Happy Independence weekend everyone. Not just a long weekend, in which for me is a 4 day weekend, but a time to reflect as well as enjoy.
This weekend I am taking to to reflect on myself and my own personal independence while also doing my part to give back to the community.
Today I participated in the nationwide event the RWB Eagle Charge. Hosted by RWB which is an amazing veterans outreach group, read more here at TeamRWB. And one can sign up for the eagle charge here, EagleCharge!. Today we celebrated not only Independence Day, but veteran enrichment and personal achievements.
TeamRWB – Fairbanks
I am lucky to be involved with this amazing group. We run, triathlon, read books, help the veteran community, and provide outreach to the greater community. It truly is a life changing group. We are a glorious mix of active servicemen, veterans, spouse, and civilians. We are open to all. My dad proudly served in the United States Army and retired with honours after a long career. Now it is my turn to give back in a capacity that fits who I am.
The weather held for the duration of the event. And well as usual me and my buddy Cassie made sure we got our pre-race selfie in.
Then off we go most of us choosing the 4 miler, with one lone 7 miler. Of course we chose a hilly course, because a challenge can only make us stronger right? Scott, one of our Marines, was the lucky flag bearer for the start.
The route was pretty simple and I think we all had a great time. I was the red lantern in the 4 miler finishing in 42 minutes. Overall, not my best but far from my worst 🙂
Thats a hill!
All in all it was a pretty darn good day and a good turnout at GoldStream Sports on a rainy, grey day.
Cassie and I post race w/Old Glory
Cassie and I posed for one final photo, we do love a camera, with Old Glory.
Have a great holiday weekend, get outside, do some personal reflection, and give thanks for the great country we live in which affords us with so many choices and freedoms. Focus on the good things and find positive way to affect change and to support all of the things that are close to our heart. This weekend I celebrate personal freedoms and having the ability to be and live our lives in way that is meaningful to our selves.
I am not sure when I decided that running for 12 hours sounded like fun, but somewhere along the way I must have. Either that or my dog accidentally registered me for a 12 hour endurance trail run. Im leaning towards the dog having a good laugh at my expense.
Fast forward and BOOM it was race week. After the disastrous Two Way Torture Test, which is a 13.1 + 13.1 that goes relentlessly uphill on pavement, that Patrick and I ran just a week earlier, I did not have high hopes for the 12 hour Alaska Endurance Trail Run. I did not even bother to set a goal, other than to keep moving for more than 8 hours out of the 12. My sister Susan said I should go for at least 40 miles, I just kinda laughed at her. She is my task master always pushing me to be better, she is everything I wish that I was 🙂 The Alaska Endurance Trail Run (AETR) is a 6 mile loop through rolling hills of our nordic ski trail at the University of Alaska. From wide trails to very rooty single track with a few down trees as obstacles. I run on this section of trail at least 2x per week as it is just a few steps from my office at the Uni.
Friday afternoon I hook up with Don, the race director, and we head to Sam’s Club to buy feed station food and post race BBQ foods. I am not sure either of us were prepared for the Sam’s club onslaut…first of the month on a friday afternoon, it was cray in there! But we got just about everything on his list and I trucked it all home to hold for after the race. Friday night, I got all of my things together. Lots of shoes, sock, and my measly food stores. I carbo’ed up with the meal of champions, Taco Bell. Yes, Taco Bell.
Saturday morning came early at 5 am with the sun already shining. In the land of the midnight sun of Alaska, this time of year it always is! The weather was looking at mostly sunny around 65-70 degrees, with an isolated shower possible in the later afternoon. OK, this looks promising. I have my early morning Cafe’ Caramel protein shake and get ready to head out the door for a 7 am check in time.
EagleFire with Travis
I get to the check in and see a happy familiar face, Travis from my RWB group is there cheerful and awesome as ever. EagleFire! We snapped a quick photo and I got down to business of sorting out my gear. I settled on a my clothing, went with an INKnBURN skirt and racerback tank. The skirt had two generous pockets and the singlet was nice and light. I figured if it showered later I could pull on a tech t. But the sun was starting to be nice and warm so I figured the tank was the best choice. The trails were mostly dry, which is not normally the case this time of year, with a few downed trees and some mushy spots. But nothing that could not be navigated easily around. For once my feet stayed dry the whole time 🙂
PreRace meeting, Travis snapped a photo!
