Since some of us live near hills and might do our weekly runs on hills we thought it was high time to dole out some information on running hills.

  Hills are an excellent way to improve speed and strength, as well as confidence. Hill work is “speed work in disguise” because after running or walking hills, the muscles in your legs get significantly stronger. Stronger legs allow you to go faster with less effort. In fact, hill training is the most sport-specific form of strength training that a marathoner can do. You should run the uphill portion under control and as relaxed as possible as you can and then you can generally make up the time difference on the downhill.  In other words, don’t fight gravity.  You will lose, we always do.

Some tips for up hills are:

1.   Shorten your stride. Don’t try to bound up the hill.

2.   Keep yourself perpendicular to the ground. Don’t lean too far forward or back.

3.   Stay relaxed in your upper body, which means shoulder down, neck and arms relaxed.

4.   You should not be gasping for air. Try to maintain a conversational pace, your running rhythm should stay the same as running flat.  If you can’t talk, slow down.

5.   If you can, do the entire hill in one continuous motion, up and over the crest.  Don’t stop at the top.  Instead use your rhythm which will help you keep your form on the downhill.  You’ll find it easier to pick up the pace from a running start than a walking start.

6.   If you need to walk part of the hill, do so, but start running before you crest the top as this will make the transition into the downhill much easier and more efficient mechanically.

     7. Try and find a comfortable rhythm with which you can run the entire length of the hill. If the hill gets steeper simply adjust your rhythm so that you maintain your original pace. If the hill starts  to flatten out then you can adjust your rhythm to pick up the pace to maintain the original pace. 

Some tips for the downhill are:

1.   Don’t step out on your stride. Instead, either step straight down or think about picking you feet up as quickly as possible. Keep your stride short. By default, gravity will tend to lengthen your stride so you don’t need to actively do so.

2.   Stay perpendicular to the ground. Don’t lean back or forward.

3.   Controlling speed on downhills is a matter of hip turnover.  Instead of leaning back and breaking to slow down which puts a great deal of stress on the joints and muscles, one should think of a shorter stride and slowing down how fast your legs are moving. A good habit to get into is to start the downhill slower than normal so as not to pick up too much speed too quickly and get scared and start breaking which wastes a lot of energy and is hard on the body. 

4.   Don’t try to go too fast to make up time as quads take quite a beating going down hill. When going downhill, you should be as light on your feet as possible. Let gravity just pull you down at a faster and faster rate to the end of the downhill so that you finish with a nice little bit of speed to use to ascend the next hill or cruise the flat.

See ya out there on the hills.

Hi all,

Below is a recap of our 4 day weekend hiking and running across the Grand Canyon.

Friday morning, September 19th came awfully early. I was up at 4:40 am and went to the gym to get in a quick swim before everyone started arriving at my house. Finished my swim and chatted with Estelle a bit as she was also at the pool on her first attempt at swimming while she recovers from her calf injury. I drove back home, quickly showered and got dressed. Around 6:20 am everyone started showing up at the house. Both Vera and Jacob and Art and Rosie had volunteered their minivans for the trip. Gail had went to the store and picked up some breakfast snacks, orange juice, coffee and muffins were some of the options available for belly filling. All told there were ten of us on this trip: Art, Rosie, Vera, Jacob, Phyllis, Laurie, Kerry, Bary, Annie and me. We had some food and packed up the rest for the road trip. We left the house at 6:48 am. Art, Rosie, Phyllis, Laurie and I were in one van and Vera, Jacob, Kerry, Bary and Annie were in the other van.

Since I was the only one that had done this trip before, I also ended up providing the navigation for the road trip. It is 499 miles from my house to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just in case you wanted to know. We made good time getting out of LA as traffic was light. Periodically while driving, we would get a phone call from Vera’s van and shortly thereafter, we would pull over, get gas, potty and find other things to snack on and stay hydrated on. After about 8 hours of driving, we arrived in the little town of Tusayan which is just outside the park’s south entrance. It was late afternoon and we all decided to stop and have some lunch. There was another group of runners and hikers that my good friends Stephanie and Bram had put together and they had left at various times on Thursday and Friday as well. I left Bram a message as they had arrived at the South Rim around 12:30 PM that day. Our goal was to hook up with them and make sure everyone had a chance to meet everyone before we started hiking on Saturday.

After lunch, we paid the entrance fee for the park which was $25 per vehicle. They asked us how many people were in the van, I was tempted to say 45, but the ranger didn’t appear to be in a good mood so I was a good boy. We drove to the South Rim Village using the Center Drive shortcut which saves about 2 miles of driving and avoids the car tourists. Bram’s group was staying at the Bright Angel Lodge. Our group was staying at the Kachina Lodge. There are four lodges right on the rim and they are all right next to each other. Bright Angel, Thunderbird, Kachina and El Tovar are their names. To check in for the Kachina, you actually go to the El Tovar registration desk. For the Thunderbird, you use the Bright Angel registration desk. We found two parking spots right in front of the Kachina lodge. As we were walking over to the El Tovar Lodge and I was calling Bram on my cell phone, which surprisingly, actually worked just fine on both the South and North Rims, we ran right into them walking along the South Rim trail. We all chatted a bit and took some pictures and then we went and checked in.

We decided to leave the park that night to get dinner at a pizza place that Bram, Stephanie and I had gone to 3 years ago when we all did Rim to Rim the first time. Between the two groups we had 19 people. On the way to the pizza place, we saw a whole herd of elk and deer. I tried to get a picture with Rosie’s camera as I conveniently left mine in the hotel room, but let us just say there were technical difficulties and the one picture I did get was not very good. Bram’s group had left a bit earlier than we did so at the pizza place we all ended up sitting in our separate groups. The food was good and we timed it perfectly as just after we had ordered our food about four hundred and twenty-three and a half people came in for dinner. Bram’s group had 8 people who were either hiking or running across the canyon. Stephanie’s mom, Judy, was going to drive one of their vans around to the other side which was great as this meant we could give them some of our stuff for Saturday night and the return hike back on Sunday and not have to carry everything on our backs. The drive around to the North Rim from the South Rim is over 200 miles and is a good five hour trip. We gave them our stuff that night at the pizza place.

