Running with Mono

Two weeks ago, I found the reason I had been feeling so crappy lately: I have mono. Mono is a virus that is transmitted primarily through saliva- sharing drinks, meals, etc. Once you get mono, the virus is always in your system, but it is just inactive. It can be reactivated through physical exertion, compromising the immune system, and high stress. People that are infected with mono typically are exhausted all the time; and the only real remedy is lots and lots of sleep and rest. It can last from weeks to months and the severity of the symptoms range greatly.

It's affecting my running- I can't run on flat roads!

According to my blood test, this is the second time I have had mono, however I cannot remember when I would have had it the first time! My guess is that I got it reactivated either right before my CCC race (I was sick ALL raceweek) or the race pushed my immune system and bodily stress over the edge with the lack of sleep, physical exertion, weather, etc. The lines are blurry between race fatigue and mono fatigue, so I am unsure as to when I got it. However, my doctor said anywhere from four weeks ago to 2.5 months ago. I also apparently have Lyme disease, which is bacterial infection most commonly transmitted by tick bites (guess I should go bushwacking to find new trails!). It can be cured by early treatment of doxycycline antibiotics, but it also causes great fatigue. So, in short, there is a small party of virus and bacteria in me that is raging so hard I need to sleep all the time.

My heart was happy here

My best friends

I don't have too drastic of symptoms though. I'm tired, mostly in the afternoon, but with naps and long nights of sleep I'm fine. I can handle my schoolwork and my training and work. If I do too much in a day without much of a break then I get super fatigued, but I am exercising the concept of listening to my body. If I feel like I am digging myself in a hole or my run feels like more of a drag, then I will just turn around and wait for another day. Two wednesdays ago I was supposed to do mile repeats hard with a HR monitor to see where I was at. I only did 3/4 of the ones assigned. The third one was so much slower and I was so spent by then. During my recovery jogs in between I literally felt like I was going to fall asleep. So I stopped and just did my cool down. Thursday I did not run. I was so stressed and had three big tests spread over an 8 hour period of straight class & lab. It just wasn't going to happen when I got out of class at 8pm. All that weekend I was so exhausted and didn't have the time to run the miles given with all the sleep I needed.

These fall colors, unreal!

This past week I put in all my required miles, which felt like such an incredible accomplishment! However, my wednesday workout was again crap. But I am working on that! This weekend I took a little getaway to Tahoe. After work on Saturday night I drove up to the mountains and crashed on Rory Bosio's couch (She is the most generous and sweetest!). She had just finished a hospital shift so she spent the day sleeping in and other activities while I joined my coach Meghan Arbogast and Mark for a run. It was a lovely "22" miles (garmin read 21- were calling it 22) from Spooner lake, up to Marlette Lake, through the aspens to Snow Valley Peak, then back along the TRT course to Spooner.
My heart was soaring with happiness to run through the lovely trees, the fall colors, the glistening lake and smooth granite. I danced through the first 13 miles smiling, laughing, and skipping along.  However, I hit a wall of exhaustion. I normally never feel any fatigue from the altitude, but this was definitely due to my compromised immune system. My legs were fine, but I felt like I was sleepwalking at some points! It was a fabulous day and I loved running with Meghan. The next morning, I got to do a short loop in Rory's backyard up Donner pass and it was great! I felt way better and like I could do that loop again and again. It was sad to leave the mountains and head back to SLO, but it is like I am emotionally recharged.

Meghan charging ahead

Queen on her throne

It's hard because I have so many goals and obviously want to be the best I can be in several areas- school, running, and my job. It's hard that I am not consciously in control, my immune system is. I can't force myself to study for more than four hours at a time, which sets me back in the competition for As. My workouts, which before gave me such joy and accomplishment, are crap and a struggle. My long runs aren't all that long and I grow more tired as the miles go on. However, I guess this can be a sort of character building experience. It is so emotionally vexing to not be in control and frustrating to be trying so hard, but to no avail. It is also hard to deal with since I have not done anything in terms of causing injury, but I guess abide by time. A lesson in patience, which I am so bad with. I'll give it my best effort, but I guess eventually it will show.

Anyone up for a swim?

Chamonix- Trail, Ultra & Mountain Running Mecca

After several flight delays (Thanks United), I finally arrived Wednesday night. I immediately went for an easy 4 mile run around town to get my bearings. What a vibrant, beautiful city framed by the most picturesque mountains I could imagine and lush green forests. After my run, I went down to the center of town to get something quick and cheap to eat. I found out that the French, instead of putting it to the side, stuff the fries into the burger along with everything else. It was sooo filling, but very delicious.

