Keep Moving Forward

My blog will be at http://travisliles.blogspot.com/ from now on. I think its easier to remember and the name seems a lot less pretentious than this one :)

Update your favorites and RSS readers and to those who have a link to me on thier sites, sorry for the work, but thanks for following me along the way!!!

Travis

I am pumped!  Tomorrow I fly out to Portland then drive down to Mt. Hood for the Mt Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon Scott McQueeney Memorial Run - maybe the longest name for an ultra :) .  I have to pack all of my camping gear in a suitcase for the  flight, which just seems funny, but seems like the best way to get it all out there.  I'll pick up a rental car and cruise down to the Clackamas Lake campground and get all set up.  Then probably just relax for the night.  I know there are other arriving tomorrow too, so I should have some company.

As far as how I feel, mentally I feel ready to take this on and really push hard.  Physically, I have a small calf strain and an almost recovered sprained ankle, so I don't think either will hold me back from doing well.  I could have done without the ankle being rolled, but it did keep me in check and forced me to rest.

I plan on a nice easy pace on the way out.  I'll have my camera with me so I can get some pictures of what looks to be some beautiful views (like that pic below).  Carrying a camera might be a bit of an annoyance, but with the baby on the way, I don't know the next time I will be able to travel somewhere like this for a race for a while, so I think it will be totally worth it.  Once I get to the turn around, I will just drop the camera off for the returning drop bags.  Then work on picking up the pace for a good finish.

I'll be doing a little mobile posting from my phone pre and post race so some small update here and there, so check back.

On a side note, Congrats to my friends that ran the Vermont 100 this past weekend.  Way to go Julie, Ryan, and Sherpa John. You guys are awesome!!!

Enjoy your weekends!!!!

Things are going well with the exception of this slight ankle sprain.  I rolled it last Tuesday when I went out to a new trail (to me) in the Missouri area.  I took my eyes off the trail for a second to check my watch and POW!  So I took a few days off and did some icing and not much else.  I then hit the trail again on Saturday for a medium distance trail run with Howard and was fine for the first 7 miles.  We stopped in at a forest preserve area that had some vending machines for water.  On our way back to the trail I stepped off the side of the sidewalk and rolled the same ankle again.  It was not bad as I was able to run the rest of the way back without much discomfort.  What luck huh?  7 miles at a decent pace on a root covered trail and nothing, 200 feet on sidewalk and I get hurt.  One more reason to stay out of civilization when running!!  It's was pretty swollen yesterday and some today, but ice and rest seem to be helping.

I'm 13 days from MT. Hoot PCT 50 so this will just be a forced taper.  Plus, I've got some travel coming up for work, so getting in a lot of training won't happen due to my work schedule over the next 7 days... yes 7 days YUCK!  I'm flying to Orlando (Monday-Friday) tomorrow for a conference then out to Seattle for training (Friday-Monday).  Then taking off on Thursday to Portland for the run. I've contacted Olga (RD) about helping out for anything she might need the day before the race and it looks like I'll be able to help out somewhere.  I don't have a lot planned other then just hanging out, so I figured I might as well lend a hand and maybe meet some of the folks that will be manning an aid station along the way.  It never hurts to hear someone give you some words of encouragement or see a familiar face, even if it's a new face :)

On a totally unrelated note:  Getting the updates on Hardrock this weekend was awesome.  I found myself spending time refreshing and waiting on updates.  Also seeing the finishers come across via Youtube was great too. I have to say, I really like that this is able to happen and hope to see this trend continue.  Seeing the emotions that the elites have when they come across makes me love this sport even more.  Well done Scott and Krissy!! It makes you know that these events mean as much to them as they do to the rest of us, it's not just another race.  Of course the others attempting and finishing this is an unbelievable achievement too and much congratulations to you all!

Ryan asked in the comments of my last post what I have coming up so here you go...

First off, I've had a good month as far as training goes.  As of yet, I have not become someone who puts in big mileage months.  Most of that comes from the ITB injury I had in February that continued until the beginning of April.  April then brought McNaughton so I tapered and rested in April, then a month later was Ice Age so another month with a taper and a recovery.  I played it a little cautious in June to make sure everything was going to hold up ok and it did, so I moved into July with a bit more aggressive outlook. 

I logged just over 150 miles, hit the gym for weights at least once a week.  I joined a yoga class that is once a week and have on a few occasions hopped in on the pregnancy Yoga DVD that my wife does. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and do what needs to be done, being more flexible and balanced is my need and Yoga helps me with that :) .  I've also turned up the hill work.  I'm a flatlander so as much as I wish I could knock out huge climbs and descents , I simply do not have that type of terrain here, so I find the biggest hills I can and just go up and down as long as I can.  Also, on days where I do weights, I hit the stair climber and/or the treadmill on its biggest incline for an hour.  I've made sure to get in speedwork once a week (a big thanks to Olga for the help there).

Next up is the Mt Hood Pacific Crest Trail Ultramarathon on July 28th.  I'll be running the 50 miler.  It was going to be a little get-away for me and my wife, but some things came up and she will not be able to travel with me.  I'll be going solo on this outing, camping for a few nights at Clackamas Lake.  I feel good about this event.  As of now I am going in healthy and feel prepared, two things I have not had going into an event yet.  I'm shooting for a low-to-mid nine hour finishing time.

After that will be the Flatlanders' 12 Hour run on September 2nd.  The event is put on by the SLUGS (which I joined), so I am excited to get out there and meet a lot of the members. My friend Howard will be running the event too. This will be the first time I will be doing a timed run.  1.4 mile loop over and over again.  The event is really close to my 29th birthday so I will be shooting for 58 miles.  Before I started in this long distance running I would put together little triathlons that would add up to my age, but since I've done well over 29 miles on lots of occasions, it seems silly to just go out and do 29, so I'll double it and maybe a little further..hopefully