After being stuffed with reasonably good food, we all headed back to the Lodge to get our gear ready for the morning. I had talked to three different people at the South Rim to confirm the time of the hiker’s express bus just to make sure I was getting good information. All three people confirmed the same thing. The first bus leaves at 5 am in front of the Thunderbird Lodge. It then goes to the backcountry office to pick up folks, then to the visitor’s center and finally to the South Kaibab Trail Head.

Once again the morning came quite early. This time we got up at 4 am so that we could get dressed, use the bathroom, and we also had to check out of the hotel room as we were not staying there that night. The folks at El Tovar were quite nice and they allowed us to leave our bags with them since we were coming back on Sunday. We all got together and walked to the bus stop. We got there at 4:45 am and it was a bit chilly. I am guessing around 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Shortly after we arrived, Bram’s group showed up and then another 30 people showed up just as the bus was arriving. This bus ride was to be the last reasonably comfortable part of our hike. We all ate a bit while riding on the bus. Bram’s group was only four people as their four hikers decided to start around 4 am that morning so Bram had gotten up early and drove them out to the trail head. Bram’s group were planning on running as much of the trail as they could so I was pretty sure that we wouldn’t see them the rest of the day until we arrived on the North Rim. Most everyone in our group was planning on hiking across.
Finally, the moment had arrived. We had to get off the bus. It was still dark, but the sky was getting light. There were toilets there and they were used. We started down the trail at 5:40 am. Sunrise was at 6:16 am. It is kind of cool to see about 60 people or so walking down the trail with headlamps on. You can just see this line of bobbing lights. After about 15 minutes of hiking, I determined that it was not cold at all and I took off all of the layers I had on except for the short sleeve t-shirt and running shorts I was wearing. Everyone else also removed some clothing, but they were a bit more conservative than I in this task. Having done this hike before, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to get any colder the rest of the day until we had arrived at the top of the North Rim trail. As predicted, Bram’s group was gone in about two minutes never to be seen again until dinner that night.

For those of you who have never hiked rim to rim, this next paragraph is for you. The trail we were taking on Saturday is 21 miles long. You start by going down into the canyon and then when you get tired from going downhill, you then get to go back up hill. The hike is essentially a 7 mile steep downhill, a 7 mile moderate climb and finishes with 7 miles of mostly steep uphill with the last two miles being especially fun just to get out of the canyon. On Saturday, the temperatures ranged from about 41 to 90 degrees down b y the river. When they say this is a strenuous hike, they ain’t lying.

Our first stop on the trail as we descended into the canyon was Cedar Ridge. We wanted to get there before sunrise as you can get some very good shots of the canyon from this viewpoint. There is also a bathroom there, but no water. We arrived there at 6:15 am just in time to see the sun rise. Folks took pictures, used the facility, ate some food and removed additional layers as needed.

As we headed down into the canyon we started to break up into several smaller groups. Phyllis, Laurie, myself, Kerry and Bary were in one group going down. Jacob joined up with us later in the hike down to the river. Art and Rosie were together and Vera and Annie were together. We stopped along the way to take pictures including several of a mountain goat that was just above the trail we were on.

This goat just stood there forever and we all were able to get really close shots of him. He did keep looking up above while we were there I guess to make sure he still had his escape route open. We had a couple of mule trains go by us on the trail. They were heading up as we were heading down. Mules take up a lot of the trail by the way.

Three years ago when I did this hike, I injured my knee coming down this trail too fast. This time around, my knee did do some talking, but mostly it was happy talk. We finally reached the black bridge which is a suspension bridge above the river. We took some photos and even got a couple pictures of a river raft and kayaks going down the river.

At this point, we had done about 6.25 miles and dropped from 7260 feet to 2400 feet. Did I mention this trail was steep? It is. We still had about three quarters of a mile to get to Phantom ranch and get water and eat lunch. This part was easy to run as it was mostly flat and fairly sandy.

We arrived at Phantom ranch, Phyllis, Laurie, Jacob and I arrived first, followed by Kerry, Bary, Art, Rosie and then a short while later, Vera and Annie. We all took time to eat some food, refill our camelbaks, use the bathroom, and doctor our feet as needed. Nothing like the friction of dirt and going downhill for 7 miles to warm your feet up!

We were pretty lucky today as there was a bit of cloud cover that hid the sun periodically which made it fairly cool. It was around 10 am when we arrived at Phantom ranch and it was already getting hot. Everyone seemed to be doing well at this point in the hike. I was still well liked. We all messed around for about 30 minutes or so, and then we decided to head out. We still had 14 miles to go and most of that was uphill.

We are now on the North Kaibab Trail. The first 7 miles follows the Bright Angel Stream and is reasonably flat with about a 1000 foot elevation gain in 7 miles. Phyllis, Laurie and I decided to run some of this. At this point, I regretted my earlier macho decision to carry all of my stuff on my back instead of putting some of it in the van. I do need to remember that macho acts usually result in extra work and I really wanted my pack to be lighter as we started to run. We ran off and on for about 3 miles before we decided that running was going to be too tough. I was kind of glad we decided to stop running as my pack was wearing a hole in my lower back riding up and down. Hiking it was fine, but running, it was definitely on its way to causing skin damage. It was also pretty hot in the bottom of this canyon. We did have a good bit of shade as we hiked along the canyon walls, otherwise, it would have been brutal in the sun.

After 7 miles, the three of us reached Cottonwood. There was water there and bathrooms. I was quite happy that I put just enough water into my camelback as I ran out 3 minutes before we arrived at Cottonwood. Extra water means extra weight. We rested there and Jacob showed up a few minutes later. We ate some more food and I made my first real mistake of the hike. I didn’t put enough lube on my right foot before we started out again. We waited until Rosie and Art showed up. They were doing fine with their trekking poles. (If you ever decide to do this hike, use trekking poles. They make a huge difference.) We were just about to leave when they showed up. They were going to wait until Kerry, Bary, Vera and Annie showed up before moving on. We had now gone 14 miles, but we still had to climb back out of the canyon. The next 7 miles were going to be fun.

