A 2022 Update

It’s been a while since I last updated my blog, in part because blog posts aren’t where most share more personal details of their lives anymore (that’s for Instagram, right?) I’ve also spent the last five years since my previous blog post finishing a degree in writing and starting and completing another degree not in writing but that required a lot of it. Blog posts went by the wayside. 

I’d like to change that, thanks to the need for nuance.

In the past year, I’ve found nuance to be something that I come back to again and again. Sadly, Instagram doesn’t allow for nuance at all. Instagram posts are shared through Instagram stories and the essence of an entire conversation is distilled into a single quote meant to incite controversy.

So, here goes sharing more than pretty pictures (although I like that, too.)

This year, I’ve had the best year of my running career so far. It has looked like:

• Avalon 50-Mile—1st
• Montaña de Oro 50K–1st and course record
• Crown King Scramble 50K—2nd 
• Oriflamme 50K—1st and course record 
• Broken Arrow Triple Crown (Vertical K, 52K, 26K)–2nd (with a 5th place in the VK)
• Angeles Crest 100—2nd
• Mt Baldy Run to the Top–3rd
• Noble Canyon 50K—1st
• San Jacinto 50K—1st and course record

This year was also very unplanned.

At the beginning of 2022, I had one race on the calendar: Avalon-Benefit, a 50-mile race on Catalina Island, two dozen miles from the Southern California shore. I wanted to run fast, but I didn’t have heavy expectations for the race. I knew the course was smooth compared to chunky Sedona trails where we live and train, and I hoped to see buffalo and island foxes, but beyond that I was just looking forward to seeing Nick somewhere on the course if we happened to pass each other. After crossing the finish as first female in 7 hours, 21 minutes, I learned that I had won a silver ticket. I wasn’t aware of what this meant, but was soon told that it was an entry into Angeles Crest 100, a race I had wanted to do for several years. So, one more race on the calendar!

I haven’t figured out exactly why, and perhaps it’s some combination of training, diet, sleep, genetics, personality, etc, but I tend to get a boost of fitness following a race. After Avalon 50 I felt great, so I looked to adding some fun 50K races to my schedule. I had done Oriflamme 50K previously (see here), had wanted to do Crown King Scramble 50K several years in a row (see unfortunate COVID and fire deferrals), and had been eyeing the course record at Montaña de Oro 50K because I love the challenge of the climbs in that state park. Surprisingly, I felt great tapering into and recovering from each of these races. By the end of April, I felt fitter than I had at the start of the year and knew I had until early August to get ready for Angeles Crest 100. Why not try a different sort of race? 

I’ve been attracted to ascent races because I love climbing: give me hills and make them fast!The Broken Arrow Vertical K fit that desire; to make the racing relevant to Angeles Crest, I thought, why not replicate the late stage fatigue of a 100-mile race by doing back-to-back races? The Triple Crown it was. 

By August, I’d already had a great year so the internal pressure I felt for Angeles Crest 100 was low. After placing second and coming out of the race feeling relatively good, a month later I decided to jump into Mt Baldy Run-to-the-Top, a 7-mile uphill race with some very stout competition. Once again, I felt that I recovered fast so decided to run Noble Canyon 50K. At this point, I had summited two major mountains in Southern California during races—Mt. Baden-Powell during Angeles Crest 100 and Mt. Baldy during Mt. Baldy Run-to-the-Top—so, I thought, why not make it a third by finishing off my year of racing with Mt. Jacinto 50K? 

As I recover from San Jacinto 50K, I feel good. Really good. I don’t expect every year to unfold like this, and I realize I’ve had the privilege of being able to travel (in this case, drive) to all of these races this year. Alongside this privilege has also been some very stressful events. Nick had an increase in suicidal ideation this past spring and he spent three days in a psychiatric ward in Flagstaff; at the same time, I was finishing my thesis and preparing to graduate. Throughout the last four months, we’ve had a sick rabbit who has been syringe-fed two to three times a day (all credit to Nick here) and who has undergone three surgeries, two of which we did not think he would survive. During this, we have still had to care of our other 20 pets, including a dog we found in the middle of the highway back in January, a cat we adopted from a 100-cat hoarding situation in Sedona, and my senior horse who we spend about an hour with each day. While the mental health issues are certainly not chosen, we chose to adopt this menagerie and are not martyrs for the work and cost that it comes with. We truly do love it. 

