"A quarter mile to my bike and i get chased down, caught, and passed by some clown in my age group…GAWD I HAAAATE THAT!!!!!

try as i might,
his pace is too strong, though floppy.
"what an idiot," i think, "that f@#ker is going DOWN on the bike!"

see, it’s moments like this one why i don’t buy all the contemporary Studio Yogi crap that says Yoga is all just ‘Divine Grace’ and other Lovey Dovey Delight bullshit. to me, after 3 decades of combining yoga teaching with national-class mulitsport competition, the REAL YOGA, the real UNION with our accumulated lifetimes as survivalists comes out in full, unmitigated instinctual animalistic CHI in events like Mt. Taylor which pushes every conceivable ego button on your torn and tattered body, mind, and spirit. after 4.5 hours of racing at an average heart rate of 174, you tell me how gawd damned polite you are when some lame ass mofo who runs like a dweeb passes you within sight of your Bike!"

Who says yogis have to be candy asses?

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Eric “Sully” Sullivan is a top contender for first place at this year’s Mt.
Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Photo by Dan Campbell.

In my interview with Josiah Middaugh, I described the first time I saw the four-time Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon champion flying down the mountain on the seventh leg of the race. This was around the three-hour mark of a brutal human-powered assault up and down the mountain and about a minute behind, just one minute, was Eric “Sully” Sullivan, the 27-year-old adventure racer from Gunnison, Colorado.

I’ll never forget the look of pain on either racer’s face. While Middaugh looked focused and cool, Sully was this two-legged inferno. He had the look of a mountain lion chasing down its prey and I had never seen such intensity in an athlete this far from the finish line.

Although Sully had managed to close the gap to Middaugh, in the end, after 42 miles of biking, running, nordic skiing, and snowshoeing, he finished 1:14 seconds after Middaugh to take second place.

Tomorrow, the Quad marks it’s 25th anniversary. It should be an epic race and a highly anticipated battle between these amazing mountain men and women who truly embody the spirit of multisport endurance athletes.

Question: You’ve done Mt. Taylor four times and have an incredibly diverse background. You wrestled in high school and were a gymnast for seven years. How did you get into endurance sports and adventure racing?

Sully: It all started with mountain bike racing. I moved out from Kansas to Colorado in 1999 to go to school at Western State College. I started mountain bike racing in 2001 and eventually found out I was much better in the longer events. I don’t have that top end speed for two-hour races. For four hours though, I can keep going at a pretty good pace. In regard to heart rate and pace, there’s very little difference between my two-hour and four-hour speed (laughs).

Team Salomon Crested/Butte (left to right): Sully, Jari Kirkland, Jon Brown, and Bryan
Wickenhauser. Photo by Dan Campbell.

About five years ago, Jon Brown and Bryan Wickenhauser from Team Salomon/Crested Butte were looking for a replacement team member for a race so I joined up. We ended up winning that event and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Question: Do you train and race full time?

Sully: Mostly. During the winter, once the adventure racing season is over, I do a lot of odd jobs. For example, this summer I was helping Wick (Bryan Wickenhauser) remodel his house. This winter, I’ve been busing tables three nights a week so I can still train during the day. It seems like if I try and have a regular job during the summer, it’s more of a hassle. I’m gone so much traveling from race to race that it’s difficult to get my shifts together.

Question: When was the first time you did the Mt. Taylor quad?

Sully: The first time I did Mt. Taylor was in 2004 and I ended up winning the 19-24 year-old age group that year and in 2005 as well. In 2006, I won the 25-29 age group and took fourth overall. Last year I was able to sneak in there and get second overall.

It is definitely one of my favorite races. The amount of support you get during the race is amazing. You come into the transitions and there’s just tons of people there to help you out. It’s one the best organized races that I do. You get such a great variety of sports where you are biking and running and skiing and snowshoeing and you have to be fast up and fast down and that’s a pretty good distance for me.

Question: Were you pretty close to Middaugh throughout the race?

Sully: Josiah was ahead of me on the bike up and the run up. I knew that’s where he would be strong so I tried to be a bit more conservative on those parts of the race. Once we got to the snow portions of the race, I started to whittle away on his lead. I think every split of mine was faster than his after that.

Question: The ski up. Power hike or V1 up the mountain?

Sully: I go with full skins, tip to toe, so there’s no glide on that one flat section of the course at the bottom. At that point, I just jog. Then when you hit the steep climb on Heartbreak Hill, you’re not slipping out. From all of the rando races I’ve done, I’ve developed a pretty good feel on where I need to go hard and where not to. I just skin hard up the steep sections. I keep it pretty mellow on the bike and run. Once I get on the skis, that’s where I like to open it up and push hard.

For the first-time racers, just try and keep a jog going through the flats with the skins on and use your arms. On Heartbreak, make sure you don’t slide out and try and keep a good tempo going.

