I also stress out more over the Teva Mountain Games than just about any other event I race in all year. The Ultimate Mountain Challenge in the summer, which includes four races over two days, is exhausting. I also feel like there is more pressure on me competing in Vail, and the expectations are high racing in front of so many of my friends. Furthermore, Ian works on the PR for TMG, so he’s talking about the event constantly. It gets to the point where I dread it.

So, now the new, WINTER Teva Mountain Games is just a few days away and I’m getting more and more anxious. The winter version of the Ultimate Mountain Challenge includes a 10k Nordic race, a skimo race with 6,500 feet of vert and the two-mile, Vail Uphill race with 2,200 feet of vert.

I feel fit for the race, but not totally prepared. I skate skied for the first time all winter on Saturday. It hurt. I haven’t been running much, and definitely not uphill. There are some strong women signed up for the UMC, including my friends Stevie Kremer and Lyndsay Meyer as well as US Mountain Running team member Megan Kimmel and National Nordic Champion Morgan Smyth. It’s going to be a really competitive race.

This weekend I’m going to try adopt Axel’s mantra…just have fun in the snow! Hope to see many of you in Vail. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Over the years at TMG I’ve participated in 12-hour adventure races with Team Nike, raced in a mountain bike crit around Vail Village, trail run in the snow, kayaked Gore Creek, and done the four-event Ultimate Mountain Challenge more times than I care to remember.  A couple of things I’ve never done at TMG are nordic skiing and ski mountaineering. That’s about to change. I’m more than a little excited about the inaugural Winter Teva Mountain Games. I’m planning to race in the winter version of the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, which includes a Pete Swenson-designed SkiMo race. Check out the video below, where Pete explains the SkiMo race. It’s going to be sweet for both amateurs and pros. If you’ve ever thought about trying randonee racing, this is the event to put on your calendar. Hope to see you there!

Lyndsay Meyer, Todd Kennedy and I skinned a lap and a half on Ajax early Sunday morning. It took me awhile to sort my gear on Saturday evening but once my boots and skis were on the snow, I thankfully didn’t feel like I haven’t skied in almost six months. I actually felt really good – bring on winter!

After social hour at the Sun Deck complete with hot chocolate and a warm fire (it’s Aspen after all), I met the family for a ski day at Snowmass. Juniper also jumped right back into skiing and Axel thoroughly enjoyed his first day on skis.

…here’s hoping the skimo racing comes back as easily on Saturday in CB.

I started with a few fun miles of warm-up on the road while Juniper rode her bike alongside. After dropping her off at a friend’s house I got down to business and headed up Mushroom Rock. As  I got closer to the top I realized the climb was not going to be quite 15 minutes. So I tried for consistency and finished my hill climbs in 12’55″, 12’36″ and 13’24″. Somehow I made a wrong turn on my final climb.

I was able to use the Z-Poles in many places both climbing and descending and they were really helpful. When the trail leveled out a bit  I carried them, and hardly noticed because they’re so lightweight. Admittedly, I’ve never really been a fan of  hiking poles but now I’m looking forward to using them in Tasmania.

Tasmania is going to be a long race, so I thought the new Sportiva Quantums with their MorphoDynamic technology would feel nice and cushy after being on my feet for four or five days. But, before trying them, I was a little worried the shoes would feel inefficient, as if I was being sucked into the thick outsole. But, on the road and on the trail, I was totally impressed by how good the shoes felt. I felt nimble and super stable even on the technical descent. The traction was superb as well. Instead of using the Quantum for the last few treks of Tasmania, I may have found my new everyday trail shoe.

Overall, I felt strong even after a long day of training on Saturday. Hopefully I’m ready physically and mentally. Now to make sure my bags aren’t too heavy.

Elinor, Sari, Joy & Wendy pre-race

Four years ago I raced the Lead King Loop 25K a few months after Juniper was born. I barely survived the race in 2 hours 45 minutes.

This year, Elinor, Joy, Wendy and I made a girls day of it and ran the race for fun. None of us felt amazing going into the race. Joy is seven weeks post-partum, El has a nasty cold, Wendy is off the couch and I had a full training week leading up to Sunday.