Jacob went with the three of us, Laurie, Phyllis and me. About a mile from Cottonwood, I got two blisters; one on the ball of my right foot and one on the inside of my right heel. We stopped while I tried to clean my feet a bit and re-apply some lube. This helped, but the blisters did not go away. Now, the first 3 ½ miles of this last 7 was hard, but doable. We were definitely climbing up, but there were a few areas that were flat or even downhill. Downhills do feel good, but in the back of your mind, you are realizing that you now have to make up the lost elevation so mentally, I wasn’t too fond of them and neither was anyone else. Around this time, Phyllis and Laurie were also having some blister issues and Jacob’s left leg was starting to bother him. One of the things that happen as you go up Bright Angel Canyon is you cross over the stream several times. We crossed over I believe about 6 or 7 bridges as we made our way up the canyon. The whole trip was coming back to me from 3 years ago so I was doing my best to keep everyone moving forward. I would hike ahead and then rest for a bit while they would catch up. Everyone was definitely getting tired and we were dealing with an increase in elevation which does affect most people. I would stop to read the various signs that were posted along the trail and Phyllis would be quite happy that I stopped. I think they all were wishing that I was a slower reader though. We kept on trudging up the canyon. Finally, we got to the last bridge on the trail. At this point, you can look up to see the trail and it basically is going straight up with about a million switchbacks. I told everyone that from this point on, we were going to be hiking straight up almost the entire way. Not sure they wanted to hear that, but me being a wealth of mostly useful information; I thought they should know that the hike had just begun. I think it was around 1:30 PM at this point and we had about 3 miles to go roughly. Laurie had her Garmin with her and it had been fairly accurate with both distant and elevation, but this area was so tight, that the mileage got way off. After about an hour, it still said we had only gone about 4 tenths of mile. Laurie was not too happy with this result so I explained that we are going basically straight up and GP S devices don’t always register well on this type of terrain. The Garmin was quite useful in telling us our elevation which helped me figure out where we were on the trail. We were now all quite fatigued.
After climbing up for about a mile or so of nothing but switch backs, we tried to look back down into the canyon to see if we could see anyone from our group; but we could not. We finally reached the Supai tunnel and then just past this was the last bathroom and water stop on the trail before the summit. We still had two miles to go. Our blisters were not feeling any better at this point, and Jacob’s leg was definitely bothering him. We rested for a bit and then headed for top of the rim. Shortly after we had left the last rest stop, we passed two girls. We asked them how far they were from the top. They said they had been hiking for 19 minutes. Of course, they were hiking down. We were not. 90 minutes later, we finally reached the trailhead at the North Rim. The elevation is 8421 feet at the trail head. Laurie’s Garmin put it at just under 8300 feet. To say we were quite happy to see the parking lot is a bit of an understatement.

We had hiked 21 miles, went from 7260 down to 2400 feet and back up to 8400 feet in 10 hours and 40 minutes. Bram was there waiting for us with the van. We took some pictures and drove the last couple of miles to the North Rim Lodge.

I don’t think I have ever been quite so happy to see Bram standing there as I was that day. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Bram a great deal, but the thought of having to walk the last two plus miles to the lodge was not very appealing to any of us. We hadn’t had any communication all day between our groups either so I didn’t know if he would be there or not because waiting for someone to finish a hike is about as exciting as waiting for our President to say something intelligent. Needless to say, it can be a long time and you have no idea when it will happen. He was there and we were quite happy to get a ride to the lodge. Bram mentioned that when they showed up, their van wasn’t there yet, but fortunately, there was a church group there with two vans and they were shuttling anyone to the lodge which was quite nice of them.

I figured we had about 2 hours before anyone else arrived at the top so we went to the lodge, checked in at the lodge, and had a slice of pizza and a coke. We did have an issue with our bags as Judy had dropped them off, but they weren’t at the check-in desk. We did figure out where they were shortly though and we then went to our cute little cabins to clean up before heading back to the trailhead to pick up everyone else. Bram gave me the key to the van so I could drive back out there. I was a little concerned that everyone wouldn’t get done in time as we had a 6:30 PM dinner reservation and there were no other reservations available for the dining room the rest of the night.

Just as we were about to head back out to the trail head, we saw Art, Rosie, Kerry, Bary and a couple of minutes later, Vera and Annie. They had just finished and the church group was kind enough to shuttle them to the lodge. We all chatted for a few minutes about how the hike went. Rosie mentioned she started hating me around mile 18 or so. Everyone was pretty beat up. As it was getting close to 6 PM, I suggested everyone get cleaned up so we could go and eat.

The view from the North Rim Lodge is spectacular especially from the patio areas. Did I bring my camera, no. I didn’t feel like carrying anything to dinner that night. My right foot was none too happy with the blisters that had grown a bit over that last 6 miles. Bram’s group all made it across and they were eating at 6 PM. We ate at 6:30 PM and were all pretty close together so we were able to discuss how much fun we all had hiking from Rim to Rim. I ate a lot that night. They had prime rib and it was good.

It was determined just before we ate dinner and during dinner that only 9 of the 18 would be attempting the return hike back the next day. There is a van service that will ferry you around back to the South Rim. It was $80 per person. Fortunately, Judy had two spots in her van so that saved some money for the ones that had to pay for the service. Out of Bram’s group only 5 were going back the next day. Out of our group only I, Phyllis, Laurie and Art were crazy enough to hike back. One of Bram’s groups was a hiker so I told Bram she could hike with us back across as we didn’t want anyone hiking alone in the canyon as it is just too dangerous. People die there almost every year due to the heat and steepness of the hiking trails.

The North Rim is quite beautiful, and is not built up like the South Rim. I highly recommend visiting it if you have the time as it is worth it. Of course, we were too tired to really care. We all went to bed about an hour after eating and getting our gear ready for the hike the next day. We didn’t have to get up quite so early on Sunday as we wanted to get something to eat at the coffee house which didn’t open until 5:30 am. We slept in to the very late time of 5:00 am. My blisters and Laurie and Phyllis’ blisters were still with us that morning. I taped my feet up with some athletic tape I had bought at the store the night before, but I was going to be in pain all day and every single time I stepped onto the ball of my right foot which was every time I used my right foot to walk there would be pain. The hike on Sunday was 24 miles long. In a typical mile, one might take approximately 1000 steps on one foot. I stepped on my blistered ball of my right foot around 24,000 times on Sunday. Every single time it hurt and occasionally when I was feeling especially lucky, I would step on the point of a sharp rock right into the blistered area which added to the overall pleasure of the day. Laurie and Phyllis’ blisters weren’t too happy either, but they were not on the balls of their feet so that was good news for them even though they would be feeling them the whole day as well. Art didn’t have any blisters and other then being a bit tired from Saturday, he was feeling quite good.