Question: The last portion of the snowshoe up is wicked with most of the 600-foot elevation gain coming in the last portion of the one-mile leg. Former triathlon champ Wes Hobson, who raced Mt. Taylor once, wrote that the sand ladder at the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon seemed like nothing compared to the final “up” leg of the race…especially at 11,000 feet. At the elite level, do you run up that portion or is it just an aggressive hike?

Sully: I don’t run the whole thing that’s for sure. I run quite a bit of it, and then I go into more of a power hike mode since I’m running at my red line and I still have a long ways to go once I reach the turnaround at the summit. I don’t wanna blow up.

To tackle that part of the course, I just push off my quads with my hands real hard and try and keep a real fast tempo going. I find that if I try and run up that super steep section, I just go into the red line and it kills me for the rest of the race.

Question: What’s the biggest rookie mistake you see people do on the course?

Sully: People want light skis for the leg up so they go with nordic gear. But on the downhill, those skis aren’t always the best in regard to control and people need to practice their downhill skiing. I was looking at the splits and some people were taking over 30 minutes to get down. The downhill ski portion is really treacherous. It’s narrow and there are some really tight hairpin turns without much room to slow down. You need to be really on it to make it down there.

With there being so many transitions, you make sure you have your transitions down. The night before, when you’re packing your bags, make sure you’re organized. Put the stuff you need on top. If you can save 30 seconds over six transitions, that’s three minutes right there.

Question: I can attest to challenges on the downhill ski portion of the race. I saw plenty of snow angels on the corners of those hairpin turns and added a few to the collection! I think I set the record for the slowest downhill at 1:17. I was on my face more than I was on my skis…and I’m a pretty decent downhill skier. So, the million-dollar question: skate or classic skis?

Eric Sullivan in the 24 Hours of Sunlight Race in February 2007.
In the background Mount Sopris.

Sully: I like classic because the tips are a little bigger and that keeps you above the snow a bit. They’re also a little longer and a little wider. Plus, the motion of kick and glide that is used on the ascent with the skins…the classic binding is built exactly for that.

Having said that, it doesn’t make all that big of a difference as long as you have a full skin on the way up the mountain. Going down is about the same whether you’re on skate or classic skis.

Question: Do you do any training specific to Mt. Taylor?

Sully: With all of the randonee racing I do before the Quad, I’m in pretty good shape. For example, last year I had completed the 24 Hours of Sunlight (where competitors hike up the mountain at the Sunlight Ski Resort in Colorado and then ski, snowboard or snowshoe their way down for 24 hours) two weeks before the Quad and I was pretty skeptical on how well I was going to do. I was tired and had been in the hospital for pulmonary edema as a result of the Sunlight race and I pretty much didn’t do anything for seven days. Just before the Quad, I did a little jog one day and then went and did the race.

As far as specific training, since it’s so cold outside here in Colorado, I’m in the gym quite a bit. I’ll do a lot of brick workouts on the indoor equipment. For example, I’ll do some work on the bike, then hop over to the treadmill and increase the incline, then hop back to the bike. I’ll go back and forth like that a few times and do those bricks two-to-three times a week leading up to the Quad.

That’s the huge surprise for a lot of people right at the start of the race. You’re coming off this huge climb from the first bike leg and you are totally red lined. You transition to the run and start climbing again and your calves seize up. I try and train to keep that from happening…too much.

Question: You don’t have an off-season do you?

Sully: No, not at all. We just came back from the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (a six-day adventure race held in December) and I have the Snowmass Randonee Ski race and the 24 Hours of Sunlight race coming up. I try and take it easy around Christmas because I can get pretty cooked from all of the racing I do. I’m finding out more and more that recovery is critical with all of the racing on my schedule. The volume is pretty ridiculous.

Question: Since your racing is year-round, do you do most of your training at a pretty low intensity then and use the races as your high intensity efforts?

Sully: Not really. Right now I don’t need any more miles for my aerobic base so I’m just really trying to focus on quality. I want to get really good workouts with top end stuff where I can get top end on the bike and top end on the run and also get some brick workouts thrown in the mix.

With the randonee races, that’s two hours of nothing but full throttle ski racing. So actually, the winter season is where I get my top end, high intensity stuff going because I race by myself and the races are shorter.

Question: Do you train with a heart rate monitor?

Sully: Most definitely. Especially for the bike-specific stuff. I have certain workouts that I really like and what heart rates I need to train in on the bike so I can maximize my time. I don’t want to be on the trainer three hours a day in the winter like a pro mountain biker.

Question: Have you found that the nordic skiing and the weight training have a pretty good cross-over effect for your fitness?

Sully: Oh yeah. The nordic skiing and rando skiing are full-on legs and upper body because your pulling really hard and using your core. By the way, I’m going for the half course at the Rage in the Sage in April (1.2 mile swim/56k mile bike/13.1 mile run) so I’ve been getting in some swimming as well. I don’t like swimming (laughs), but I figure I want to come out of the water in decent shape. Then I’ll thrown down once I get on land.

