Starting From Zero- Jen Hamilton

As a naturally active personality, starting from zero is one of my least favorite things, the other is feeling weak in front of others, so I'm going to pretend no one is reading these posts and we'll get along just fine!

More than one infomercial trainer has touted that the hardest part of getting physically fit is the first day- it's a lie. Anyone can do the first day, or even the first week, it's weeks two and three that will kill your momentum before you can establish the habit. With my glutes still screaming and my legs fatigued from the second week of 2 hour treadmill days at 15% (interspersed with 25 min. stair climber sessions and strength training), I 'treated' myself to a muddy trail run. More for a mental break, I thought I would feel stronger and tougher than I have. I'm embarrassed to admit that even with barely doing the minimal, my body is worn out. While getting outside was a great reminder of why I'm training and I thoroughly enjoyed the vacant trails, it was a bit discouraging to be reminded of my lack of fitness. I felt painfully slow and heavy, so getting rid of 35 extra lbs. from steroid treatments is first on the list of improvements. Challenging trails that used to bring a goofy grin to my face were now taunting me as I drudged slowly with my head down.

A coach years ago told me that my body is capable of so much more than I can fathom and it's important to trust in it's ability to adapt and get stronger. She told me that if I would have faith, I would be amazed at the outcome. But with my body still recovering from an extended illness, my faith in it's abilities has been shaken. I spent the entire run muttering to myself, and it wasn't even an internal monologue, is was audible, crazy person muttering. It can be remarkably frustrating when your body isn't performing how you think it should! After purging all my negativity and concerns into the mountain air, I could only come to one conclusion; Elbrus by choice, or my current condition by default. I'd have to test my new limits to find out where they are.

So, this week's goals are:
1- Put on the blinders. Focus only on the next workout.
2- When getting discouraged, remember to be kind and patient to my healing body.
3- Recovery focus through nutrition (lean proteins, more veggies) and more sleep.

Focusing on these three things goals should take me through the next week of training. Nothing feels better than looking back at how far you've come. Looking forward to that day!

Trail Running in the Snow

This week on Wednesday I did 2 miles, on Thursday I did 4 miles, and the plan was to do at least 6 today, Friday, 11 October. Tonight is our G+ Hangouts-on-Air for #ELBRUSRACECHAT, that we posted pretty heavily on our FACEBOOK PAGE. We have a slew of good questions to answer, and hope to have the YouTube recording and transcripts up pretty quickly after it's done.

Yesterday for Summit County Colorado there was a "Winter Storm Warning" with as much as 20" of snow predicted. At least at the lower elevations, below 11,000' there wasn't all that much snow. Maybe 4". I decided to go out for my run this morning after Angie left for her skating lesson with Todd. I felt like Mr. Pearl Izumi, with a PI windpro hoodie, windpro tights, and Trail N2 shoes.

The lower section of Keystone Gulch Road was pretty bare, with snow only in the shadows. Some of this was quite sloppy muddy wet, and I did some sliding around. About 2 miles up it was covered entirely with snow. There were puddles of muddy slush hidden under the snow surface. The maintenance trucks for Keystone Resort left icy tracks of packed snow. Overall it was a ton of fun. At 3 miles I decided I was good for one more uphill mile, so I went up to 4 miles.

Here's a little Instagram Video I made in Vine showing the surface I was running in, and the surrounding snow-covered trees.

One of my goals today was to work hard on keeping a consistent smooth even pace, up and down. These Strava Stats show that especially on the way uphill I was pretty smooth at 15:00 pacing.

On the way down the snow felt great underfoot and I just cut loose, relatively. I did a couple of pretty fast mile splits, then for the 7th mile I took a little walking break to hydrate and catch my breath. Then I picked the pace back up for the final mile.

Running in the snow is great training for Elbrus Race. It's what you'll be running on in Russia. Eight miles is a good training distance, since the Classic Race is a little over 9 miles round trip. Four miles up and down with about 1000' of elevation gain and loss is good. Training at 9,300' and up is great.

I'm pretty stoked about how fast I did this in slippery wet and cold conditions. Of course, now I have to dry out my shoes ...