We left the coffee shop in two groups. Bram’s running group which included Bram, Stephanie, Jon and Jeff left first. Stephanie’s sister Samantha was doing the honor of driving us out to the trailhead. She returned and took us out next. We had a fifth person with us. Her name is Bendan (No typo by the way). She had hiked across yesterday and she really wanted to hike back again today. Bendan was a very nice person and fun to be with on the hike. We weren’t sure how fast she was so we decided to let her lead on the hike to start.

My foot was fine while in the van, but as soon as we started to hike, I could tell it was going to be a painful day. Once I got to moving though, I was able to put the pain into one part of my mind and leave it there most of the time except for the aforementioned sharp rocks which would bring it back to full consciousness in an instant.

Bendan was not slow! We went down the first two miles of the trail and hit that first water stop in about 18 minutes. As you recall, it took us 90 minutes the day before going uphill. We stopped, used the bathroom and removed extra layers as needed. Bendan was also dealing with blisters and she had two pair of shoes she would switch out of periodically and she was carrying a fairly heavy pack with enough food to feed a small army. I was a bit smarter today and I didn’t carry anything at all that I didn’t think I would use on the hike itself. My pack was at least 5 pounds lighter. Bendan did have trekking poles which she knew how to use. We flew down the first 7 miles of the same trail we had just hiked the day before.

Laurie was actually running at times to keep up as it was easier than trying to walk fast. We hit Cottonwood in under 2 hours. Yesterday, it had taken us over 4 hours to hike up. We all doctored our feet and ate food and refilled our bladders with water. I cleaned off my taped feet and borrowed some moleskin from Bendan to add some additional cushion to my right foot for the blister on the ball of the foot which was almost as big as the ball of my foot at this time. We took about 20 minutes or so to recover and get ready to push on.

Laurie, Phyllis and I decided to run the next 7 miles to Phantom Ranch as it was a fairly nice downhill place to run. I thought that running might feel better on my foot as well as it would entail slightly different foot mechanics than walking. Art and Bendan both had their trekking poles and continued to hike the next 7 miles. The running did feel better at first on my foot and overall, it did help I believe to run this 7 miles. We took walking breaks as needed along the way, but we pretty much ran the whole way. The packs that Phyllis and I were wearing decided to wear a hole in our low backs. I think Phyllis got the worst of this as she actually got a blister in that area. I definitely chewed of some outer layers of skin, but didn’t quite get to the blistered state. Finally, we arrived at Phantom Ranch.

We had now done 14 miles of our 24 mile hike. We had also said goodbye to the downhill portion of our hike. We made it to Phantom ranch in less than 4 hours time. About 20 minutes later, Art and Bendan showed up as they made really good time hiking the last 7 miles as well. It was much hotter today, than on Saturday. It hit 110 degrees at Phantom Ranch that day. It was cooler than that while we were there, but it was in the nineties and no cloud cover. I had two Arnold Palmers at the little cantina in Phantom Ranch. I ate quite a bit of my food stash mostly so I wouldn’t have to carry it anymore. I didn’t touch my feet. I did empty out the dirt and rocks that had homesteaded in my shoes, but left the tape alone. Don’t know if I was just too tired or just felt there wasn’t much else I could do to make it any better. Finally after about 40 minutes, we all worked up the nerve to continue on our quest. It isn’t like we really had any choice in the matter. There was only one way out of the canyon and that was to hike out. I guess we could have been rescued, but that costs money and we wouldn’t have made it any faster out of the canyon.

Now at this point, you may be asking yourself why 24 miles when we only did 21 the day before. I will tell you. We were taking a different trail up the South Rim. We were going on the Bright Angel Trail which is 10 miles long, but a lot less steep than the South Kaibab trail which we started on Saturday morning. There is also water along the way which made it easier to ascend out of the canyon. And we wanted to see a different part of the canyon to keep our minds off of our blistered feet and fatigued bodies.

Bendan again took the lead and my feet hurt so bad starting up again that I was quickly behind everyone else after just a few minutes of hiking along the river. Finally, though my feet numbed out a bit or I got used to the pain again, and I was then able to speed up and easily catch the group. This time we crossed the silver bridge to get on the south side of the river. This bridge was all metal and was quite a bit higher above the river than the black bridge. It also had a metal mesh bottom to look through as you went across. Laurie was not overly happy with this bridge and refused to look down the whole way across. To be honest, I was also glad to make it across as I was looking down and the mesh flooring kept messing with my vision causing some disorientation. It was hot now.

We started hiking up the Bright Angel Trail and the first couple of miles were pretty pleasant. We slowly started increasing our altitude, but for the most part we just followed the Colorado River albeit a few hundred feet above the river. Finally, we started going up again. On Sunday, there was hardly anyone along the trail at this point so it was just the five us keeping pace with each other.
At one point, we came around a sharp bend in the trail and almost got run over by another group of mule riders coming down. I think Phyllis was in the lead at this point and almost had a date with the lead mule. As the mules were walking by, one of them was walking so close to where I was standing that the saddlebags damn near knocked me over. I guess the lady was terrified of heights as she had her mule hugging the cliff wall. The mule missed my right foot by less than 6 inches. It was about this time, that I thought about acquiring this mule so I wouldn’t have to walk anymore on my right foot. I did have some minor dark thoughts, but they quickly passed and heck the mule was going the wrong way anyway.

We kept hiking up and several times we had to cross a small stream. This stream did not have any bridges so it was stepping on stones in order to not get one’s feet wet. On the last crossing, Laurie said screw it and just walked through the water. On this last stream crossing, I jumped across and made it, barely. I have the jumping ability of an elephant. It was all of 5 feet, and it was all I could do to clear it. I was quickly attacked by a dead branch upon landing and scratched my left lower leg enough to start bleeding. No more jumping for me today.