To follow Sully’s racing exploits, check out the Team Salomon/Crested Butte blog.

A special thanks to Bryan Wickenhauser for sharing the photos used in this article.

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I know of Lisa Goldsmith more by reputation than personal connection. My fitness advisor/coach and all around great guy Steve Ilg introduced me to Lisa during the awards ceremony at the 2007 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. The duo had just captured the overall win for mixed pairs and all pairs, with the 40-something-year-olds handily trouncing all challengers in both divisions. Lisa did the bike and run portions while Ilg took on the snowshoe and cross country ski. (Editor’s note: Ilg is returning as a soloist this year so stay tuned for updates on that race.) For those of you who are going to the Quad this year, go to last year’s results and look in the pairs division for a Fair Pair of Mountain Yogis too see some impressive times.

To say that Lisa lights up the room is an understatement. Her life force, energy, aura, chi, whatever you want to call it, was apparent for all to see. Even after a grueling day running up and down the mountain, she had the smile and vibe of someone who had just come back from a week at the spa.

I wanted to talk to Lisa for this series on Mt. Taylor athletes under the assumption that she was returning to the mountain this weekend. Unfortunately, her training for the Boston Marathon in April has pushed the Quad to the backburner for this year. Lisa, however, does provide a great perspective on the race and endurance training in general. Just one look at her resume should impress the hell out of anyone who has ever toed a start line.

A collegiate soccer player, she was a triathlete from 1984-1989 and captured the USTA (now USAT) amateur national championship in 1988. She briefly raced as a pro in 1989, taking 9th in the Olympic distance and 5th in the sprint distance during the nationals.

From triathlon, Goldsmith focused on cycling for the next four years and was a member of the Kahula Pro Team and helped her team keep the yellow leader’s jersey for seven days during the 1992 Tour de France Feminin.

After cycling, she put her energies into running and was a member of the U.S. mountain running team in 1997 and holds records in several races like the Pikes Peak Ascent, Imogene Pass, and Mt. Washington, to name a few. She was the 2001 North American Snowshoe Champion and took fifth place in the 2007 Masters World Mountain Running Championships in Austria.

Oh yeah, she also took second in the master’s division of last year’s Boston Marathon.

Question: What’s your relationship with the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon?

Lisa enjoying a bit of snow during a frolic through the mountains.

Goldsmith: I have raced Mt. Taylor just the two times with Steve Ilg as my partner. The first year, 2006, I was part of a three-person team with Steve doing the two upper legs of the race (cross country ski and snowshoe). We beat all teams in 2006 and beat all of the pairs in 2007, including the men’s teams, when we raced as a mixed pair.

The tragedy for me is that I have never been to the top of Mt. Taylor! I could very much see going as a soloist for the overall individual competition, however, I am too focused each winter on my running/skate skiing. Plus, I just do not have the gumption to train for that race. Those past two forays on Mt. Taylor are perhaps the highlights of my long racing career primarily because of the energy of my partner, the venerable Ilg! I owe him big gratitude for bringing me down to Tsidol (the Native American name for Mt. Taylor)! I have often been intrigued by this race having heard of it and its lure to serious multi-sport athletes. With Danelle Ballengee having been the queen for so long, and me being competitive with her in many snowshoe races over the years, someone inevitably would ask me, “So, ya doing Mt. Taylor?!”

I was just too intimidated by the drive to get there in the winter and all of the equipment necessary to race as a soloist…not to mention the pure act of doing all eight legs by myself. Fortunately, Steve had put out an 11th-hour call for a runner and I was psyched when we hooked up and that he wanted to race with me. That first race was a blast!

Question: You’ve competed in the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon as a part of two different teams. How would you describe the race to someone who doesn’t live around mountains or any appreciable hills?

Goldsmith: Mt. Taylor is a special/unique event for sure! It is a party of athletes trying to get up to the top of a mountain and back down, either solo or as a relay team. This means the person next to you, in front of, behind, may or may not be there during the next leg. It’s a very interesting concept because it forces you to do your own thing, and not get too focused on the competition so much as doing your part well!

Question: Let’s go back a bit. How did you discover your talent or passion for endurance sports?

Goldsmith: Hmmm…I don’t ever recall not loving to play sports. My first inspirational endurance experience was racing bikes as a kid in my neighborhood. I remember riding so hard one day that I nearly passed out. I fell off my bike into my dad’s arms, hyperventilating.

It wasn’t until I ran my first 5K during my second year of college that I had another inspirational endurance experience. I had only been a soccer and all-around sports-playing girl when I entered this 5K, so I took off like I was chasing a soccer ball! I was fairly anaerobic the entire run, feeling completely nauseous and, well, even peeing in my shorts as I crossed the finish line. I was so impressed with the difficulty of such an event. Anyway, if those two things didn’t keep me from endurance racing, they surely inspired me to learn about how to race an endurance event.