After my first Vertical Kilometer

I went back to my hostel and crashed. The next morning, I woke up and went for a run. Now, this was no ordinary run, this was a run up the Chamonix Vertical Kilometer course. A VK is a super steep run, with over 3000' elevation gain in just over 2 miles. This is on tight switchbacks up a ski run, which later turns into a scramble so steep ropes and ladders and footholds were needed to be built into the rock. It took me an hour and five minutes to "run" up. I immediately collapsed onto the platform for the Gondola at Plan Praz, an elevation of 2000m (6562'). I didn't know how else to go down, and didn't want to risk getting lost in the mountains, so I went down the VK route. bad decision. It was more of a hike as it was very steep and I did NOT want to turn an ankle! However, the view of L'Aguille de Midi and the Mont Blanc range is unbelievably worth it.
I came back and just hung out in the city and explored some more.

Le Tour glacier

The next morning, I went with the guy that owns the hostel- Aaron- to Le Tour. He paraglides for sport, so while he and his friend went flying, I tried running up the La Refuge D'Albert 1er and the Le Tour Glacier. I really really wanted to touch, see, and run on the glacier. I got up to the ridge in and was zoning in on it. But I was on a really high/steep singletrack, alone, along a ridge that was super windy. There were also chances of a storm later in the evening and the clouds rolling in did not look too good. I went with my gut and just decided to turn around. Wow that singletrack was awesome to blaze down!!! As soon as I got back to the start and found Aaron, it started pouring rain and thunder loudly clapping. A giant bolt of lightning also struck very close to the trail I was on just 35 minutes ago...

Going crazy over the view and wildflowers

The long, technical, back way to Le Brevent. With views of the Aguilles Rougues Nature Preserve

Saturday I had my best run. I went up the VK route (improved by 7 minutes), and then continued up. I took the route less traveled by to Le Brevent. Literally though. It was super technical and long. It wound its way along the backside of the ridges. It gave beautiful sweeping views of the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve. It was so high, I even got to run in some snow!!! (Exciting for a coastal Californian...) And I saw some of the locals super close up and personal. I finally made it to the summit of Le Brevent (altitude 2500m- about 8300'). It was so hard and so steep and so long. I examined strava and realized that I had climbed 6000' in about 6-6.5 miles. Craziness. I took a few pics, and then descended back to Plan Praz the fireroad, shortcut and took a new, epic singletrack down to where I started the Vk. The singletrack was winding switchbacks through a meadow of wildflowers, which quickly turned into a beautiful green forest. I was so joyful and happy running through it!

after 6000' of climbing, Le Brevent is conquered!

Earlier that morning, I met up with Timmy Olson and his sweet family at the local farmer's market. My dad would've loved it. They were selling every produce imaginable, meats, cheeses, cooked foods, wines, jams, honey, baked goods.... All for very cheap. They also were selling clothes, trinkets, jewelry, puppies (and a baby pig!), mattresses, Salomon shoes, etc... It was all so foreign and interesting!

Sunday, I was so beat up from such an exhausting week of traveling, so many vertical feet climbed in not so many miles, and so I took an easy short run along the River L'Arve to Les Houches and back.

Met a couple of these guys heading up to Le Brevent

Over this week I've had my share of explorations, practicing my terrible French, being noticed as the dumb American on a mountain, and I'm loving every second of it. I feel so comfortable and at home here. The community and culture is incredible and I'm trying my hardest to assimilate into it!! The trails are so steep and unlike anything I've ever encountered. The mountains can change everything in such a short amount of time. I'm very nervous, scared, anxious for CCC. But I am also excited and loving every second. I cannot wait to run around this beautiful massif and see these mountain towns.

Do I look ready to run 100km in the Alps?!

I am so grateful to everyone supporting, encouraging, cheering me on. I treasure every nugget of advice and all the help I am getting. Huge shoutout to everyone that's making this wonderful opportunity possible.  I am eager to represent all my friends, the SF bay area, Cal Poly, TNF Flow and young female athletes with huge dreams!

USATF National 50k Champs- Bootlegger

11/9/13

After the Headlands 50k, I was pretty jazzed about ultra running and excited to be jumping in. I soon after signed up for the Bootlegger 50k.  My attraction to this particular race was because it had less elevation, was in a desert canyon outside of Vegas, and was the USATF National Championship race for 50k.  Pretty great incentives, right? I pitched the idea to my roommates to see if anyone was down to road trip to Vegas and split gas money, two of my friends even signed up for the 25k.