Pre-race briefing, with Don the race director and off we go! The first loop was GREAT, I felt amazing. Kept to my pace of about 11:30 per mile just to get my feet under me and to get a jump-start on the long day. I had my audio book all ready, the BBC Radio dramatized version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Normally this part of the trail is a mini lake!
Somewhere around loop #2 I started to feel the beginnings of a hot spot on the inset of my foot near my big toe. So at the end of loop 2 I stopped and put some moleskin on that spot on both feet. This tends to be where I get tender and/or blister spots. I decided to keep on with my Hoka One One Speed Goat trail shoes for a little longer. After loop 3 I got a nice surprise, my running partner Patrick was waiting for me at the starting line 🙂 YAY!!! I got a huge lift of spirit when I saw him as I was running up to the line. Love this man to death, he is so awesome and always so supportive of me and the crazy schemes I come up with for us to do. He tweaked his back earlier in the week so he was unable to run or participate this year. We talked a little, and I got a bite of my Quest strawberry cheesecake protein bar and some poweraid zero.
At this point I decided that I needed to run with my handheld as it was getting warmer. So I popped a NUUN tablet in with my water and off I went. I did this each lap, drank some poweraid zero, a few nibbles of the Quest Bar and then filled my handheld with NUNN water for the running part. Lap three was mentally HARD. I think I walked more this loop than I did any other loop.
Just keep moving forward!
I got an amazing lift at the completion of lap 4 I had a gift left by my girlfriend Skye, who was walking the 12 hour or at least most of it. She had left to course for a little bit and brought me back a bun-less cheeseburger. It was the best damn patty I ever had. It was perfection! That gave me the energy to pick up the pace. I also took this time to take an extended break of about 15 minutes. Re-applied my moleskin, new socks and then I changed into my Brooks Adrenaline’s, these are a little on the big side and my feet had began to swell so they felt amazing. Lap 5 uneventful…more running. I tried to keep a strategy of running the first 2 miles, run/walk 3-4, and running the remainder. This seemed to work well. I felt really good the whole time so far. My motor was strong, my body felt good, other than my feet were getting really tired. Lap 6 was my last full lap.
Ran through some brambles getting around the downed tree.
The last 2 hours of the race a shorter course was opened up, which was roughly half a mile. This way you could maximize your mileage. Strategy is involved in that this small loop was muddier than the rest and much hillier than the big loop. I got in my 36 then decided to change shoes one more time to my old Hoka Clifton 1’s as they have the widest toe box. I drank one protein drink and decided to hit the small loops. I could have possibly made one more big one, but I did not want to chance it. Only full loops counted and I didn’t want to make it all that way to only not have it count. So off I go on the mini loops.
Rachael taunting me to do MORE!
I did run/walk a small loop with my work and running buddy Tom. He is awesome and was doing the 6 hour version. He is a running machine. I want to be like him when I grow up 🙂 At this point time was winding down and I had made sister Susan’s goal of 40 miles. I decided to give it one more baby loop just for good measure. At the end of my final loop Stacey and Rachael were trying so hard to get me to do just one more, even offering to run it with me……but I was DONE 🙂 Extra beer stamps on my beer card were not enough to get me to run more. I finished the day with 40.50 miles. I also ended up out of the 12 hours moving about 11:05 of the time…whoa a lot more on my feet than I thought I would do.
Things I would do differently: Better nutrition. I am sure that I did not get enough calories, with 2 protein drinks and a single kid sized burger patty and a single Quest Bar. But that said, I was never hungry nor did I feel like I crashed. Better Hydration. I drank the whole race, but never once had to use the bathroom. I never felt thirsty, but I think I needed to add more electrolytes, maybe…. Tape/moleskin up right from the start my normal hot spots.
At the start I had no idea that I could do this. But it was amazing fun. And the thing is I was not as tired as I thought I would be. I still had gas in the tank and legs to run at hour 11, I figured by that point I would have been reduced to crawling. I learned yesterday that my body is capable of much more than I give it credit for.
Today I feel pretty darn good. I feel less tired today than I did after the Two Way Torture Test that Pat and I did the week before, its kinda amazing. My legs are good and surprisingly not a single blister to be found, now that in itself is a miracle.
Two words. Hard Work. Who would have thought that hard work and consistent training would make all the difference? Not the shiny new bike or the fancy new kicks. I guess I have been doing it wrong all these years.