Trail Running Training at 3,000 Meters in Colorado

One of my favorite things to do is trail running. I especially love to run at high altitude. Summit County Colorado is perfect with several long trails and gravel or jeep roads over 3,000 meters in elevation.

Snow and Ice on the Gravel Road

Hard work at high elevation can help to make the acclimatization process go much faster, without the days of hanging out at 10,000' camp required by those who live and train at sea level. I attribute our success on Orizaba last March to our training on the Colorado Fourteeners the whole winter previous.

I'm enjoying this transitional season as Fall progresses into Winter with falling leaves, colder temps, and the slow buildup of ice and snow on the roads and trails. I'll have to start wearing spikes before too long. I'm looking forward to it.

-- Charles

Introducing Team Athlete Jen Hamilton

We're happy to announce our newest team member Jen Hamilton. We'll put up a more thorough bio later, but here's a post from our Facebook Page:

Post by Seven Summits Quest.

The Dog Sprained My Ankle

I had a run-in with a loose, unleashed dog a couple days ago in metro Seattle Washington. I was there for a few things, primarily to get the Russian Visa taken care of. That's a whole different story. I was going to do a short trail run in the hills, but the trailhead was way overparked. I decided to just park about 2 miles away and maybe run to the trailhead on the rec paths. Here those paths zig and zag on the sidwalks.

 Passing a parked car a dog ran from the street and homed in on my legs. It spun around my feet and planted itself firmly between my legs and down I went. I rolled my left ankle really badly. Bad enough I couldn't stand. The owner asked if he could help. It was obvious he wasn't a surgeon. It was obvious he had no resources. I declined his offer and said I'd just crawl home. He shrugged and left.

Two days later it's pretty stiff and sore. It gives me a little trouble sleeping. But I'm hoping that I can start work on the Stairmaster Stepmill when I return to Utah in a couple days. In the meantime, it's tough eating for healing while not gaining weight and not training.

Post by Seven Summits Body.

Team Seven Summits Quest Logo Wear

We have an official logo now for the Team Seven Summits Quest Elbrus Race 2013. After designing, it was put up on Cafepress for sale to anyone who wants to share in the excitement. Here's the link to buy it [CLICK HERE]

Official Team Seven Summits Quest Logo

I think it would be especially fun if anyone who does buy one takes a pic, even a selfie, and puts it up on Instagram with the hashtag #ElbrusRace2013 and it will appear on a tab on my Seven Summits Body Facebook Page [HERE]

As a trivia note, my youngest sister was instrumental in developing the English version of the Elbrus Race tagline "You can't race any higher in Europe".

We've ordered team shirts for ourselves and I'll post pics as soon as they're here.

Elbrus Race 2013 Course Map

I've borrowed a photo from the official website of the Elbrus Race 2013. If you go to that link you'll see their little video of a flash map view of the course. I added a few lines and words to the photo to make it easier to see. The barrels aren't visible in this image but they should be on the edge of the black scree hidden from view in the center. Maybe a bit more to the right but it's hard to tell.

Elbrus Race 2013 - route in orange

The first part of the route goes up the snowcat route to the Pastukhova rocks a little below 5,000 meters. This is normally where normal route climbers go for an acclimatization hike a day or two before summit day. It's a fun little walk, and almost every time I've done it I've been in trail running shoes. This is also the end point for the Qualifier, two days before the race. I made the qualifier in 2010 in spite of serious major dysentery.

The route continues up to a little over 5,000 meters toward the East summit, then cuts over to the saddle where it traverses until you get to the ridge line where you turn to ascend to the West summit. This traverse area is actually one of the most dangerous sections of the trail. If you are descending in poor weather conditions it's really easy to get lost and end up going too far down into an area of crevasses and steeper ice and cliffs. Be careful. It's normally well wanded though.

The orange line represents the Classic Race - 4.6 miles and 6,300' of elevation gain. That's 7.4 km and 1900 meters.

My Elbrus Ebook from 2012

I wrote about my failed attempt on Elbrus in 2012 in Elbrus, My Waterloo, available on Amazon Kindle. After the Elbrus Race 2013 is over I'll be adding in chapters from both trips in 2010, and this year at the race. I'll then publish it in print and on B&N. Look forward to the whole story, coming this Fall.