After waiting most of the winter, we have finally received some much-needed snow in the Colorado Front Range.  Wet, heavy, and perfect for snowballs, this stuff has turned the trails to mush.  I competed in the Adventure Xstream 12-Hr at Moab last weekend-where Will and Jenny Newcomer did an excellent job with the race, as usual-and have since been spending most of my training time running and paddling.

Week in Review:

• Saturday:  I enjoyed the race in Moab, and was very happy in my first competition on the Ellsworth Evolve 29er.  If you’re thinking about a new bike this year, be sure to give a 29er a spin; the wheels really do make a difference!  Finishing the race on a surfski I borrowed from Danelle Ballengee (who also raced and is doing well, living with her son, Noah, and partner, B.C., in Moab), I was able to hang on for the win in the solo division.
• Sunday:  Amy and I made the journey home to Golden and I got in an hour of running on the trails.
• Monday:  Arriving at the Cherry Creek Reservoir after work, I initially thought it was too cold and windy to go paddling.  After a short personal debate in the car, I figured I’d give it a go.  The hour-long session provided some good technique training in the wind and good mental training as well.
• Tuesday:  Trail run with the dogs, 70 minutes.
• Wednesday:  Trail run with the dogs.  Same trail as yesterday but it took 90 minutes due to the blizzard and constant falls due to hidden rocks!
• Thursday:  Trail run, 90 minutes with my buddy, James, from the Team GoLite, and the dogs, who were sufficiently caked with mud by this point in the week!
• Friday:  65 minutes of paddling with James at Cherry Creek Res.
• Saturday:  Two hours of trail running in the snow-what a nice, peaceful day!  Followed this up with a real-life adventure involving a challenging plumbing problem.

Team Goal of the Week:

Fitness and a transition to summer training were on our minds this week.

Tip of the Week:

Anything that works and does not break is better than anything super-light that may break.  We’ve all been out there in the middle of the night when a crucial piece of gear reaches its limit.  My advice is to thoroughly test all items ahead of time.  Something super-cool and super-light is worthless out on the trail if there’s a possibility that it might break.  Also, carry lots of zip-ties to fix things when they do break.

What’s Next?

I’ll be getting into orienteering meets with the Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club (www.rmoc.org) in the next few weeks.  Orienteering is an excellent way to practice navigation skills while getting a great running workout.  My teammates in the mountains have a few more weeks of snow and skiing to anticipate!

Happy Training,

Travis Macy

Photo by Brian Solano

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Adventures, AR Tips, Primal Quest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.