Tahoe Rim Trail Thru-Hike 2012; 165 Miles Around Lake Tahoe

This post is not about running. It is about endurance. June 30 - July 13th, 2012 my girlfriend and I thru-hiked the 165+ mile (29,500' +/- of elevation gain and descent) TAHOE RIM TRAIL. This is a truly sensational trail that weaves through the mountain peaks that surround Lake Tahoe. I have a background in endurance races particularly on trails. I am a runner that mostly runs trail races ranging in distance from 10 to 50 milers (hoping to throw down a few 100 milers in the future). My gf however is not a runner but she is tough! :)

The Tahoe Rim Trail is a true test of endurance. It was really tough; mentally and physically. First of all, this was my first real backpacking trip. Being a runner I am used to ticking off the miles fairly quick so it was a tough adjustment for me to get used to doing about 2-3 miles/hr. Physically, I live at sea level so adjusting to the altitude was a little tough and hiking above 9100' consistently seemed to slow our roll a bit... especially with a 40lb pack on.

We started out in Tahoe City and headed clock wise around the lake. Some of the highlights were camping at Martis Peak; hiking up to Relay Peak (10,300'); the whole eastern ridge area including Marlette Peak and Lake, South Camp Peak; Star Lake; Meiss Meadow; and of course Desolation Wilderness. The hike had its highs and lows but the highs were far and away greater than the lows. All of these pictures as you can probably guess do not do the trail justice.

GEAR!... I brought a Delorme Satellite Communicator with us for a bit of fun and additional safety. It allowed our friends and family to go to a webpage and track us and we were able to send pre-written messages from the device letting them know we were ok. It also comes equipped with a SOS button to contact rescue networks and send them our location if we were in an emergency situation. We enjoyed having it with us and I highly recommend it to anyone. It had service the whole time. You can also connect your iphone/smartphone to it and communicate via text w anyone no matter how far out you are.

(Marlette Lake w Lake Tahoe behind)

For our water filtration we used two different Sawyer Water Filters, the hanging gravity filter and the squeeze filter. Both were great and the squeeze filter was excellent at stream crossings to cut time.

I carried an Osprey Atmos 65 backpack. It was about 40lbs average the whole time... somehow my backpack got heavier as the trip went on and my gf's got lighter! Strange :) As far as food, our staple was definitely Clif Bars and Core Warrior Bars! I highly recommend the Core Warrior Bars but they only last 1 week without being refrigerated. For dinner we had a hot backpacker meal each night that was usually some sort of pasta dish which we mixed tuna or salmon into. I brought electrolyte pills which were very useful on the hotter days and at higher elevations.

The Tahoe Rim Trail was one of the best outings of my life. It was an amazing experience and one that makes you think deeply about how you're living your life. Here's a few additional photos...

SPEED WORK

Speed work, it's a grey area in running... but it sure as shit shouldn't be :) The track is more packed than ever these days but its mostly packed with training groups that are either just logging miles and cross training or skimming the surface of speed work. Don't get me wrong there are definitely some serious track clubs out there that some of the best non-professional runners belong to but at least at my track (Kezar Stadium in San Francisco) they are not the majority. So if you're a runner who is logging some serious miles, training for a race or just run for the seek of running, go hit the track and feel the immediate benefits of running as fast as you can.

When was the last time you flat out ran as fast as you could? I'm sure some of you are saying a couple of hours ago but most of you probably can't remember. The number one reason to go out and run as fast as you can is because it feels so good... you don't even need a track! The nice thing about the track is that it makes it easy for you to break your workout into different distances. This is useful if you're training for a particular race... half marathon: run mostly 400s and 800s, full marathon: run 400s, mostly 800s and some mile repeats, ultramarathon: try to stick to the mile repeats while incorporating 100s, 400s and 800s. Whatever you're training for always do the shorter "as fast as you can" distances which would be a 50, 100 or 200. Check this video of Bart Yasso explaining his legendary marathon timing training technique/theory called the Yasso 800s:

Running as fast as you can builds strength, improves running form, increases your VO2 Max and improves anaerobic capabilities (think fast twitch muscles). To learn more about that stuff go HERE.  

Quicksilver 25km Race Report

On May 12, 2012 I ran the QUICKSILVER 25 km race near San Jose in the Almaden Quicksilver State Park. This race is a small part of the well known Quicksilver 50 Mile Race which is also held on the same day. The race was well organized. There were about 100 people in the 25km.