Training for this race was a little less than ideal. After headlands, I had huge notions of training even harder and longer and doing more.  I guess I didn't really take into consideration how time consuming school would be.  After all, I was literally just studying to get my A's in 18 units of hard science, sleeping a decent amount, spending some time with friends (not much), and getting in some runs.  I thought I'd be running so much more, but I only really had time to average 50 miles a week.  There were some weeks I had a stellar workout or tempo, a great long run (22-23 miles was my max unfortunately), or I got some more mileage.  One such example was when I went up North back to the bay. I ran with the SFRC crew and added on to get 23 hard trail miles on Saturday and then double with a hard, but somewhat conserved NWM 1/2 marathon effort on Sunday.  However, there  were also the not so stellar times that comes with training, no matter what level you are on.  There were the weeks I only got 40 miles, was very tired on a lot of runs, didn't get a quality workout, or just plain didn't have the time to run because of studying and class. Another example was about three-four weeks ago. I was very very sick for a couple days and felt awful on the (probably) 9 miles I got out of that week.  Nonetheless, I did what I could and tried my best. I now know how to manage my time better and commit for the next one.

Ian Torrence counting down

Pre race chit chat!

On Friday the 8th, we all packed into my car and drove the 7 hours to Henderson.  I ate the dinner I had pre made and pretty much went straight to sleep.  I woke up at 5:15 to get ready and check out of our hotel.  We arrived at the start at 6:15 and got my bib. I was just relieved to get to the start after stressing about traveling and worrying about the logistics.  It was fabulous to see Alex Varner and Dylan Bowman at the start and I got to chat it up with several others.  When the race finally started, everybody started very fast, but I kept with my pace and bided my time.  I didn't need to run 6:30s at the beginning of a hot, desert 50k.  I was in 7th place through the first climb, which was pretty challenging, but very cool.  The red rocks were incredible, 

and climbing up to a ridge just after the sunrise was amazing.  I passed the 4 mile, first aid station and had a pretty good clip going. After that aid station, the course meandered through the desert for a couple miles.  There were a couple steep pitches, but it was pretty manageable and even fun.  It was very rocky and technical though.  That part was a bit unexpected and added a lot of difficulty to the course.  After the second aid station it started to get pretty hot out.  We were running back and forth on these really sharp-turned canyons up and down.  The out and back to the last aid station on the loop felt decent at that point, but I was starting to feel tired and dehydrated. I hadn't gone to the bathroom at all that first loop which seemed concerning since I filled up my 18oz bottle twice and had two cups of water or heed.  When I was two miles out, I could see the cars lined up next to the start in the distance and that was such a relief. Just the thought of being halfway done and seeing Taylor and Ashley was pulling me onwards.

Taylor, my fabulous crew!

Off on the next lap!

I ran through the start line, Taylor squirted her water into mine (I was halfway done and it had only been two miles since the last one). She smeared Aquaphor on my face and everybody cheered me onto the second lap. I had passed one woman and moved into sixth place at that point.  A highlight was having Hal Koerner cheer me on! I settled into pace next to a man named Andy, who I found out is from Marin as well! It was great talking to him for a mile, but I felt good and pulled ahead.  The first climb the second time around was pretty brutal. It was so so so hot and there were tons of tourists watching me suffer.  At one point I pulled down my pants to pee, pretty sure 20 people saw my ass, and noticed that the little that came out was dark brown. (shit). Sorry if thats TMI, but this is my account of what happened during the race, and that includes all the nitty gritty gross details.  Once over the climb and down in the back area, where I before felt fast and strong, I felt flat and tired and dead.  I only saw one man in that stretch and I passed him at the mile 19 first aid station.  Heading towards the second aid station was probably the worst part of the race.  I had to climb and meander through canyons and sketchy turnoffs.  It was hot, I was dehydrated, out of water, and just wanted to be done. I knew I wouldn't have the time I had hoped for as the course was a lot harder than expected, but I just kept telling myself to be "ultra tough" and finish and set an age group CR and have two ultra finishes under my belt.  Also, quitting was not an option for me, so just finishing as fast as I could muster was my only goal for moving forward.  However, finding that second aid station was exasperating.  I kept thinking it would be around the next turn and when it wouldn't, I felt like crying (but I didn't; because I was trying to be "ultra tough"). When I finally got to them, I had passed another man and was so thankful to finally see people.

Desert Sunrise!