I ran my first ever triathlon in a relaxed way with a boyfriend in 1984. I took third in my age group and got hooked! I decided to leave my partying school life where I was intramural athlete of the year in 1983…that involved a lot of beer drinking…and I started racing more seriously within months of that triathlon.

Probably my third endurance experience of great inspiration occurred in December 1985 when I decided to run the Dallas White Rock Marathon. I thought I was in the best shape of my life at the time, never mind that I’d never run more than 10 miles at once prior to that. I ran the first half in well under 1:30. But from that point forward I went downhill. I was shuffled across the finish line in such pain at 3:42! Ouch!

I didn’t run for a month for that. However, I was intrigued. How does one do this endurance racing correctly?

By 1987-88, I won every amateur triathlon (Olympic distance/short courses) I had entered, beating some pros along the way. After winning the 1988 USTA Nationals in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where I placed 15th among pros, I was invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to try out for an Olympic development team in cycling.

Question: Wow. That’s quite an impressive leap from partying intramural athlete to blossoming Olympian. What happened next?

Goldsmith: I went out to Colorado and went through their testing program which evaluated my VO2 Max and my “all-around athletic ability and coach-ability.” I was selected to join the team and promptly quit triathlon, and my job, to move to Colorado Springs for my new life as a full-time bike racer. Up to that point, I had never actually raced my bike aside from triathlon time trials.

My first real bike race was the International Tour of Texas. I got waxed, but learned a lot! I then raced in Europe that spring and summer, and even won a “Queen of the Mountain” prize which honed my love for going uphill. By the end of the year, I was well enmeshed in the sport of cycling. I made time to race three pro triathlons that fall and that was the end of my days as a triathlete.

I raced quite successfully through 1993 and into ’94, but felt very tried and burnt out. I quit bike racing cold turkey and got a job as a bike courier in Boulder for eight months before entering massage school in January 1995.

Question: You must have felt like returning to racing at some point because it seems to be such an integral part of your being.

Goldsmith: Yes. I decided to try another marathon in 1996 and completed it in 3:04. I got re-hooked in to the simple act of just running!

The next year, I ran a 2:58 and decided to hone in on trying to qualify for the 2000 Olympic Trials. I missed the cutoff by 12 seconds at the Boston Marathon in 1999 with a time of 2:50:12.

Since then I have just followed my bliss around the running scenes of trail/mountain running, hill climbs, road racing…I have a particular love for the marathon and for races that only go up.

In 1997, I competed in my first mountain run at Mt. Evans. I loved this race! I was asked to be on the U.S. Mountain Running Team that was traveling to the Czech Republic. I said “yes” and was the top placed American.

I came home and soon after La Sportiva was trying to start a mountain running team and called me I accepted and mountain running has been the main focus of my running. I still dabble in road racing along the way, particularly the marathon, which I am convinced is the best all-around kind of training for a runner of any genre! My Pikes Peak Masters record felt like such a culmination of years of work and, more importantly, figuring out how to train and race for these kinds of events. It has all been so rewarding.

Question: What’s a typical training day for you?

Goldsmith: I usually run six-to-seven days a week with some weight training included. My longest run is 20-ish miles, but I don’t do very many of those. I typically do one-to-two long runs per week. I also do lactate threshold intervals once a week during certain phases of training, a tempo run once a week, and a hill workout once a week. I run maybe twice a day if I have the time.

I always work in the middle part of the day which generally leaves me not having to get up too early to run! I’ll do more specific hill training come late spring into summer for mountain running events. I am looking to the master’s record at Mt. Washington this June and a spot on the Mountain Running Team as it is an uphill year with a very deep field of women in the U.S. these days. It will be a challenge to make the team this year.

Question: What’s your take on strength training for endurance athletes? Is it a waste of time or is critical to an athlete’s success?

Goldsmith: Well, I have been in the weight room consistently for all of my years of training, since high school and even through my beer drinking intramural days in college. I have never gotten very muscular though. That’s probably because I am made up of 99.9 percent slow twitch muscle fibers! I have never bulked up, which is nice, because I have always thought I can do weight training anytime of year and get the overall benefit of straining my muscles and tendons in a way that is healthy.

I think of weight training as a healthy compliment, like my feeble yoga practice, and a necessary component of healthy living. Much of the day, I am literally bent over, if only slightly, in my massage practice. Plus, running and cycling is also very forward bending to the spine. I just know that keeping my back and arms strong is a huge benefit for my posture and health.

Question: You mentioned yoga. How much of a role does that play in your training?

