Wednesday, June 29, 2011

some running.

The last couple of days I have had some pretty good ass kicking's up on Mt. Charleston, which is my staple for training all for Wasatch.

On Saturday I went up with Bailey and we went to Bristlecone/Bonanza Trail. I had never really been up too far on Bonanza so I was excited to see what it offered. I would be looking to run 10 miles out and back so I packed heavy with snacks and extra water in my camelbak.

We took off on the Bristlecone trail which is about 3 miles before Bonanza intersects with it, then it was on! It's a really great trail and I loved the rolling hills and well, the climbing too. After about 7 miles Bailey turned around and headed back and I kept going for another couple of miles but at this point I went down a huge set of steep switch backs and knew that coming back was going to be work.

My garmin died out, due to me slacking and forgetting to charge it but check out the first 9 miles,

I only ran 18ish because I was running out of water and I knew it was going to take me a long time to get back. At a couple of spots I actually found some snow patches and dung down to eat some fresh snow! By the time I got back to the car I was totally beat! Tired! and Hungry! The next day I actually felt like I got ran over by a truck.

I soon recovered and yesterday I headed back up to Mt. Charleston to take on the North Loop trail. I have run this trail before but only coming from the South Loop to summit Charleston and then down so I kind of forgot how freakn' steep this thing was. Check it out:

It took me 3 hours 22 mins to get to the 6 mile turn around and then 1 hour 18 mins to get back down and that was even just running easy, although I did pick up the pace the last mile and knocked out a 9:52 which seemed really fast because of the steepness of the trail.

I have been working to pound those downhills and build some quad resistance because it always seems that my quads fatigue out due to all the downhill pounding. Anyway it was a great run as well and working up to that 11000 feet was pretty tough but all in a days work and in the bank for Wasatch.

After the run I then got some food, cleaned up and went to the sauna for an hour to log some time for the Badwater heat!

rockon'

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

What an Update! you'll see!

Wow, I can't believe it's mid way through June and I haven't blogged! Must be slackin' like Formulaic! So I have lots to update on and awesome news abound.

Let's first start off by completing a long and fun season with Team in Training marathon coaching. The Spring and Summer seasons were run together starting about 1 month apart and with events like Vancouver, BC., Nashville and San Diego RocknRoll, and Alaska it was definitely a long season. We basically started back in Nov 2010 and just finished up last week with Alaska. It's always a great time to see all the participant's start off from ground zero and make there way to the finish line of 13.1/26.2 miles. Anyway, it was a great season, lots of people, and friends. Next coaching season for me will be Triathlon!!! and we will be offering Lavaman Triathlon in Hawaii and should start in Nov as well. Awesome!

On a business side of things, I have recently changed the name of my company. This came about because I have been trying to brand my name but using two different tag lines and well, that simply just doesn't work. The new name is now: Hurt Less Play More LLC and everything related, email, wed address and web site is Hurt Less Play More. This has been a fun process in changing tax id's, insurance stuff, business letter head, cards, and even the web site. The web site is now up and running but still detailing and fine tuning as I go.

A couple of months ago I bought the TRX Suspension Trainer.

These other two pictures shows the various types of exercise you can do with it and you get an idea of how it works.

I started using it just after my 100 mile run in April and I really enjoy it and it's much more challenging than I thought it would be but I seem to me missing out on the full duty of this device, so I went and got Certified in personal training with it! During the class there are many things that just simply cannot be learned on your own while using the training book or dvd's or even the trx tv that is offered. I am very glad I went to learn more about the TRX, met some great local people/trainers and now I am offering the TRX as part of my business, Dr. John Vigil Certified TRX Suspension Trainer! sounds nice, huh!

Next: in just 2 1/2 weeks I will be crewing for Badwater 135 Ultramarathon again! and so excited to be a part of Connie Dockendorf's team. Connie will actually be running a double crossing but I will only be able to crew for the main race event due to time off of work. I am excited and actually we have a crew/race meeting tonight! I love Badwater and so glad I am going back for my 3rd year!

And finally, but not in the least! and this is super exciting!

My first year crewing at Badwater I met and crewed for Molly Sheridan and since then have become great friends and running buddies. Last year she went to India to run La Ultra - The High 135 which is a run through the Himalayan mountains on the highest paved road in the World! It's located in Leh, India and last year she stopped at 100 miles. Of the 3 people that started the race last year only 1 completed the event, this year, Molly is returning to India to take on the High 135 again and with the great sponsorship of Isagenix I have been invited to crew and tag along! Yes, I will be heading to India!! (now I must first say that I have been using Isagenix products for about 10 months and I love there stuff, yes, it can be price in some aspects but overall I have not found any competitor that has the quality that Isagenix has in there products, so that naturally makes them a little more costly, but totally worth it, otherwise I would continue to use them. Now if you follow/LIKE my facebook office page of HURT LESS PLAY MORE you may notice that I talk about Isagenix products and this is not because they are sponsoring but because I believe in the products and I think people should use them for many different reasons! on a side note if you are interest email me or check out my site at Hurt Less Play More - Isagenix) This year Molly's daughter, Bailey is also going along to help crew/pace so we will be sure to help get Molly to the finish line. A couple days after the finish of the High 135, there is the High Marathon, so being as I am in the area, I naturally have to run this!! or maybe walk or crawl, but what ever it takes to get the completion of a 26.2 in India!

I went a couple of weeks ago to get some shots to travel to India and interestingly enough there are no specific requirement shots to travel to India. The health department does recommend several so I ended up getting a Tetnus and Hepatitis A and after $130 and two sore shoulders I walked out.

Another cool thing to add to the India deal is I am getting to use an Alto Lab Altitude Simulator. This little device helps simulate breathing at higher elevations by filtering the exhaled CO2 and mixing it with fresh O2 all by monitoring pulse oximeter worn on your finger. Sounds complicated but really you pinch your nose off with the soft clamp, breath in and out through your mouth through a tube that is attached to green cylinder that filters the co2 and attached to that are black cylinders that represent 5000 ft of elevation for each one. By monitoring your O2 on the meter you attempted to maintain below 90% and each time look to drop the O2 % a little lower. I am on 3 black cylinders and once I cannot drop the O2 levels into the 80's or lower than I will add a 4th cylinder. Pretty Cool huh!

Actually, the really most exciting news and BEST news is that my gf, Dez, will finish her radiation therapy next Wednesday!! Yup, after a long year of being diagnosed, operated on, chemotherapy losing her hair and radiation therapy (hair is growing back) she will be finished! I am super proud of her for everything she has gone through. I love you babe!

In the mist of all this I am ramping up my volume and trail running for Wasatch in Sept. can't wait! and I want to say Congrats to the Big B, aka Sweet Baboo for finishing the Bighorn 100 on Saturday!!

rockon'