I started towards the last aid station much happier and had a better pep in my very slow step.  I finally got to the third and my legs and feet were sooo exhausted and beat up from all the sharp rocks.  The volunteers were all very excited to see me and were incredulous that I was 19 years old.  They also told me they thought I was in third place because some women dropped out. This was the caffeine boost I needed and I eagerly grabbed my water bottle and booked it out of there. I only had 2.5 miles left and was ready to be done. Also the prospect of getting third place and making my first podium at A. a race. B. an ultra race. and C. a national championship ultra race.  It felt fast compared to my previous miles but I was still pretty beat and tired on those last 2.5 miles. I pushed forward though and gave it everything I had.  I passed one more man that was not having a good day and about 1/4 mile away I stepped on a rock and felt like I split my foot open.  When I got onto that downhill homestretch… no emotion could describe how excited and happy I was. Everybody was cheering and my friends were lining the way screaming. I dropped my water bottle and flew.  I was high on emotion and finishing that I powered over the line.  I sat down and was immediately surrounded by DBo, Alex and my friends, which I couldn't be more content to be surrounded by.  I ended up getting 5th place and a very cool medal to show for it! I don't think they did age group awards, or they did it later but we had already left since it was getting pretty late to be hanging around the finish.  However, I am now the youngest finisher ever for that race and hold an AG CR for the course.  I set a new PR by only a minute, but hey, it's a PR in unexpectedly tough conditions.  I was told that it was over 100 degrees at various places along the course, which is just unfathomable.

Clearly giving everything I've got towards that finish

As far as nutrition goes, I think I had a pretty good handle on it. I never experienced any cramps or feeling sick. I had a tropical punch shot block every half hour and a salt cap every hour for the first four hours, then I took one every half hour after that.  I took heed at the aid stations and coke the last lap.  Right before the second lap I took a double espresso shot GU, too. I filled my water bottle every station except the very, very first one.  I would like to blame my "bonking" (was it even a bonk?) or just my tiredness and slowness on the middle part of the second lap on lack of hard training and dehydration, which I couldn't have really helped.  I felt like maybe I could've eaten more and I would've had more fuel, but I don't think that was the solution, especially because I felt like I was eating a lot.  However, it was only 46 calories per hour and 16g of carbs.  I will have to learn to either eat more or figure our my exact caloric needs.

"That area over there was hell"

In terms of the competition, it was definitely faster and tougher than Headlands, as it was the national championships. However, there were several females who took it out fast and raced each other way ahead of me.  I saw that one woman that I passed on the first loop maybe twice in a three mile span.  In that sense, I felt like I was only competing against the clock and the elements.  I barely saw anybody out there; it was a very lonely race.  One reason for getting to the next level is that I'd have more competition and can challenge myself in that sense. At Headlands I was constantly leapfrogging with women and chasing them down.  I felt like Bootlegger was almost like a well supported very long run that had others than a competitive race.  

Glad to be done!

After this, I am looking forward to putting my feet up and resting for a week and taking it easy before gearing up for the next one! I just want to say Thank you to EVERYBODY who supported me in this and my endeavors: My family and zealously caring friends, Ian Torrance & USATF for putting on a fabulous race with great volunteers and definitive course markings, SFRC and Red Rock Running Co, and everybody else cheering me on- you all inspire me to push further and explore the physical, mental, emotional, and geographic limits.

5th Place medal!

Photo creds: Ashley Fisher

Most Inspirational Player

Tonight I went to the Cal Poly Club Awards Banquet and my team had voted me the women's Most Inspirational Player award.

In High school I have received this award twice in track and my senior year in cross country. I am so happy and grateful to recieve it again, at the collegiate level.

For me, MIP is better than MVP. Sure, it's awesome to be the best, but to be the one working the hardest and as the role model in the eyes of my teammates, is the best I could ask for.

Over the year, I have poured in a lot of effort. I trained incredibly hard over the summer, only to start Fall Quarter in the stands with a torn ligament.  However, I wasn't just in the stands. I was on the bike (inside and out), the elliptical, the stairmaster, and in the pool for numerous hours every day pouring sweat.  I came back strong at regionals and went on to compete at XC nationals.  I diligently ran over winter break and it showed during the track season.  With long runs and tempos, I even completed my first marathon, a 3:30!

I am honored to have been recognized for all my hard work. But I am even more honored to be labeled Most Inspiring.

My number one goal in life is to inspire.

As an educator, I hope to instill an insatiable curiousity and quest for knowledge, purpose, and bettering the world in the future generations (science or not).  As a teammate, I hope to push others so that they can achieve their personal bests.  As a student, I hope to greet challenges with excitement and joy that will brighten my professor's days and outlooks.  As a friend, I hope to inspire my loved ones to love others, have fun, and be carefree.  As an athlete, I hope to encourage others and lead by example for those starting to run or during their running careers.

I hope to inspire greatness and the constant pursuit of self-improvement and knowledge.

Thank you to my teammates, my coaches, my family, my friends, Skora Running, and my cyber supporters! Without you guys, I wouldn't be in the position I am now! You all inspire ME!

Mollee (MVP) & I at the banquet! (photo: Mollee Huisinga)