We continued to take pictures as we hiked up the trail, but the picture taking was definitely less than the day before. The canyon is unbelievably spectacular, but at some point, you just are too tired to take pictures anymore.

It was still hot. Fortunately, we did have some good sections that were shaded from the sun or it would have been really really difficult climbing out of the canyon. As we approached Indian Gardens which is about half way up the trail, we started to see more hikers. These were people that had hiked down from the South Rim that day. We ran into one lady that had twisted her ankle. She wasn’t wearing very good shoes and she was alone when we first met her. She was also disoriented a bit, but after talking with us, she seemed to be better and she was heading backup to the gardens where she had her family. It is folks like this that get into trouble in the canyon as the hike down is quite easy and fast, but they seem to forget that they have to hike back up and that it is very hot.

We made it to Indian Gardens. There was water and bathrooms. We sat down for a while, ate some food in the shade and got ready for the last 5 miles of the hike. At this point, we had hiked 40 miles in two days. The temperature while we were at Indian Gardens read 98 degrees on the thermometer Bendan really seemed done at this point in the hike. She had done a really good job of setting a solid pace most of the hike, but she really seemed done. We stayed a little while longer and after she had eaten some food and rested, she seemed to get her energy back a bit.

I was tired at this point and my foot hurt like you have no idea how much it hurt. Everyone was tired. Art didn’t have any blisters, but he was getting some tightness in his lower legs and behind the knees. Overall, though, he was doing great. Phyllis and Laurie were okay, but really tired and they along with Bendan had blister issues as well.

I took the lead on the hike at this point as I figured I had so many steps left and the sooner I was done with the steps, the sooner the pain would stop. I took off. In about 5 minutes, I was way ahead so I stopped and let everyone catch up again. Again I took off and again, I stopped. At this point, we decided that since there were a lot more people on the trail now that we would all just hike at our own rhythm the rest of the way.

Between Indian Gardens and the top were two other rest stops; the 3 mile house and the 1.5 mile house. These distances are measured from the rim down by the way. I took off and settled in to my pace. Phyllis was behind me, followed by Art, Bendan and Laurie. I kept hiking and hiking. Once in a while I would stop to see where everyone was. This was pretty easy as we were now on the cliff face doing switchback after switchback so one could look down and see quite a ways most of the time. Everyone was moving forward so I kept on going.

One thing that I would like to mention about the trails is that the trails were very well marked. It would be almost impossible to not stay on the trail at any point either on Saturday or on Sunday. That being said, the trail itself was a mixture of sand at times, loose small round rocks, sharp pointy small rocks and steps that were made for someone about nine feet tall. We stepped up and up and up for the last 5 miles of the trail for the most part. Each step ranged from a few inches to almost 2 feet in height at times.

I made it to the 3 mile house. There was water there, but you had to hike a bit off the main trail to get to it. I wasn’t that thirsty and I still had enough water to reach the rim. I waited there for a good 10 minutes. Phyllis arrived as did Art and Laurie. Bendan was just behind Laurie at this point. We all chatted a bit to make sure everyone was okay. I went ahead and resumed my hike to the top.

The last 3 miles were a mixture of switchbacks and somewhat flat areas filled with a fair number of tourists. I saw one family with little kids hiking down in flip flops. Did I mention the stupid factor? Don’t get me wrong almost everyone we met on the two days of hiking were super nice and for the most part wearing the right kind of gear, but there are always a few folks that I guess don’t understand how dangerous the canyon can be.

I finally made it to the top. There is a fork in the trail head and if you go left, you are that much closer to the lodge. If you go right, you are not. I went left. Vera had just walked down to this point as I was walking up and I surprised her. I had to back up so she could get a picture or two.

Kerry was on the right fork, but since I knew where the lodge was, I had no intention of going that way. I stopped and chatted with Vera while we waited for Kerry to walk around and for, I assumed, Phyllis to arrive at the top next. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Phyllis made it. Once Phylllis made it, I decided to keep walking to the Bright Angele Lodge as I was in serious need of a coke or something cold. Phyllis went with me and while we sat down in front of the lodge like death warmed over, Bary was kind enough to go and get us a coke. While we were sitting there, Art, Laurie and Bendan all showed up. I think we were all too tired to cry at that point, but I know we all felt like it. Art was seriously smiling. Bendan was exhausted, but happy to be done. None of her folks were around so she decided to head into Bright Angele Lodge and see if she could find them. Art, Laurie, Phyllis and I sat on the stone bench while everyone took pictures.

We did it! 45 miles of hiking in the Grand Canyon in two days! The Sunday hike started at 8421 feet, dropped down to 2400 feet at the river and then finished at 6890 feet and 24 miles. Of course, we still had to get to our hotel room at the Thunderbird lodge. Phyllis was not feeling very good at this point. I think she had heat exhaustion as she was quite nauseated. We waited a bit and she started to feel better so then we headed to our rooms. That was the longest short walk I have ever taken I believe. On top of that, our room was on the 2nd floor. We did make it to the room finally. Laurie mentioned that she had some lovely conversations with the squirrels that were scampering around the trail the last few miles up. Phyllis had use me as her rabbit to get to the top. Both Laurie and Phyllis were really tired so I went and took the first shower. I was dreading taking off my shoes as my feet hurt so bad that I could only imagine what they must look like. I took off my shoes and clothes, but left my socks on as I stepped into the shower. After dealing with cramps as I attempted to bend over to remove my socks and the tape that was still there, I was pleasantly happy to discover that my blisters were still intact. This was good news as I didn’t need to worry about getting an infection or anything. They still hurt like hell and were exceptionally bubbly, but other than that they were fine. This made washing the dirt and grime off of my feet much less painful. I had so much dirt on me that the bathtub looked like the Colorado River for a while.

I was clean at last. I had to walk to the bed on my heels, but I was okay I guess. Phyllis handed me a bag of tortilla chips and I had a few. I then proceeded to get nauseated shortly thereafter. I, too, probably had a bit of heat exhaustion or I was just really hungry; hard to tell at the time. I did have an apple which took me about 15 minutes to eat and I belched a lot, but finally the nausea went away. Phyllis started feeling bad again, but after about 10 minutes or so she was better.

