For my birthday, Ian organized a proper adventure. We planned to ride from Marion Gulch in Carbondale to Sunlight Mountain on a series of maintained snowmobile trails. I borrowed a new Surly Moolander from our friend Darin Binion who owns the Gear Exchange in Glenwood. The Moonlander has five inch tires and it proved to be have impressive traction and floatation on the snow packed trails. Ian and Michael on their Pugsleys, were both envious.

Riding up Marion Gulch with Michael Hayes (and his fancy diamond-plate custom fenders).

Riding in 4-Mile Park above Sunlight.

Michael and I up Babbish Gulch.

Riding back on Dry Park Road.

In all the 30-mile ride took us four hours. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

Otherwise, I’ve been training on my rando gear whenever possible, usually early morning up at Ajax. Ian and I are heading to Jackson Hole on Friday for the US National Ski Mountaineering Championships.  It’s going to be to tough race with an especially competitive women’s field.

Our family headed to Moab on Friday morning with friends for one last desert getaway. Normally when we have the chance for a weekend like this, I get as much training in as possible. It was a nice change to go on a few short runs and then hang with the kids. We even got a great family hike in Arches National Park this morning before heading home.

I’ve taken ‘off seasons’ before by default when a racing season is complete, but this is the first time I’ve had someone telling me to really rest. Without being accountable to Lindsay Hyman at CTS, I’m not sure if I would be able to hold back as much as I have. After a great weekend with the family, I’m looking forward to another easy week before getting going again. Especially since my new Sportiva skis arrived while we were away!

An excerpt from the post:

Listen to Your Body – Sari Anderson’s Belly Tale

November 3, 2011

I need to start by saying this – Sari Anderson is a stud. She is a two-time national mountain bike champion, the 2006 Adventure Race World Champion, a badass trail runner, ski mountaineer and an Xterra Winter World Champ. Somewhere along the way, she also managed to pop out two kiddos! And then to top it off, she got right back on the trails and after being selected as one of Outside Magazine’s “Fittest Real Athletes,” she was invited at the last minute to join the reigning XPD Adventure Racing World Championship team in Tasmania for this year’s event. Yes, she just left a few days ago.

So in other words, Sari Anderson is hard-core. Having kids has not slowed her down one bit. While I cannot claim to have maintained Sari’s level of workouts during my pregnancy, my favorite take-away from her story is her insistence that no matter what level of athlete you are, you need to listen to your body.

I thought about this concept for a while. Listen to your body. This is something I have told countless athletes who I’ve prepped for various events over the years. I have come to lean on this phrase because as an athlete, I understand what it means. It should be simple, right? Don’t get injured – Listen to your body. Don’t get dehydrated – Listen to your body. Don’t bonk – Listen to your body.

What I failed to remember is that the first time you ever try something new, you have no idea what you are listening for! So while I agree…Read more of the story.

Despite being a little sore from the Lead King Loop last weekend, I continued a hard week of intervals and training thanks to Lindsay Hyman at CTS. On Friday, I enjoyed an easy day to prepare for the Golden Leaf Half Marathon on Saturday.

I took the last two years off from the Golden Leaf but three years ago I managed to pull off a win with a time of 1:45:47. My main goal this year was to better that time by a few minutes.

Training on the road with the kids in the Chariot has helped my speed on the flats and the descents but my pace on the steep climbs has suffered. This was obvious both last week and this week as I struggled up the starting climbs in both races. As the Golden Leaf course topped out and started heading down the Government Trail, I began to feel stronger and eventually found I could to push the pace.

Axel, Sari & Juniper at the finish of the Golden Leaf

I finished as the second woman in 1:47:52, four minutes behind Stevie Kremer from Crested Butte and two minutes slower than my time in 2008. After talking to many of the racers at the finish, we agreed the course was at least a few minutes longer than a few years ago so I figured my pace still was a bit faster.

Overall, I was  happy with my race and how strong I felt throughout the 13.1 miles. I even managed to get in a brick of sorts, with a mountain bike ride in later that afternoon for an hour and a half.

Sari & Ian enjoying a rare ride together

Sunday continued a great weekend as Ian and I joined about 10 other Roaring Fork locals for an amazing fall mountain bike ride.  The perfect weather and spectacular views quickly cured my tired legs.

As we descended a newly built trail, Ian and I were forced to make the decision to cut out and head back home to the kids. As much as we would have loved to ride another hour or so, we figured a five hour ride together was a sweet opportunity and we shouldn’t push our luck much more.

Finishing up the day with some family time completed the golden weekend. Here’s to hoping we have more beautiful days of training before I head to Tasmania for the Adventure Racing Wolds.

Golden Leaf results here.

Perfect day in the mountains in my new skin suit I picked up in Chamonix

After dropping the kids off with Ian’s parents, Ian and I arrived almost a week before the start of the board meeting for a long-overdue, child-free vacation. Arriving in Geneva on Saturday, we rented road bikes on our way out of the city, and then drove to Chamonix to stay with Michael and Nina Silitch. At the last minute, Michael convinced us to enter a 133km road race on Sunday. The Time Megeve Mont Blanc turned out to be a great way for Ian and I (along with over 2,000 other French roadies) to ride over some amazing cols and see some beautiful parts of France. I ended up finishing as the third woman in the long race, but missed out on the podium because Ian accidentally signed me up as a man on the French website. I guess we better work on his French.

Ian & I at the start of the Time Megeve Mont Blanc

Michael and Nina Silitch were amazing hosts giving us a place to crash as well as joining us out on some cool local runs and rides. Nina, Lyndsay Meyer and I enjoyed a nice early morning run to Chalet de le Floria on Monday, climbing about 1,000 meters above Chamonix in just under 3 kilometers. I enjoyed the girl time as much as the great views and training.