Goldsmith: I was introduced to Hatha Yoga and meditation from a mentor-type friend back in the 80’s and during my triathlon days. While it is not a big part of my everyday life, it does make a significant impact on my health as I have been relatively consistent with both yoga and strength training. I have no doubt that yoga plays a bigger or more natural part of my everyday life than I give it credit, but I don’t have a regular “practice.”

But to get back to your question, I will say that the yogic principles of balance/strength/flexibility absolutely do play a role in my training. I pay close attention to my posture, my holding, letting go, reaching, allowing, flow, and energy aspects of my movements in my body and my mind. I am always aware of these things as I train and work. I am quick to recognize when things aren’t right in my body or mind and this is when I might give more particular attention to my meditation and yoga to “right” myself. I also get massage and chiropractic adjustments regularly.

Question: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see in people new to endurance sports?

Lisa at home…going up.

Goldsmith: Hmmmm…everyone has their own arsenal of mistakes, from which to learn hopefully!

First off, I don’t think one (a coach, mentor, or friend) can actually keep someone who is ambitious from making mistakes, so it always seems futile to try!

Typical mistakes are in training much too quickly, say coming back from an injury. Our minds and our cardiovascular systems will come back much quicker than say a muscle or tendon injury, and often athletes will get excited to come back quick only to have set-backs and re-occurrences of the injury.

For example, my last injury was a torn tendon at the metatarsal head of my second toe joint in 2002. After fussing around with training, not training, cross training, etc., I finally took eight weeks off completely. It felt like an eon. OK, I did a little bit of swimming, but I wouldn’t even push off the wall on my bad foot.

After that eight week period was over, I started back by running with a very, very light load. I would run five minutes one day and take the next day off. Then I would run six minutes. Take the next day off. I continued that pattern until I was running 20 minutes for the day. From that point forward, I increased each run by five minutes and then eventually began to run on consecutive days for longer sessions. But, I never ran over 90 minutes for an entire year.

Since then, I have been injury free. Each of my past 4-5 years have actually felt like progress in fitness and speed. I feel like I restarted when I turned 40!

So, maybe I can summarize some thoughts on mistakes:

• Coming back too quickly form rest/injury.
• Not doing the maintenance work (body work/rest/eating-hydrating well)
• Not making changes according to what was learned from an injury or illness (different shoes, get more massage/body work).
• Not tapering for races.
• Worrying too much! I know people who physically get sick worrying about performance and they aren’t even in contention for the podium. They’re just participating age-group stuff. It is supposed to be fun, no?
• Having expectations that are not in line with your training preparation.

Question: Are there any training tools that you believe should be in every endurance athlete’s tool box?

Goldsmith: Every endurance athlete must become efficient. Long days out are absolutely a must!

A calm mind is a must, especially for events such as Mt. Taylor where there are up to six transitions!

Be organized and fluid!

If you only train these things in your mind with visualization, you’re ahead of the game. You can literally, of course, train transitions as well, but you never have that race energy until race day. To mentally prepare for that chaos and unknown can make you suffer or have a brilliant day of fun!

Question: What is the one thing that an athlete could do today that would improve their performance tomorrow?

Goldsmith: Know why you are doing what you are doing and have some goals. Then, ask yourself, “Does what I am doing line up with my goals?”

I believe my performances have improved over the years by simply honing in on this idea!

You can follow Lisa Goldsmith’s racing season at Mountain Running La Sportiva and the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team.

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The first time I saw Josiah Middaugh he was running down a mountain at Mach 3. We were at the 2007 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon and were somewhere close to three hours into the epic event where athletes race 42 miles to the top (and back) of the highest peak in northwest New Mexico.

While Middaugh was blistering down the mountain on seventh leg of the race to claim what would be his fourth consecutive overall victory, I was running up on my second leg. Did I mention that hibernating bears move faster than I do? For their inaugural challenge to the Quad, many newbies join up with teams of two-four members to split the workload based on each athlete’s strength. Being rather overconfident, and daft, I opted to go as a soloist to make Mt. Taylor the capstone race for my first year back to the sport of triathlon. Needless to say, my hubris was smacked clean out of me as I recounted here.

All athletes start together in the town of Grants, New Mexico where they begin a climb 1,800 feet over a 13-mile bike course, transition to a five-mile run with another 1,200 feet of climbing, then strap on cross country skis for an elevation gain of 1,200 feet over two miles, trade their skis for snowshoes for the final one mile, 600-foot climb to the 11,301-foot mountain’s summit, with most of the elevation gain coming in the last quarter mile. Once the peak has been captured, athletes reverse the course back down the mountain to the starting line. Overall, it’s a lung-searing, quad-burning, ego-busting journey that leaves an indelible mark on your soul.