All ten of us went down to have dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge. Walking was not much fun, but we were hungry. We all had a great time at dinner as we were able to get a table for all ten of us. Everyone talked about the hike on Saturday and marveled that the four of us had hiked back the next day. I am guessing they may have had a pool out on us, but I never did hear who won. Everyone ate a lot that night. Everyone was still sore from Saturday and Vera kept saying she was amazed that the Sunday folks were moving better than she was. I think she was just being nice. To give you an example of how tired we were, Phyllis’ hand cramped up twice while she was picking up the little black book that had the bill in it while we were at dinner. I am pretty sure we depleted all of our glycogen in every single muscle in our bodies.

On Monday, we headed back to LA. One group left early around 7 am, and the other group, my group, left around 11 am as we all wanted to do a little more sightseeing before we left. My feet were very sore Monday morning. Everyone kept walking away from me like I was a hundred years old. Laurie, Phyllis and I had breakfast at the El Tovar lodge which was quite good. Art and Rosie went and saw the IMAX Theater that morning. Phyllis and Laurie took the shuttle bus over to the Visitor’s center while I lay down for a while. I finally felt like getting up and I went out and sat down on a nice bench and looked at the Grand Canyon for about 45 minutes. While I was there, I met a nice older couple from New Jersey and we talked about the canyon.

The van ride back to LA seemed about three times as long as the drive on Friday. My feet hurt just touching the floor of the van. Every time we stopped to get gas or food, it would take me about 10 minutes just to get out of the van. Between being very stiff and sore and walking on blisters the size of Montana, I was having a good time. Art was great. He drove the whole way both on Friday and on Sunday. We finally got back to my house at 8 PM that night. We said goodbye and after Gail stopped laughing at us hobbling around, she helped me into the house. My feet were so swollen from the hiking that I had to elevate them for over an hour for the swelling to diminish enough just to stop the throbbing pain. Needless to say, I was a hurting unit all last week. The swelling finally went away completely on Saturday morning. All in all, everyone had a great time. Everyone was able to hike at least one way across the canyon which is quite difficult. We had several people in our group that had done Half Dome and or Mt. Disappointment 50K ultra, and everyone thought that hiking just one way across the canyon was the hardest thing they had ever done.

That be it. Rosie likes me again so all is well. Hope everyone can post their comments to this blog as I only had my views on this trip and I would love to hear from everyone else as well.

  Because eating habits vary greatly from person to person, culture to culture and season to season, the following recommendations are to be used as guidelines:

  Everyone needs protein, essential fatty acids and carbohydrates along with vitamins, minerals and other assorted naturally occurring chemicals that help the body repair and protect itself from the stresses of exercise, work, play and life. Eating foods that are closest to their natural state is the most beneficial as these foods tend to have the highest concentrations of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, proteins and healthy carbohydrates.

  These days protein recommendations are all over the place depending on which expert you talk to, etc. One expert may say .6 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, and another may say 2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. All athletes need significantly more protein to repair muscle than do sedentary individuals. The amount of muscle mass an individual is carrying, and whether you are trying to add muscle as part of your exercising goals will also affect the amount of protein you need. Finally, everyone absorbs proteins at different levels of efficiency; therefore, experiment a bit, and settle on a level of protein intake that keeps your body working at optimal levels. Keep in mind that the body has a hard time

handling more than 30 grams of protein at a single meal so you need to eat a little protein with all meals.  Some good food sources of quality proteins are eggs, lean meats, fish, dairy, legumes (beans), soybeans (tofu), rice and some vegetables, such as corn.

  Carbohydrates are an important source of energy that the body uses to fuel absolutely every single process that occurs in the body. It is the preferred fuel source as it breaks down into sugars very easily, and the body and especially the brain need sugar to function. Some confusion may come in as to how much of our diet should be coming from carbohydrates, which type of carbs are best to eat and when is the best time to eat carbs. Everyone has heard that marathoners need to carbo-load. Carbohydrates are the only nutritional component of our diet that does not have a deficiency disease associated with it.  This means that one could theoretically never eat carbohydrates and they would be just fine. Carbo-loading does not generally make much of a difference to the average runner; however, it is important to make sure that all of your glycogen levels are as full as possible prior to a long distance training or race. This is why people carbo-load. There are several ways to carbo-load. We recommend that instead of trying to cram in as much pasta as possible the night before the race, you add a little extra pasta or other types of carbohydrates to your diet for the entire week before a long distance training or race. This will produce the same effect, and you won’t have the bloated feeling (carbs tend to retain water as part of their storage mechanism) from ingesting too many carbohydrates. The best sources of carbohydrates tend to be fruits and vegetables as these items have

a lot of fiber and other nutrients that the body needs to work optimally.  Pasta, potatoes, rice, breads and starchy vegetables have very high levels of carbohydrates, but they are not as nutritious and aren’t recommended in large amounts for individuals trying to lose weight.

  In terms of diet and daily eating, we all have busy lives and sometimes we don’t eat the way we should. When we do eat fast food or something that is not consistent with our training or good healthy eating in general we do know that we should be eating better. We all do know intuitively the proper way to eat. Just try to minimize the fat and sugars and try your best to eat in a balanced way. Generally, 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat will provide a nice balanced diet for an active lifestyle.

It is necessary to keep your sugar level up during long runs.  An easy way, in addition to taking gels or energy bars at regular intervals, is to eat some kind of hard candy.  Low sugar levels affect mood levels. If you notice you are dragging, you might try some candy.

Be sure during the long runs to not forget to take in salt. If you feel nauseated or feel cramps it could be a lack of salt. This can be avoided by taking salt /electrolyte pills or simply eating something like a handful of chips.

Prior to training runs and races you should try and have something to eat that your body can use during the run such as a bagel, Powerbar, banana or oatmeal. Basically something with some carbs and a little protein. You should experiment and try to find out what works best for you. The longer the distance the more food you’ll need.