For the first time that I can remember, I had zero race day nerves. Standing on the startline with my best friends as well as Jari Kirkland, Carrie Vickers and Beth Broome, I was relaxed and ready for a fun training run.

Starting at a comfortable pace, I climbed the first 3,000+ vertical feet in about 5 miles feeling sluggish and heavy. I finally crested the top of the climb to amazing views of snow covered peaks and started to feel much better as my pace went from a 15 minute mile to a sub-6 minute mile for a few fast miles.

As I passed the 110 year old Crystal Mill, I realized I would be able to finish much faster than 2007 and possibly close to the course record of 2 hours 19 minutes. I had no idea what place I was in but for once I didn’t care. I was racing myself and enjoying every step.

Great scenery in Lead King Basin outside Marble

Crossing the line in 2 hours 20 minutes 19 seconds and in 5th place, I was very happy with my morning training run. Elinor finished in 2 hours 40 minutes, Joy just over 3 hours and Wendy finished just under 4 hours after battling major stomach issues.

Finishing up the training day with a quick mountain bike ride and I’ve started my training for the adventure race world champs in Tasmania.

What to do when there are no more races on the calendar

The Leadville 100 race has come and gone (with some lingering frustration about how I performed). Then the Mt. Washington Hill Climb came and went in the blink of the eye. Now what?

About a month ago, my friend Lyndsay Meyer, asked if I would answer some questions about Post-Race Letdown syndrome for an article she was writing. I had no idea what post race letdown was and said I didn’t think I had ever suffered from it.

Fast forward a month when I have no races scheduled and wham, I think I’m experiencing PRLD. Now that I know what PRLD is, I’m wondering if I have experienced it previously and just not known what the problem was. I’m not sure on that one yet but I do know that I’m working on enjoying myself right now, having fun with the family and thinking about focusing on the upcoming skimo race season. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll throw in another mountain bike or running race before the summer and fall are over.

Check out Lyndsay’s great article on post-race letdown on ESPNW.

Last weekend Pete Gaston of Aspen asked me to race in the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse with him because his brother broke his back and can’t race anymore. I  swore that I never do the race again mostly because of the logistics. It’s always tough to find a ride to Crested Butte in the first place, and then we have to be there early Friday morning for gear check-in, even though we don’t start racing until midnight on Friday night. But this year, the prospect of using my lightweight gear to race was really intriguing, so when Pete asked me I said yes.

I have competed in the race twice (2005 and 2008) and used backcountry touring gear and then nordic skis. This year I will be racing on my ski mountaineering gear and I’m actually looking forward to it. My La Sportiva skis and Stratos boots are significantly lighter than both my nordic and backcountry set-ups and out-perform them by far. Pete is a super strong young gun that placed 5th in his first ever SkiMo race and then won the 12 Hours of Sunlight on a two-man team. Although he has not raced the GT before, I’m psyched to be racing with him hopefully we’ll be a strong coed team.

But first, this weekend, we’re heading to Fruita for the spring Honey Stinger mountain bike team camp.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I had a good race at the Aspen Highlands Inferno last Sunday. I was the second person to the top of the Bowl behind Max Taam and finished sixth overall, winning the women’s division. I still need to work on my descending skills, but overall I was pleased with my performance.

My plan is to go to Jackson Hole in two weeks for a race at Jackson and then at Targhee the next day. Less than a week later is the second race in the COSMIC series at Sunlight in Glenwood. All three of these races are qualifiers for the US team that will go to the world championships in Italy in February so of course I would benefit from racing as well as possible.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as our family did. Now get out and train!

I’ll post a full report this weekend after the race unless I’m still out skiing.

Monday can’t get here soon enough as I should be receiving in the mail a pair of the La Sportiva Stratos boots! I’m so excited to get out in these boots a few times this week to test them out before racing in them next weekend at the COSMIC Irwin race. I know skill has something to do with it but I have convinced myself that my descending skills in the race are going to be amazing this year from lighter, stiffer boots.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue training and sleeping. Axel has been allowing me to sleep more which is an amazing treat especially on the Embody by Sealy mattress with Polartec fabric. The new mattress continues to impress Ian and I with its comfort and healthy sleep.

Speaking of sleep…it’s time for me to rest for tomorrow morning’s early training session.