish, record or not.

Frogger slinging the bottles at Foresthill, 2010.
O'Brien setting his record in 1989.  Original photo by Stan Wagon, used by permission from the AC100 RaceBook [http://www.facebook.com/l/IAQHMuEOAAQH2r2k_7DTZ1ktiQuMhcJ9S1qAC-QxjVvzcoQ/larrygassan.com/ac100-RB/AC100RaceBook.html].

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings from a trail runner in Hong Kong. I've been following your blog for a while and enjoy reading your posts. I can only imagine your frustration at not being able to get back into the swing of running and wish you a speedy recovery. Hang in there.

AJW said...

Tony, glad you're thinking of AC100 if HRH or WS100 don't happen. As you know, I think it's a perfect race for you and you could go after O'Brien's record in ways that few others have (Pacheco, Nielsen, Hian, Koerner to name a few...). Plus, it's point-to-point, old-school, and, actually, quite beautiful. If I don't get into HRH I'll be there a few hours behind you:) AJW

trailrutger said...

it is good the illness has left your body this early in the off season.
I hope the lottery gods favour you to take a shot at the Hardrock this year.

All the best,
Rutger

Oscarjet said...

Nice post and good week ! greatings from Barcelona! GavĂ ! ;D

Rogue Valley Runners said...

Now in July, it will be a feat. I hope we all get into HR and make something special happen there!

hk

Anton said...

AJW - Yeah I don't need to be sold on the course; it's a good one for sure.

Hal - Not holding my breath on HR, so gotta make back-up plans! But AC in July? No big deal, I'll be heat trained for WS anyways, right? ;-)

Brick said...

Sounds like you have some good plans for 2012.
Hope it all goes well.

I know I have asked this before but do you think you would ever plan a trip over to Australia for one of the milers?

Last weekend was GNW100 which would be perfect for you.
http://www.terrigaltrotters.com.au/GNW100s_Home_Page.htm

Cheers
Kevin

Dominic Grossman said...

Four significant differences from 1989 to present day: heat, a lot of trees missing, much more technical sections due to missing trees allowing trails to get rutted up, and the race is now 2 mi shorter.

That said, it's a record and a half, 1989's race was in the 50's-60's all day. To run that fast in the sun in 80-90 degree heat all day is something special, but still do-able.. He wasn't perfect, just very good to great through every single section.

Alex Beecher said...

First, as I've not commented before, thanks for the blog. I know you've referred to it as a somewhat selfish feeling venture, but I (and others, of course) get a lot out of it.

Second, as a barista/coffee nerd, I think I recall reading somewhere that you spent some time behind an espresso machine. Is that true? If so, could I possibly ask you a couple questions about your time spent tamping?

Barry Bliss said...

At least you have some stability in your life and are on track using your gifts to help and inspire others.
So many people seem perplexed as to what to even focus on.
You have a lot to be grateful for.

Anton said...

Alex - Yeah, I spent two summers ('08 and '09) in Leadville, pulling espresso shots at Provin' Grounds Coffee & Bakery.

Barry Bliss said...

Just keep kicking ass, bro.

The fact that you hiked all these months instead of moaned and whined is a real inspiration.

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