  All of the above is only a guideline; you need to do what works for you. So you should use the short runs to work out what works best for you and try different things until you find the right things to make your run the best it can be.

see ya out there kids

Hey there kids. Sunday we had our second of three clinics this year. The clinic on Sunday was on stretching. We had a good size crowd that all had a yearning to become more flexible. So we stretched and yearned out in the bright sunshine overlooking the pier and everyone learned where his or her weaknesses lie. It was just as I thought the hips were what gave most folks the most trouble so we did a good deal of work on the hips.  Oh that pigeon stretch is nasty.

We started with a brief but riveting talk on the benefits and uses of stretching and then we launched into active stretching. We worked our way up the body from feet to neck. Next we spent most of the clinic on static stretching, which we are all most familiar with and again we worked from feet to neck.

That’s it for now, just a quickie report. Be sure to come out in two weeks for our core clinic and learn how to get yourself strong.

See ya out there.

Stretching is a vital part of marathon training as well as overall fitness. For most of us our days are spent sitting in front of a computer screen in a crappy chair, which kills the lower back. When we work at our desks we usually are trying to see what the heck we’re working on so we crane our necks forward in an attempt to see better. Don’t get me started on the shoulders. The shoulders are almost always rolled forward to access the keyboard better. And sitting a chair all day wrecks havoc on the hip flexors. So after all this abuse we hit the road and run, run, run. What often occurs is, you guessed it, injury. So the following is a brief “how to” on stretching.

Running is basically contracting and relaxing a series of muscles to propel us forward. If the contraction of the muscle is inhibited by the muscle being too short this is when injury can occur. So the point of stretching for runners is to lengthen the muscles to increase range of motion allowing for proper contraction.

When you begin a run you’ll need to do a few warm up stretches to loosen up tight muscles, which have been abused all day at work. These stretches are not like the static type of stretches you see people doing they are active stretches. A few examples are: trunk twists, knee circles and even easy jumping jacks. These types of stretches will loosen the muscles as well as get the blood flowing and “wake” your body up so it is ready for the effort to come. This type of warm up stretching should be done in a controlled comfortable way.

The other more common type of stretching is called static stretching. We have all seen and done this type of stretching. Static stretching is best used after a run as a cool down of the muscles. When the muscles are already warm they respond to lengthening by stretching best. The muscles are kinda like leather, if it is cool outside the leather is much stiffer than if it has been left out in the sun to warm up. This is probably why yoga studios always seem to be so damn hot.

As with everything in marathon training, stretching should be done gradually and built up over time. Whenever you stretch you should only stretch until the muscle is tight, trying to really stretch the muscle until you’re grimacing in pain will only cause you to injure yourself. Here’s how it works: when the muscle senses that is it being stretched beyond it’s limit it reacts by violently contracting in the opposite direction and bingo, ya got an injury. When you have “pulled” a muscle what that really means is that your muscle is in constant contraction. That’s why the doctor gives you muscle relaxers. So although we all love muscle relaxers, they are not that great for our training. So stretch easy my friends.

When you are stretching a muscle try to focus on only stretching that muscle. With certain muscles it is best to achieve the best stretch you should contact the opposite muscle. For example: when stretching the hamstrings you should flex the quadricep to force the hamstring to relax and therefore stretch more efficiently. The fancy term for this is called reciprocal inhibition.

And lastly, the muscles that you need to work on are most likely the ones that you enjoy stretching least. Yup, that means for most of us, the hamstrings and hips, what with all that sitting at the computer and all.

So that’s it for now. We will be having a stretch clinic this Sunday, where we will go in to more detail and show you all how to stretch properly for a healthier happier you.

 Hello again everybody. This week’s topic for marathon training is hydration. I guess everyone knows the importance of drinking plenty of water but there is so much more, so much more. What follows is a series of guidelines for being properly hydrated for not only the Sunday long runs but your mid-week runs as well.

  Get plenty of water the day before long distance training or a race.  Do not over-hydrate. Yes, it is possible to over-hydrate. It is recommended that people start hydrating a couple of days before the race or long training run and keep it until the night before the run.  This way the body can be fully hydrated at least two days before doing a long distance or a race. One should always be drinking water during the week to stay hydrated, and it is essential to not be dehydrated before starting a long training distance or race.  Therefore, everyone should pay extra attention to the two-day hydration recommendation. Stop drinking water at least four hours before going to bed at night to eliminate annoying bathroom visits in the middle of the night.

  In addition to straight water, drinks such as Endurance Formula Gatorade, which contain electrolytes, should be a part of your hydration plan.

  Eating salty foods the day before will help keep the water in your system thus minimizing cramping.  Don’t go crazy on this one just a little more salt should do the trick. This is not a license to eat an entire bag of potato chips! If you have a health condition in which you need to avoid salt eating a little more salt is not recommended. 

  You should drink 4 to 6-oz. of water and/or an electrolyte replacement drink at least every 10 to 15 minutes during long distance training.  For those who are not used to using an electrolyte replacement drink, a weak solution is recommended. A weak solution means a more diluted concentration of electrolytes to water. Usually, take the manufacturer’s recommendations and double the water amount.  As your system gets used to the electrolyte drink, you may want to increase the drink/water ratio. On long runs/walks, hydration is very important, but replacing the electrolytes, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium can also be of benefit.  A rule of thumb is for every 2 plain waters, you should try 1 electrolyte replacement drink. This is a rough guideline, and one should experiment with the ratio that works best for you. Also, heat and humidity can have a profound effect on maintaining hydration and proper electrolyte balances so be sure to up your hydration as well as electrolyte levels proportionately as the heat rises.

  Make sure you fully replenish your fluids after training, especially the long ones. Drink plenty of fluids the rest of the day and the following day to quickly get your body fully hydrated as this will help with recovery and tissue repair.

  Drinks that contain caffeine act as diuretics and can dehydrate a person quite easily. Additionally, substances in coffee can bind with certain minerals and prevent their absorption into the body. If you drink coffee in the morning, try to drink it alone and before eating foods with calcium, as the coffee will adversely affect the absorption of this very important mineral.

