Flagstaff Slop

A few inches of snow, warm temperatures, plus Flagstaff trail and you get slop. Soft mud that just opens up and takes you in. As you take a stride the mud flings from the bottom of you shoes and lands on the back of your leg. Flecks of dirt everywhere... on my shirt, my face, my watch. I misjudged conditions today and ended up running a very sloppy six miles. I swear the trails on the other side of the mountain behind my house were nearly dry just a couple of days ago. Yeah, I'm on the north side, but I thought by now they'd be pretty dry; maybe just a few puddles to negotiate. Instead, my favorite trail was mostly muddy.... some snow, a little ice, but mostly muddy. It's funny because when I first felt the mud I tried to look for grassy patches, you know, just get around it as best I could. But soon I just accepted it. I'm gonna get dirty, really dirty. Then I look over to my running partner to see how muddy is he getting. 

I ran with my dog, Aspen, today and his normally white undercarriage was stained dark brown. The picture doesn't do it justice. He was just a muddy, happy dog.... until I had to spray him with the hose. Aspen seemed to take particular joy running through the muddiest spots. At one point, when I stopped to try to get my sensitive GPS watch working right after a mud splatter, Aspen ran over and jumped on me with his mud-caked paws as if to say, "Come on, this is fun!" He was right. It was fun. But I'll be looking for some dry trail until we either get more snow, or this trail dries out a bit more.

On a training note, Mark and I met with our Team Run Flagstaff coach, Mike Smith, to talk a little about our preparation for TransRockies. Mike's an all around great guy, elite runner, and 2009 TransRockies winner so he's the perfect guy to help us through the process. He also does online coaching at RunSmartProject.com so check him out. Anyway, Mike helped break down our preparation into several areas. We've got to contend with the mileage, of course, but he also talked about the mental component of TRR, the altitude, recovery needs, terrain and several other areas. Given that we live at 7000 feet and have experience running trails, Mark and I are at an advantage with some things, but we're able to identify other issues that will need more attention. We also talked about the two major phases of our training: now through May and then June through August. Now is just about building aerobic fitness: increasing our weekly mileage and the time on our feet. The second phase will be about prepping our muscles for the adaptations needed for steep uphills and downhills, long miles, and quick recoveries. We'll be working to replicate race conditions so our bodies will be prepared for what's to come. Sound fun? Yeah, I'm not sure about it either. We've got a lot of time, though, and we've got Mike to guide us through it.

Check out the TRR stages here: http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/transrockies/documents/TRR09-fullprofile.pdf

-jea