It starts out with some steep climbs for the first couple miles on fire trails. Note that this part of the trail is pretty exposed to the sun. After those first couple miles you start to hit some downhills and then a steep long drop to the turn off onto the single track. This portion of the trail is rolling hills covered with oak trees.  This was a welcome respite from the sun especially since it was a warm day. I think by 9am it was almost 70. Being a San Francisco runner warm weather always beats me up a bit so I pulled the already drenched shirt off once we got into the shade and it remained off for most of the race. I felt a little off on this race because I had a pretty soar throat during the few days before. On race morning it was still bugging me a bit but not enough to stop me from running. Nevertheless, I never felt 100% and think I was feeling the effects of the heat a little more than usual because of this.

I rambled on through the rolling hills and popped out to another fire road. This fire road featured a steady and unwelcome climb with some additional hot spots near the ridges. There is a major cross roads of the 50 miler, 50km and 25km at the Western States Aid Station which was extremely well stocked. This was sort of a cool junction to see the other runners out there on different races. A nice lady pointed me in the right direction and I was off again more fire roads. These next few miles were the hottest of the race and it really took its toll on me. My pace dropped significantly and I just flat out didn't feel very good. I finally popped out to another aid station 1 mile from the finish. I still took some time here and filled up the bottle again and noted to put some ice in this time. I took off on the last mile which is some very steep downhill straight to the finish. I finished slower than I expected in 2:40. After reviewing the race results from prior years it seemed like the warm weather took its toll on everyone.... that mad me feel a little better :) Here's me crossing the finish line, done but stoked to be there! It should be noted that my soar throat did not survive the race... when it doubt run it out.

The Dot Com Death Run

I've been making it a point to get outta the city and hit the beautiful hilly trails that surround us in the San Francisco Bay Area. This time of year the weather is great, wild flowers are popping and the trails aren't quite so saturated with the summer crowds.

Last weekend I embarked on what I have since dubbed "The Dot Com Death Run", a 15 mile run with 4200' of elevation gain and descent.  Don't steal that name race directors! I might use it and start my own race with that one day. I picked the MONTE BELLO OPEN SPACE PRESERVE (photo above)... I was actually on my way to Portola Redwoods State Park but I saw the Monte Bello parking area and decided to check it out. I had a map of the area in my hiking book so I felt comfortable to get out there and explore. Once I parked I realized I had only brought one large bottle of water and only two 12oz Amphipod Bottles and there was nowhere to fill up on the run or in the parking lot. Shit. The last store I saw was about 30 minutes earlier. I had some salt tabs, 3 GUs and figured I would just tough it out. As you can see in the pic, there is quite a lot of exposed ridge there and it was about 75 that day. You can also see in the pic that it drops down 2000' to Stevens Creek. I took off along that ridge for a couple miles and came to a crossroads. I decided to drop down to the creek which was an extremely steep 1.5 miles. Then I hung a left at another trail intersection and ran along the creek for a few miles. At this point, I hadn't seen anyone for a while and running in completely new territory I was starting to feel kinda "out there"... especially being a dude who lives in the city :) Was I going to be able to remember the turns I made on the way back? Was a mountain lion going to try and make me dinner? All of this analysis was taxing my running and then I remembered some wise running wisdom I once heard (or read) "take what the trail offers you". This is good advice for life as well, so I carried on. 5 minutes later I ran up to the creek crossing and one of the most amazing Redwoods groves I have ever seen. I crossed Stevens Creek and ran the 2 miles and 1800 ft up to the ridge at Skyline Blvd. My water conservation was going as best it could which meant I drank most of it already.

I turned around and bombed back down through the redwoods across the creek (forcing myself not to drink any creek water... it was so cold and tempting though) and pushed back up the gently rolling creek side trail to the base of.... the death climb. I saved about 4 ounces of water to drink when I got to the top. I was parched at this point. I started up the hill into the sun trying to run every 50ft or so. Damn that hill was steep. As I was about 2/3 of the way up a turkey vulture started circling me... I yelled up to him (or her), "I'm not dead yet!" and I mustered up some energy to run another five feet :) Deep in thought on the ascent of the death climb I started thinking back to the views of Silicon Valley from the ridge above and then I started thinking of that turkey vulture thinking about how close my proximity to death looked and then it dawned on me, this run would forever be known as The Dot Com Death Run.