I have been training hard over the winter. Lavaman was my reason to keep training during the winter on a structured plan. I certainly didn’t want to travel that far to do poorly due to under conditioning. Well that hard work really paid off during the season opener triathlon this past weekend. Our season opener is the BreakUp Triathlon, which is for Fairbanks, Alaska, an early season event. Because it so early season for us we do our swim in the University pool instead of open water. The ice that still covers all the lakes it a pretty strong deterrent from swimming.
I have run this race every year since it started and my time has been fairly consistent within 3-5 minutes. But this year, all bets were off and I knew I could run a course PR based on my performance at the Lavaman Olympic distance.
Race day started out a little chilly, which always makes it hard to know what to wear. I decided to go with my club kit. My club Tri-It Together is based in Temecula, CA so I hoped it would bring a little luck and a lot of the So.Cal sun and warmth.
Even my hat matches!
I bought an early lane bid. I hate circle swimming and will gladly pay the charity donation in order to avoid it. And the bonus is I get to start in the first or second wave so I finish early instead of rolling the dice as to what my start time will be.
Swim was uneventful. Just right about where I normally am, so no surprises. Glad my lane partner was a little faster than me, it pushed me to try to keep up which kept my speed up. Transition was slow’ish which is normal for me, but I got out on the bike easy peasy.
Look at those high elbows 🙂
Now is when it gets interesting. No socks, so my feet immediately get cold and stay cold and clammy. I felt a little off the first two miles or so. Turns out I was in the small chain ring instead of the big, like I should have been. Crap no wonder I felt like I was spinning out of control. Get that taken care of and honestly struggle a little though the first half. I felt really slow. Then notice, crap, I forgot to start my Garmin. Of course I did. I buy a fancy Garmin 920 and half the time I forget to actually push the button. So I have no gauge on the bike to know how I did. The course is flat-hill-rolling-flat. With the hills around the turnaround. After the turnaround I felt a lot better and was able to pass the one racer that passed me going out. I passed her and did not see her again until the run portion.
Head into T2 and get my socks on my clammy feet and grab my hat and head out. My feet are like frozen blocks. This course is pretty brutal for a sprint in that a huge half mile hill is the first thing out of the gate. I ran 3/4 up then conserved a little energy and walked up the last 1/4 which is by far the steepest part. I did try to power walk, but walking was the right thing to do. Helped my feet as well. I crested the hill and was able to run the remainder of the course with no issues. Its always the first mile off the bike that is the hardest then I can normally find my groove.
Whoa…is that a smile?
About 1/2 the lady I passed on the bike whizzed by. But I was able to pass one other runner, which felt good. Then my team mate John passed me 3/4 of the way to the finish. I was so hoping to hold him off, but I just couldn’t keep up. Maybe next year I can beat him. At the finish John said, wow, you were really fast this year. Considering I had no watch time or clock time I told him maybe 5 minutes or so. But John disagreed and said it was way faster. I guess he was right 🙂 Note to self: Never argue with another scientist. I finished in 1:38 which was a major improvement over the prior year of 1:53. OMG, I totally killed it. So much happiness that I was able to that much better.
Looks like a leisure walk in the park
The rest of my team finish, and all of us did better this year than last year. This race was bittersweet though. This will be our last race with our teammate and colleague Georgina. She is off to a new adventure in the lower 48. With that in mind I am so glad we all had one last chance to race together and enjoy the camaraderie. As you can see we were a very happy group of racers.
Team Nothing to Lose
I guess the moral of the story is consistency really does pay off. I have another race in a few weeks, also another local’ish sprint tri. My goal is to do at least 8 minutes better than I did last year. That may be a little optimistic, but I think I can do it.
Running has always been my strongest, at least until about 3 years ago. I have been spending a lot of time working on my running and I think that is paying off. Even just a minute a mile really pays off!
I woke up this morning to over an inch of new snow 😦 Winter has a funny way of holding on tight here in the sub arctic. Since today I was home bound with endless amounts of homework I decided to make my favourite soup, Hungarian Mushroom.
This will be perfect recovery food for my sore legs as well. Yesterday was our first 5K of the season. I did a little better than I expected but still not up to my speed prior to breaking my foot. I enjoyed a great time with my awesome running buddies. This is a great start to the season. I was hoping to rock out some new spring outfits, but mother nature did not agree and decided that it was going to be 26 degrees! I only got this one snap of Pat, me and Heidi. I missed getting Skye and Tom in on the photo.
