Cascade & Blogs

Well, I found out yesterday that I got into Cascade Crest for 2014. I was very excited to get the e-mail yesterday afternoon, and I look forward to a return trip to finish the sucker.  The excitement was tempered, however, as I found out a number of friends were placed on the wait-list...some into the 100's. While there is a chance they could still run, it does tend to make it difficult to plan.

Also, got to catch up with my friend Michael from college with a run on Cougar Mountain recently. We took it easy, as we were both coming back from injuries.

Michael has been getting into trial-running, and spent his years since undergrad pursuing his medical degree, along with doing a bunch of medical work abroad. Michael earned a Fulbright scholarship coming out of college, and he's always been one of the smartest people I know. His blog covers trail running up mountains, while also offering some valuable perspective on the world we live in.

http://michaelwautersnext.blogspot.com/

Training Update

It's okay blog world. I know you've really been missing me, so in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm gonna throw some blog update luv at ya. Kisses.

Racing
Recently I had the pleasure of pacing my friend Richard at the Coldwater Rumble 100. Richard's blog does a great job of explaining his race. I was only able to pace him for about 20 miles, as my knee started to stiffen up and I felt like I was going to hold him back more than help him. He ran a really smart race, and came out of it with a strong 5th place overall finish.

Had to drop from Orcas Island 50K (knee was funky), and have now had to drop Gorge 100k.

I've gone ahead and added the Yakima Skyline Rim 50K to my schedule to give myself a April race.

Training
My training was about 40-60 miles a week for times during the month of December and January. About a week after the Tiger Mountain Fat Ass 50K, my left knee started to give me some stiffness and slight discomfort, so I ended up reducing mileage, running with Richard in late January, and then taking a full week off immediately following that.

I've now slowly got back into consistent running and my body feels great. I plan on steadily increasing mileage leading up to my trip to Europe, ideally getting to 60-80 miles a week.

I've also incorporated a couple sessions a week of strength training. This was something I had really stopped doing since July, and I think my body will benefit from getting back into some minor weight work.

Life Stuff
For the winter, I took on a volunteer position helping coach a boy's High School swim team in the Bellevue area. The season is about up now (our final district meet this weekend), and it's been a fun ride. Coaching, and the commute from my job in Federal Way, to Bellevue, and then back to Seattle, has certainly left me with little time to focus on running.  Ultimately, though, I really enjoyed helping out this year, and would certainly consider coaching again.

Now that swimming is winding down, I should have some more time for running and training.

Moving Forward
Currently, plans entail a major life change that may allow for some free time that will lead to increased training efforts.

Pictures for your enjoyment:

Spent some time in and around the pool. Pretty huh?

This is me and my mom. Schweitzer Mountain.

This is Discovery Park. It gets a fair amount of my training miles.

Coldwater Rumble 100 Start

Phoenix. It's hot.

Had to capture the sunset.

This is how I'm gonna show up to ultra events moving forward.

Got some of the boys out for a cross-training trail run at Disco Park.