When I returned to Las Vegas and at the final results, I had to find out who won this beast of race. I saw Middaugh’s name and a slow glimmer of recognition began to creep into my feeble brain. This guy is no average local mountain huckleberry. Middaugh was the Xterra National Champion in 2004, 2005 and 2007. He was also the USAT Long Course National Champion in 2005, the USAT Winter Triathlon National Champion in 2006 and, get this, Snowshoe Racer’s North American Champion in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

With the 25th Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon only days away, I had the good fortune to chat with this remarkable athlete about his training and plans for this year’s attempt at a fifth consecutive victory.

Question: You’re a successful Xterra athlete and since your season is over, why not kick back and work on building your “base” like so many athletes? Why continue in the winter sports such as snowshoe races and the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon?

Middaugh: I would say that I have an unconventional base training phase. Select winter races, including Mt. Taylor, fit well into my base training model. I think it is important to stay motivated in the winter months and take advantage of your environment. For me, that means spending time in the elements and Mt. Taylor represents the ultimate test of winter endurance sports.

Question: Let’s stop there for a second. Why do you consider your base training unconventional?

Middaugh: My winter base training is unconventional for several reasons:

1. Most professional triathletes do not race in the winter months while I continue to race in all four seasons.
2. Living in the mountains of Colorado makes bike and run training more challenging. Embracing winter endurance activities has allowed me to build a very strong base.
3. Last year my run training was limited due to surgery from a broken patella in June 2006. In November 2007, I had another surgery to get the screws taken out, so my training has been anything but ordinary. The only running I am doing right now is with crampons or snowshoes heading up ski runs.

The hazards of the Xterra athlete.

Question: Youch. How did you break your patella?

Middaugh: I broke it at an XTERRA race in Alabama in June 2006. I had it screwed back together but I was out for most of the season. I actually came back and placed 4th at the XTERRA world championships that same October with no run training.

Last year I trained a little differently than in the past and I decided to get the screws out two months ago. I am feeling pretty fit right now though and I am looking forward to Mt. Taylor this weekend.

Question: While the overall distance of the Quad does not seem that imposing, it’s the never-ending climbing that has a tendency to knock one’s ego down a few pegs. Compared to the other races you compete in throughout your season, from Xterra to snowshoe races and half Ironmans, where you put Mt. Taylor on a scale of 1-10?

Middaugh: On a scale of 1-10 it is probably 11. It’s my favorite winter race and it is a true epic winter multi-sport event. The fact that you summit the 11,300 ft peak with four events makes it an epic adventure.

Question: What advice would you give to someone who will be attempting Mt. Taylor as a first-time soloist?

Middaugh: Good general aerobic fitness is important. If possible, I would suggest that you take most of your running uphill. Long runs or snowshoes once a week are very important. It is not necessarily important to be fast for Mt. Taylor, but you definitely need to be strong.

Question: What about any ambitious Nebraskans who want to come out and test their fitness against Mt. Taylor? What can they do if all of their training is done on terrain that is as flat as a pancake?

Here, Middaugh demonstrates his picture-perfect recovery form.

Middaugh:For the people that can’t train the hills I would recommend focusing on their long run once a week. Running will have the most cross-over benefits to the skiing and snowshoeing. A long run should range from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours.
Question: With your broad background and winter racing schedule, do you specifically train for the Quad?

Middaugh: My unconventional winter base training is very specific to Mt. Taylor, minus the swimming. A majority of my training hours are spent biking, snowshoeing, running, and cross country skiing. I am fortunate to live and train in the Vail Valley because the conditions are perfect for ” />

Most of my run volume in the winter is replaced with snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Usually twice a week I snowshoe run up Vail Mountain or Beaver Creek, shooting for 3,000-4,000 feet of elevation gain. My training typically breaks down like this:

• Biking: 10-12 hours per week (5 days)
• Swimming: 4-6 hours per week (4 days)
• Running: minimal (this is mostly due to my knee injury; not what I recommend)
• Snowshoeing: 3-4 hours per week (2 days)
• Cross country skiing: 2 hours per week (1 day)
• Weight training: 2-3 hours (2-3 days)

During the winter, 99 percent of my training is aerobic with very little high intensity. I have two or three training sessions per day during the week (6 a.m. and afternoon) which includes a mid-week long workout and a long bike and long swim on the weekend.

Question: What do you do as far as strength training?

Middaugh: In the weight room I focus on functional exercises with reps anywhere from 8-20 depending on the exercise and my progression. I also spend at least 6-8 weeks working on power development with plyometric training. I also include a few plyometric exercises in my maintenance routine year-round.

Question: That’s quite an impressive schedule that obviously keeps you in remarkable shape throughout the year. Do you have time to really build an aerobic base?

Middaugh: Yes. I still have a base training phase in the winter but I like to test myself with a few select winter races. Some people do time trials or field test once a month, but I choose to race. The rest of my training is mostly low to moderate intensities and no structured interval training. I train right through all of the winter races so that I don’t lose any endurance.

Question: What else do you have planned for 2008?