  Urine is a good indicator of hydration both before and after running. If your urine is quite clear, not cloudy or colored, then you are probably pretty well hydrated. Urine that has a strong odor is cloudy and/or various shades of yellow, green, etc., is a good indicator that you need to drink more water. Some B vitamins will turn your urine yellow-green so if you take vitamins, bear this in mind.

  Alcohol also has a negative affect on the hydration levels so it is best to avoid it, especially the 24 to 48 hours before a doing long distances or a race.  An occasional drink will not pose a problem, but practice moderation – you’ll be glad you did.

  The amount of water to drink on a daily basis will vary based on the size of the person, the climate and his or her activity levels, but a rule of thumb is at least 64 oz. or 2 Liters (for the metric folk) of water a day. Don’t drink it all at once, but get in the habit of sipping water all day long.  If your job is quite physical, you may need to double or even triple this amount. Listen to your body. If it is telling you to stop drinking water for a while, then do so. If your stomach is sloshing around with water, you probably have drunk enough water for the time being.

  Just like anything else in life, start out drinking an appropriate amount of water, and, you will eventually find that you can not only drink more water, but that your body will use this water more efficiently in repairing your muscles, flushing out toxins, and clearing up your skin.  In other words, don’t start drinking a gallon of water a day if you are used to drinking just few ounces a day. Start out slow and over the course of a few days and weeks, you will be able to handle more water that will benefit your training and racing experiences.

That’s it. Later kids. 

Today saw Rodney and I giving our first (of hopefully many) form clinics. We had a nice turnout and there was much knowledge dished out. We started with each person running in front of the group and we all got to look at each person’s form carefully while Rodney and I noted form flaws for comparison after the clinic.

We then proceeded to talk about form, posture as well as the rhythm of running and all of the benefits of each. We spoke about how relaxing, mentally as well as physically, while running saves energy and therefore makes you more efficient.

Sure we did a lot of talking, but we also did some form drills as well work on trying to feel the rhythm of running. It was a little bit like watching the Rockettes, but without the high leg kicks. (But we did all have on the shiny dresses)

We also showed everyone how to figure out their stride count so they could see how to improve their turnover rate and try to correct overstriding. And the end of the class we counted our turnover rate again along with using all the new ideas about form to see if we could improve. Everyone again watched and this time we all commented on each person’s form in an attempt to identify issues with ourselves. Everyone who participated in the clinic at the end had terrific improvement. Nice work kids.

Hi everyone,

Below is a PDF of our South Route. It is not to scale as it would need to be quite a bit bigger to be at scale. Each number represents a mile marker. For example, if you wanted to run 7 miles, you would start from the sidewalk that leads to the front door of the Senior Center and then run to Jib St. Turnaround and head back to the sidewalk where you started and you just ran 7 miles.

If you have any questions, just let Dan or I know and we will be happy to answer them.

26ers’ South Training Route

  Form is kind of a touchy issue. There are as many viewpoints on the correct or ideal running form as there are styles of running. What works for one person may not work for another. Some of the best runners have an unorthodox style and they get along just fine thank you very much. With that said, there are a number of general adjustments to your form that can dramatically improve your efficiency in running. We will focus here on these general form issues. It is best to work on one change at a time and when you work on form don’t try do change all at once, take your time. So use these tips sparingly and with patience. 

  The easiest and best way to improve form is simply to run as quietly as possible. If you can hear your feet you can improve you form. If you ever get a chance to see the elite runners during a race listen to their feet when they run. Nothing. Totally quiet. When you are silent, you are running lightly and most likely not overstriding. Simply do whatever it takes to run silently and you should feel a difference. Loud feet or heavy pounding puts a great deal of pressure on the lower legs and joints of the body and requires effort that could be better spent moving forward and not down. 

  Overstriding is the most common error in running form. A good way to check for overstriding is to occasionally look down at your feet. You should never see too much of your feet and definitely not the heels of your feet when you run. If you see your heels, it means you are using energy to step thereby wasting precious energy, and creating a braking action with each stride. To avoid this stepping out effect, eliminate the desire to reach out with your feet. Instead of thinking about placing your feet down, focus on picking up your feet and let them fall directly below your body due to gravity. This doesn’t mean pick up your knees, but rather, just pick your feet up just enough to clear ground. You want quicker turnover at the hips rather than longer slower strides. Imagine you’re running bare foot on hot sand.  To check your turnover rate, try this little exercise:

Elite distance runners have a stride rate of about 180 strides per minute. To check your stride rate get into your natural running rhythm, then time yourself for 60 seconds and count each time your right (or left) foot hits the ground, then multiply by two. If you are around 140 or some number significantly less than 180 you are most likely over-striding and can improve your turnover rate.

  Posture is also important.  A runner should be upright with a very slight lean forward from the ankles not bent from the waist. Try to imagine a straight line from the top of your head down through your hips. Your shoulders should be relaxed, back and down and in the same plane as your imaginary straight line from the top of your head down through your hips. Your chest should be open and out which allows for easier and more efficient breathing. 

  The upper body, especially the neck and shoulders, should be relaxed when running. Tension wastes energy. So relax. Periodically during a run, bring your shoulders up as high as possible towards your ears and feel the tension and then relax. This simple exercise will help you release the tension and also make you more aware of any tension.  Similarly, turning the head to loosen up the neck muscles periodically as well as keeping the head tucked back and not jutting forward will release tension in the neck and arms. The hands and jaw should not be clenched during running, but instead relaxed and loose.  One way to relax the hands is to carry a paper cup without crushing it or imaging doing so. 

  The arms should be bent at the elbow at approximately 90° and they should swing easily at the shoulder joint. This swing should be forward and parallel and not across the torso as this impedes forward momentum. The torso is still and moving straight forward not twisting at the hips. Twisting at the hips also puts a great deal of strain one the knees. All motion of the body is straight forward.

  Avoid excessive bouncing while running. You want to expend just enough energy to clear the ground you are running on. Your focus should be on forward motion, not up and down motion. Often this bouncing motion is caused by engaging the calves too much when running. Think about engaging the hamstrings to move forward rather than the calves.

So that’s about it for this week. We will go into much more detail next Sunday at the form clinic after the 3 miler. So be sure to come join us we’ll get ya straightened out,

See ya out there