TRANS SIERRA EXPRESS

Or how to run across the Sierra Nevada and beat the car – introducing the Trans Sierra Express! 

This summer I thought about the following challenge: I bet that I could cross the Sierra Nevada range running and go faster than a car which would have to drive around it! And I won (kind of)!

I decided that the race would start from Cedar Grove / Road’s End on the west side of the Sierra Nevada and end on the East Side at Onion Valley Campground. By foot (running) it’s a 22 miles trail run (with 7,000 ft of climbing eastbound, less westbound). By car, it’s a 354 miles ride taking 7 hours according to Google maps (not counting pit stops). I thought I could beat that both ways so I got started with preparations.

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born to run – book review

I usually don’t read books about running. A little while ago I had read a book about running by Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running… and I found myself disgusted by his self-importance, exhibitionism, and vanity. I’ll never read a Murakami book again, while I was quite a fan of his fiction work. In other words, I don’t care why one of my favorite writers ran or had a snotty nose or slept on the right side of the bed. Not interesting. I just love running! However…

Because I run “barefoot“, I usually end up recommending that people read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall although until recently I never read it. It was something to offer as support for the cause of barefoot and natural running. I never read it because I felt I didn’t have to be convinced of anything while at the same time I wanted to read it… I finally got the book. It made it to the top of the pile pretty fast: I was very curious about the Tarahumara tribe and the journey of the writer. And a question I had: how can someone write so much about running?

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INJURY RECOVERY

I can’t remember the last time I got hurt running. I’ve been injury-free for years, the only hurt came from bike crashes. It’s easier to recover from blunt trauma than from an overuse injury. An overuse injury is a cumulative trauma disorder, tissue (or bone) damage that results from repetitive demand over time. I hurt my right calf muscle/tendon almost two weeks ago and I’ve learned a lot in the healing of such an injury recovery.

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ULTRA RUNNING BAREFOOT

After signing up for the North Face Endurance Challenge San Francisco  (50 mi) I realized I wanted to also sign up for the Ultra Trail Marathon du Mont-Blanc (100 mi) in 2012. While the NFEC is in December 2011 in San Francisco I need to accumulate 5 points to qualify for the UTMB. This means that I need to run (and finish!) the NFEC and probably a 100 km run (62 mi) or a 100 mi run (not quite ready for that yet – eventually ran Rio Del Lago 100 mi). This post is about Ultra Running Barefoot! 

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SILVERMAN 2010 RACE REPORT

On 11.7.2010 I participated in Silverman for the second time.

Last year I crashed on the bike as my front tire blew out one third into the Government Wash descent, 15 mi into the bike leg. I was grounded for a while maybe 45 min to an hour and miraculously an athlete pulled over and gave me the tube I needed (I had packed the wrong type). Although in a lot of pain I was able to make the 17:00 bike cut-off time and finish the event with a over 5hr marathon.

This year for my third iron event I fine-tuned nutrition, preparation and training was what it was considering we moved to a new house one week before the event and that the year 2010 was very stressful on many fronts. I made it to the start pretty rested and ready. The drive from LA to Henderson was pleasant, the venue hotel near the swim start and T1. Perfect weather with 69F water in Lake Las Vegas, 74F air temp with some overcast. This sounds like a dream of a triathlon day!

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