Middaugh: At this point, I have about 20 races on the schedule, give or take. During the winter, I cut back on my racing a little bit and have five races planned: Pedal Power Winter Triathlon, North American Snowshoe Championship, Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, XTERRA Winter World Championship, and the USSSA Snowshoe National Championship.

This spring I will race the Cape-Epic Mountain Bike Race which is a nine-day stage race in South Africa and then come back and compete in the XTERRA Championship Circuit.

Question: Do you offer coaching services?

Middaugh: Yes, I do offer endurance coaching. I have worked as a certified personal trainer for seven years and currently work with clients out of the Dogma Athletica gym in Edwards, Colorado. You can also learn more about me at www.josiahmiddaugh.com

Josiah with two of his biggest fans, sons Sullivan (3-1/2 years old) and Porter (2 years old).

Not included in the photo is the head coach, his wife Ingrid.

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For my fellow Slowtwitchers, here are some photos of last year’s course that I wasn’t able to post to the forums:

About 6-7 miles from the start line.

A little farther up, shot over my shoulder. Two riders behind me. Beautiful country!

About a mile (?) from the start of the run. The snow has started.

Here’s the feared Heartbreak Hill. Doesn’t look like much from here. Note the black dots on the hill…those are people. I unleashed many a curse word on this hill.

I didn’t take many pictures after this point. That alone should tell you something. You can read the full race report of my first DNF by clicking here.

Find your edge and dance upon it.

hak

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Let’s share our favorite places. Just post your restaurants in the comments section below and I’ll pull them up and add them to the main part of this page so we will have an ongoing resource.

Flagstaff, Arizona
Races: Mountain Man Triathlon, Soulstice Mountain Trail Run

• Oregano’s Pizza Bistro: The ultimate pre-race dinner. Oregano’s has artfully blended Italian cuisine with the flavors of the Southwest. The Alfredo the Dark ($8.69) is spiral pasta covered in Alfredo sauce and kicked up with Poblano chiles. An incredible blending of flavor! A bit heavy perhaps, but dang, it was good and I couldn’t stop stealing forkfuls from my wife’s dish. I had the Pasta Basta ($8.29) which features penne pasta, spiced feta cheese, kalamata olives, pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, and olive oil infused with garlic and hot peppers. And you can’t forget the desert! Their Pizza Cookie ($4.99) is delivered piping hot to your table in a six-inc pizza pan and covered with three scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
• MartAnne’s: This little hole-in-the-wall located in the historic downtown district of Flagstaff is just about as good as you can get for a post-race Southwestern breakfast. The huevos rancheros are awesome and is anything on the menu with green chiles. Anything. Be prepared to wait though. While the service is good, the seating is extremely limited and there is usually a gaggle of hungry customers waiting outside (it’s too small to wait inside!) for a table. Note: I can’t find anything on the Web that gives me their street address. If anyone knows it, please pass it along.

Boulder City, Nevada
Races: Rage in the Sage, Las Vegas Triathlon, Pumpkinman Triathlon, Six Tunnels Half Marathon

• Two Gals from Cal (1632 Nevada Highway): Since just about every Las Vegas triathlon is held in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City is where you’ll find your most convenient meals. Two Gals offers a decent post-race breakfast or lunch for a reasonable price and is on the main drag coming out of Boulder City and heading toward Las Vegas. It’s a family-run operation with good food and good prices.

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Over the years, I’ve come to know this period as the dog days. It can be the dog days of training, the dog days of work or the dog days of life in general. I just feel like lounging around and doing nothing of significance whatsoever…much like my dog Max.

Max caught illegally napping on the couch.

Those are the days, or weeks, where I see Max in full relaxation mode and say, “Man, I wish I had your lifestyle today.”

That attitude is OK for a day or two. The downside comes when it ends up going from a day or two to a full month.

Funny thing is, once the fire is re-stoked, it’s re-stoked. And it happens in the blink of an eye.

I’m still waiting for that blink.

Find your edge and dance upon it…although it’s tempting to lounge on it every once in a while.

hak

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For those aspiring to improve their winter fitness, check out his new snowshoe video:

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After returning from Grants, New Mexico on Feb. 18th, I spent the next 36 hours wrapping up production on a title for the Virtual Training Company. Once completed, I had hoped to take a couple weeks off and get caught up on some sorely needed home and landscaping maintenance. The good folks at VTC, however, want me to get started right away on another title.

Although these projects eat up a lot, if not all, of my free time and can get me in hot water with Mrs. Hak if I’m not on top of my “honey-do” list around the house, they do help kill off the Hak National Debt. Perhaps more importantly, they help keep me in gear for the racing season and the last project did pay for the addition of El Lobo Gris to stable.

*******

On a related note, one of my new favorite reads is by writer and endurance sports scribe Martin Dugard. He offers some great insights on the sport and appears to be living every writer’s idyllic life. He’s writing and he’s getting paid enough to have a decent standard of living. Then again, if he admits that his wife is a neurosurgeon or tort attorney who makes up 99 percent of their household income, I’ll cry.