This is, perhaps, all a long-winded way of saying that I tend to diminish the work I put into my goals. Finding my potential as a runner has been a goal for years now and I think there are several factors that have helped me stay motivated and uninjured since I started running ultras in 2014:

1.Sleep

Credit genetics or my nature and the need for total darkness and silence when I sleep but I’m a good sleeper and I think it continues to pay off. Nick and I are lucky to live in a quiet location without dependents (outside of occasionally needy animals) so our sleep is mostly based on our own decisions. I have also taken steps over the years to increase my sleep hygiene. This includes not looking at a screen before bed, taking an epsom salt bath to induce sleepiness, reading before bed, keeping electronics out of the bedroom, having blinds that don’t let in outside light, maintaining a regular sleep schedule and going to bed most nights at 9pm. We usually sleep 8-9 hours. I don’t nap because naps make me feel terrible, although I know they can be a lifesaver for others.

2. Diet

Quantity is talked about, particularly in the running community, and for good reason: you need to eat enough. But I find that talk around quality is often lacking. I’m a vegan for ethical reasons and I eat organic for environmental reasons. Price is a limiting factor here, so I will acknowledge that I am grateful to be able to make this choice and to prioritize what I find to be the best quality food. Nick and I try to do most of our shopping at our local grocery store, Interdependence, with additional items purchased at farmer’s markets and at Natural Grocers. When we lived in San Diego and Bellingham, we liked to shop at our local food co-ops for the best quality food. Vegetables, in abundance, are often eschewed by runners due to their high fiber content and their ability to, quite literally, mess up runs. I have found that transitioning to a high fiber diet over several years does not create GI distress for me during training or races and I do think that the additional micronutrients helps. Diet is extremely individual, so I’m not recommending that any other individual eat like I do, but finding the best diet for yourself is important—that includes ensuring you’re eating enough as well as eating as much high quality food as you can afford and/or have access to.

3. Strength Training

To strength train or not to strength train: this is another subject that is rife with controversy in the world of running. I was lucky to start strength training when I was 17 due to my scoliosis. Both because I know it continues to help my body and because I love the way it makes me feel, I’ve continued to strength train two to three times a week for many years. I do this year-round, adjusting the weight depending on if I’m tapering, recovering, or building. My strength isn’t maximized due to my running volume, but I try to maintain being able to do at least 5 unassisted pull-ups year round. Set a base fitness that fits you and your own goals! While injury is based on numerous variables, I do credit never having been injured so far, at least in part, to the years of strength work I’ve put in. 

4. Consistency 

I love training, much more than I love racing. I love the grind of daily work and I like knowing that each day I run—whether that’s speed work or easy, fun mileage—I am putting in effort toward future goals. This perspective allows me to train and get fit then choose races, rather than having a race as motivation to train. I don’t think this is the only way to maintain consistency or build fitness as a runner but it works well for my personality. It has also allowed me to incrementally increase my miles over several years. I run about twice as much now as I did in 2015 and 2016, but this has been built up over years rather than weeks or months.

5. The Joy of Other Interests

I love running, but it’s a relatively small part of my daily life. Even during my highest training weeks, I don’t spend more than two hours running during the weekday. My days are bookended by writing and coaching, and between that is animal care, reading, cooking, gardening, music, spending time with Nick, and doing menial chores that we all do. Alongside running goals I also have academic and professional goals: I would love to get my book published and be accepted into a PhD program; simultaneously, I want my goji berry plants to produce fruit and I would like to be on Jeopardy one day (one of these is more likely than the other). Most importantly, I would like to maximize time with Nick, my family, and all of my animals.