• Running

    Running in Foot Deep Powder

    Today was a great day for a trail run. I went trailrunning this morning at -1F (according to the weather channel). Accuweather had it at -13. I went out on the deck and it felt more like the weather channel had it at -1F so I dressed for that. It was snowing pretty hard and there was at least 8″ of new snow on the ground. I wore a minimum of clothing, in spite of the cold. It’s better to be slightly cold and dry, rather than dressed really warmly but sweat too much. That sweat will chill you if the wind hits it. I wore my Pearl Izumi Trail…

  • Motivation

    Slapping Motivation Upside the Head with a Wet Noodle

    Recently a friend of mine posted in a social media site something about how food is the fuel that runs your body and you don’t want to be starving your body of the nutrition it needs. I thought this was pretty good motivational commentary, so I added the following paraphrase of a Brian Tracy classic: “Imagine you’ve just spent $500,000 on a race horse. What would you feed it? Would you cut corners? The cheapest stuff you can find? Your body is even more valuable.” Almost immediately there were a few demotivational comments. Something along the lines of crippled old horses needing good food, something along the lines of can’t…

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  • Training

    Ice Climbing Training 6 Week Preparation

    Ice Climbing Training? It is indeed that time of year. So let’s get this show on the road. I promised a few weeks ago to post my current ice climbing training program. I know from previous years that six weeks of good hard work set you up for a much more successful and fulfilling season out on the ice. Ice climbing training is way worth a little bit of effort for about 6 weeks, or more if you have it. I think if you get into a late season, or are mainly going to Ouray, this program could be done for eight or more weeks and work great. Ice Climbing…

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  • Training

    Treadmill Training for Hills

    Why would anyone consider treadmill training for hills? Here are some of my favorite reasons: Recovery from injury Meeting specific goals Controlled environment Weather Time Local terrain Let me take a few minutes to examine each of these reasons or excuses for treadmill training for hills. First of all is recovery from injury. I myself am currently in this group. About a month ago I went for a hike with some 18-20 year old guys I know, and we ascended Mount Royal in Frisco CO. It was fun, but then they all decided to run down and I, like an old man in denial, decided to keep up with them.…

  • Training

    Nordic Walking Training

    Nordic walking training might seem to be simply walking with trekking poles. It’s much more complicated than that though. When I was in Russia for Elbrus Race 2013 I had the opportunity to spend a few days with the women members of a Russian Nordic Walking group that stayed with us and did some training at altitude on the slopes of Elbrus. I enjoyed watching their morning stretching routine and certain aspects of that portion of Nordic walking training made its way into my recent book Summit Success: Training for Hiking, Mountaineering, and Peak Bagging. CLICK HERE If you cringe whenever you see someone ambling, shuffling slowly, poking forward with…

  • Workout

    Farmers Carry Workout

    Here’s the Farmers Carry Workout I’ve developed over the last few weeks. It’s good for my trail running and hiking and I’m sure it would be worth your while to watch the short video for my own variation on a Farmers Carry Workout, posted to my youtube channel. With this Farmers Carry Workout I’m doing the following: 25 Trapbar Deadlifts at 65 lb. 100 steps with Trapbar 100 Kicks – running high knee, high heel drill Walking back to the Trapbar and picking it up I did 12 repetitions of that sequence over a total of 1.5 miles. Over that distance I did 300 Trapbar Deadlifts. I did 1200 steps…