Martin’s work has relit a fire in me to get cranking on my own writing. While others struggle to write for copies of the publication or hope their blog gets them a book contract, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to jump in and out of the publishing game at will. I have a knack for being the hired gun brought in at the last minute to fix someone else’s bad idea or worse, being another semi-anonymous contributing author to a Frankenbook. I played that mercenary game for two years while working a full-time job and trying my best to raise two young daughters under five. Then I got burned out.

Yet, those projects can be somewhat lucrative and I do get to stay home with the family while working on them. It beats stocking shelves at the local Home Depot for extra dough. Plus, it does give me a small amount of street creds in the writing community. Actually, I’m quite fortunate. There are far better writers than me who are eating cat food for dinner tonight.

For me to take this work to the next level, I should take a page from Martin’s book and self promote a bit. It’s the only way I can move from hired gun to big gun and do this full time. After all, writing is no different than any other occupation. It’s the rare individual who gets the fat, multi-million-dollar contract out of the starting gate. While everyone waits for their memoir to get featured on Oprah, there is a shitload of sloppy seconds and thirds out there that will more than pay the bills.

That being said, I will have to sit on this self promotion idea a bit. As long as I am a cog in someone else’s machine (i.e., employee), I am very mindful of keeping my 8-5 job and not putting myself in a position where my employer is questioning what I’m doing during the work day.

“Oh, I see you have a book out. When did you have time to work on that? Is that why my report was late?”

Geez. I don’t even want to get started down that road.

*******

I’m also using this time to get down to the nitty gritty of training for the 2007-2008 season. Last season was all about the experience of triathlon, trail running, a road race time trial and even the exotic winter quadrathlon. I’ve discovered quite a few weaknesses and I want to see what I can do to turn those liabilities into strengths for the upcoming season. Accordingly, just about every training session will have an objective. Coach Ilg has agreed to let me take an initial stab at designing my program and I’ll turn it in for his review in a day or two.

*******

Oh, and I’m learning to love my left calf again. This guy blew on me last year at this time and after taking the summer and fall off, decided to come back and visit me again at the Mt. Taylor Quad. I found a talented Active Release Technique practitioner just down the street from my office and he’s done wonders. While I’ve tried to break up the adhesions in the Soleus myself, I have not been able to apply the necessary pressure to do so. Dr. Bobby Forsyth, who works in a mostly Chinese-speaking chiropractor’s office on the border of Las Vegas’ Chinatown, has done a great job of turning the two adhesions in the soleus and gastrocnemius into mush. While he was working on my leg during the first session last week, I was grimacing and trying to breath through the excruciating pain. The very charming office manager, whom I’ve only heard speak Chinese, came into the room, laughing, “Need tissue Mr. John?”

“No, Mr. John don’t need tissue. He need shot of bourbon.”

*******

Looking for some gritty inspiration? Check out Elizabeth Fedofsky’s tale of her race in the recent Desert Duathlon. You have to love an athlete that writes, “I am not so much racing as myself, but as the person I intend to be by season’s end.”

Good stuff. This is why you selected Elizabeth’s work as the Best Triathlon Blog of 2006.

Keep dancing your edge.

hak

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I would love to say that I have been blessed with a modicum of swimming talent, I haven’t. I was fortunate to have a good informal teacher years ago who taught me the basics of how to be efficient in the water. I’m refining those teachings on my own and will not seek outside counsel until my Bike Fu and Run Fu catch up with my Swim Fu.

I realize I have no natural athletic abilities and will be on a seek and destroy mission this year to identify those weak links (bike and run) in my multisport chain and make them stronger. Part of that training will be to be training smarter and not just going out for a 2-hour ride. Each training session will have an objective.

Hence, I will be converting to a roadie this year and re-learning what it’s like to suffer on the bike. I know it will make me stronger and I’m looking forward to what I’ll learn by riding with my colleagues on Team Pro Cyclery.

Also, as part of the next season’s effort, I ran my first lactate threshold test on the treadmill yesterday to establish my baseline and to redefine my HR training zones. Oooh boy, I am definitely off the charts compared to the predicted HR zones from the Karvonen Formula. Using the figures from yesterday’s test, I saw that I was operating at or above redline for more than three hours during the Mt. Taylor Quad. Throw in rookie race planning and dehydration at high altitude, it’s no wonder I detonated.

Another item I have been reflecting on is just how much races mimic life. It’s the little things that add up big things. Everything friggin’ counts. The simple act of being a bit snappier in two transitions would have given me enough time to make the cutoff to the bike. I learned this lesson the hard way in my first two triathlons last year. Apparently, I still need to learn it. Little things count when you add them up.

A little later this week, I’ll give an update on the Fighting the Fat series.

Keep dancing your edge.

hak

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