Nina, Sari & Lyndsay at La Floria

Lyndsay & Sari with the 200 types of flowers

Ian and I then popped over the border into Switzerland to visit with Vail ex-pats Pezz and Shane Gaherty. We hadn’t seen them in years and we enjoyed an incredible day of catching up and riding around the Swiss countryside near the Medieval town of Murten. Of course I had just gotten a tiny bit comfortable with French and we arrive there to everyone speaking German. Add that to the list of languages we need to work on.

Shane, Sari & Pezz in Murten

On our way back to Chamonix, we stopped for one more road ride in the Swiss Alps at the recommendation of Pezz and Shane. Leaving from the tiny town of Le Sepey, we climbed the Col de Mosses, rode through Gstaad, climbed the Col de Pillon, and headed back to Le Sepey via Les Diablerets. With another three hours of riding under my belt, I think my total miles for this trip may have equaled my total for the season so far.

Ian above one of the many canyons on our Le Sepey loop

Opting for a day off the bike, Nina and I suffered through some hill intervals on Wednesday morning and then the Silitch’s pointed us in the direction of a hike below Mont Blanc. Starting right from their house, we climbed to Montenvers, checked out the Mer de Glace glacier and then continued to Plan de l’Aiguille. Since we could not spend the night at the Refuge Plan de l’Aiguille, we settled on lunch with amazing views of the Mont Blanc area and the town of Chamonix.

Refuge Plan de l'Aiguille

Trams in the clouds above the mid station at the Aiguille du Midi

With just one day left before meeting the Polartec crew, we decided to rent bikes for one more day. Heading out of Chamonix over the Col de Montets, we then descended to the Swiss border and began climbing to the Emosson Dam above the town of Finhaut. Of course when Michael told us there were two roads to get to Emosson, we opted for the steeper, less traffic option. This would have been fine except the road was closed at one point and we had to sneak across the construction site. And, of course my legs were thrashed from six non-stop days of racing, riding, hiking and running. In the end, the long climb to the the dam was well worth the views of the Mont Blanc Massif it provided.

The steeper, no-traffic road to Emosson

Emosson Dam

On Friday morning, feeling a little tired, I convinced fellow Polartec athlete Laurent Valette to join me for a quick flat run around town before we were locked inside a conference room for the day to discuss fabric. Our meeting was the best yet with many great ideas thrown around and constructive feedback given by all athletes. Unfortunately, torrential rain stopped us from getting up the Aiguille du Midi today but Ian and I managed a very wet, hour and a half hour run instead. According to my Garmin, I managed to squeeze in 24 hours of training this week, which is by far the most I have had in a week in years. Best of all, I got to do it all with Ian – and this has been the best vacation we’ve ever enjoyed together. We are off to Courmayeur, Italyfor dinner this evening and then I am really excited to head home and see the kids tomorrow!

Morning run with Laurent before a day of meetings

I can attest to this. We have been using one for a little over a month now and I no longer wake up sweating each night. Recently I spent a night on our old mattress with our baby and woke up wet in the morning. There is no way a sweaty mattress is clean.

Elinor Fish on the Lunch Loops in Grand Junction

Thanks to my amazing husband, I was able to get away for a trail running weekend with two of my best friends – Elinor Fish and Joy Schneiter. We wanted to stay somewhat close to home minimizing our time in the car and therefore maximizing our time on the trail. So Fruita it was.

I have spent a bunch of time in Fruita over the past thirteen years but most of it has been on my mountain bike. Between rides and after teaching mountain bike clinics, I have thrown in a few trail runs in the area. This time I didn’t even bring my bike.

My Newton trail shoes arrived Friday afternoon so I went for a quick road run with the kids in the Chariot to make sure they fit before spending much of Saturday wearing them.

Starting on the trail just after noon was perfect as the temperature had warmed up to about 40 degrees and some of the clouds had burned off. We headed up Moore Fun heading east with Jari Kirkland joining the moms for some gossiping. As Jari headed back for some time on her bike, Joy, Elinor and myself talked nonstop while relishing in the technical running. Finishing up Moore Fun, we continued on Mary’s Loop and dropped down into Horsethief Bench – one of my favorites for riding.

All smiles, we completed Mary’s and stopped back at the car to fill our bottles and grab a

Joy & Elinor on Mary's Loop above the Colorado River

Honey Stinger waffle – yum! I had brought some old trail shoes thinking I may change out of the brand new Newtons at this point but they felt great so we were in and out of our personal aid station and headed up Mack Ridge. Unsure if we were up for another hour and a half, we decided we would go to the top of Mack Ridge and then decide if we wanted to continue around Lion’s or just head back down. If you know the three of us, of course we kept going.

We finished a fun, relaxed 21 miles of awesome technical running in about 3 hours 50 minutes. No records were broken but good times were had by all with the best part still to come – pizza at the Hot Tomato.

Wanting to get home to let all the dads get out for some of their own fun, Joy, El and I briefly explored the Lunch Loops in Grand Junction on our way home on Sunday. More amazing trails with miles and miles still to be explored. I guess we need to get back for another moms weekend away!

My Newton Trail Trainers halfway through Saturday's run

Myself & Elinor on the Lunch Loops

Joy & I enjoying the trail

The creepy bug hanging at the car. Not sure what it is but I made Joy take the picture because I didn't want to get that close.

I’m a proud mom.  What else can I say?

Although I haven’t gotten much running in the past few days due to a cold, tons of new snow and an aching ankle, I have been able to ride the trainer, get the car stuck again and ski a few days.  The sun is starting to shine through the clouds today so I’m hoping to get my pregnant self motivated and out the door!