INKnBURN Healing Mandala and Run or Die kept me toasty warm
Now….on to the soup!
This soup is not the prettiest to look at but it is amazing. Like most Hungarian Mushroom soups it is loosely based on the Moosewood Cookbook version, which is where this soup was first concocted. And the best thing is that you most likely have the ingredients on hand in the crisper and pantry. My version is a lower carb version. As most everyone knows I follow a low carb lifestyle, so I try to make this as low carb as possible.
1-2 pounds of sliced mushroom (more the better) I like cremeni
1 cup of finely chopped white onions or any onion but red ones!
1 large clove finely chopped garlic, use FRESH or not at all
3 cups of low sodium chicken or veggie broth, or use half and half.
1/2 cup of heavy or regular whipping cream mixed with 1/2 cup of water
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of Hungarian Sweet Paprika
1/2 tablespoon of Spanish Sweet Paprika
1/2 teaspoon of course ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of course ground sea salt (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon of Dill weed
1/4 cup of full fat sour cream (you could use lowfat or full fat greek yogurt) Do not use anything fat free, its just weird
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Juice of half a small Lemon for garnish
Step 1: In a heavy stock, soup, or dutch oven melt a small amount of butter or olive oil (your choice) and saute the onions for a few minutes (make sure not to brown them) then add the mushrooms. Saute till mushrooms are soft and onions translucent. Then add the garlic.
Step 2: Add in the paprika and stir. I like to toast it and cook it a little before I add in the chicken stock. Then add the rest of the spices, minus the parsley.
I may not be pretty…..
Step 3: Add in the soy and your stock of choice. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes covered
Step 4: Add in the cream and water mixture. Simmering again for 10-15 minutes, I leave it uncovered from here on out.
Step 5: Remove from heat, wait about 5 minutes and add in the sour cream. You need to let it cool just a little so that the sour cream doesn’t curdle.
Almost done 🙂
Step 6: Add in the lemon juice and add the parsley. Now check for seasoning and add salt and more pepper as needed.
I may not be the prettiest but I am tasty
Normally I will serve this with a side of a small protein for myself, like a small half of a grilled chicken breast. Today I was serving it to someone else, so I added in a toasted piece of ciabatta bread to finish it off. If you leave off the bread the carb count is low’ish. Probably around 10-12 net for six servings. But for me this make 4 decent dinner sized portions. Removing the flour and the whole milk (subbing in diluted cream) and reducing the number of onions by half, really cut back on the number of carbs.
This is perfect as a side dish or a dinner soup on a cold day. It is one of my most favourite soups to make.
Today may not have been a great day for the mighty Caesar but around here its a pretty good day. I may even have a Caesar Salad and I promise to not stab the dressing in the back in frustration when I can’t get the darn safety seal off! Not only the Ides of March but St. Patricks day is also coming up. This week is coming up green.
Another bright spot is that it snowed! Well….okay maybe it was just a skiff but it gives me hope that we just maybe will get one more good snow before it all melts away.
St. Patty’s run is this weekend but its going to be way to cold for me to wear my new awesome INKnBurn Lucky Charms 2 skirt. I might just wear it anyways over a pair of fleece tights because its so awesome. I will just have to dig out a green pullover to finish off the look and a hat, some kind of awesome hat.
So Green and awesome!
It is also an amazing week here at work. Arctic Science Summit Week 2016 is being hosted here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Hundreds of amazing Arctic Researchers, NGO’s, Industry, Government, and academia, from all over the globe are here along with the Arctic Council Senior Officials meeting. The whole campus is abuzz with excitement! Even our former fearless leader came from Vienna to participate in this incredible collaborative summit.
It is ramping up to be extremely busy and I am trying to get ahead of everything in the next three weeks before I leave for Kona! I cannot wait to enjoy the sun and tropical island. Midterms are next week and the Sonot Ski Marathon is the weekend after that. Whew a lot is going on and time management is killing me right now.
Ive been good about keeping the workouts in other than swimming. The pool schedule here is too crazy over spring break for me to manage. And indoor cycling gets harder and harder. Being in San Diego last month really made to long for being out on the open road with my trusty Wendy (my Cervelo P2).
one hour feels like ten
Thankfully I have Friday off to catch up on school and midterm work….And I hope to get in at least one long run this week!
thearcticrunner 