Category Archives: Trail Running

Race Report

Race Report: Black Canyon 100K & My First Buckle

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

I DID IT!!! And it was the amazing experience I absolutely expected it to be!  Where to even begin?!  It’s been 3 days and I am still flying high from completing this race!  My longest distance ever and one of the most amazing experiences of my life! (WARNING: there may be a lot of exclamation points in this blog and maybe some swear words too)

I’ve been wanting to cross this finish line for the last two years and I finally did it.  You may recall that last year I attempted it and had to drop to the 60K due to the awful weather.  I was disappointed but it was the right call and I don’t have any regrets.  I will share some learning lessons and then a race report with pictures sprinkled in between 😉

My favorite picture of all! This at about 3am with my pace/crew team that helped make it all possible! I love that we are still laughing at the end!

Learning Lessons….

Be prepared:  Leading up to the race, I had logged about 900 miles, completed two marathons, two 50Ks and one 40 miler as part of my training. The longest I had been on my feet was a little over 11 hours for the 40 miler at Across The Years in December.  Needless to say, I felt ready going into it.  This is a great feeling to have and something I try to impart with my runners.  When you follow a training plan, and do all the work, there is nothing else to worry about but do the race!  The week before was strange as I never got nervous…I had never really felt this prepared for a race.  I also ran on the entire course on 3 different occasions so this helped. However, running each leg on 3 separate occasions (a month apart each time) was definitely not the same as running it all back to back (and at night time).  This was more challenging than I expected and caused me to finish 2 hours longer than I expected.  I also prepared a detailed spreadsheet with my expected arrival times to each aid station and finish and met with my crew/pace team. There is no better feeling for me than going into a race feeling prepared.

Get technique down:  No way I would ever be doing ultra marathons if it weren’t for ChiRunning.  This course had a negative elevation profile but still had some good amount of uphills too (while I was running, it did feel like there were more uphills than downhills though).  I focused on my technique on many of my training runs (I purposely did some races that had more hills).  I am a geek about running technique.  I love being present and focused on what my body is doing and how can I tackle the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible.  One of the things I love most about ChiRunning is I get to constantly get better the more I practice. This keeps me more process oriented vs goal oriented. Even though I had a finish goal, I was not attached to it. So long as I finished and got my buckle!

Have fun:  I can’t stress this enough!  The week before I was visualizing and I kept telling myself that I GET TO go run around our gorgeous desert for a “few” hours.  I was not attached to any expectations and truly just wanted to enjoy every minute of my event. I know that if I get too focused on time, it starts sucking the fun out of a race for me and why bother? I am never going to win the race…and personally I run because I truly enjoy it and have fun so I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.  If it starts feeling not fun, I won’t do it, bottom line.  Fun factor is a huge necessity for me during  a race, especially one this long!

Race Report:

Even though I had paid for the shuttle to take me to the start line (the race was a point to point which means we were dropped off at Mayer High School and then ran 62 miles south), I decided not to take it.  I would’ve had to wake up an hour earlier (3am vs 4am) and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be in a bus with a bunch of excited runners. I know I need some quiet time before an event this big so I can get centered and relax.  The 1 hour and 20 minute drive was a perfect way to do this.

Jubilee, the race director, giving the pre race briefing before the start

I arrived with 30 minutes to go, did a facebook live in my car and then headed to get my bib.  I saw several friends who were running as well.  After the race briefing, we headed to the track to start.

Startline selfie!

I knew the first part of the course had more downhills and I wanted to take advantage of that but also need to make sure to conserve energy for later in the day.  I started at the back of the pack (as usual).  I had projected finishing around 12:30 in the morning. I had my spreadsheet in my pocket so I could check it at each aid station and text my team to keep them posted. At this point, I was loving this trail.

So much fun running down switch backs.  I also welcomed the uphills as that’s where I tend to rest more with ChiWalking/Hiking.  One of the things I don’t like about this trail is that it’s a single track. The 60K runners started an hour after us but the faster runners quickly caught up to me.  I had to move over to the side of the trail many times to let them pass by me so that was a bit annoying. I’d get some momentum down hill and then would hear footsteps behind me and have to stop and let them pass. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of their race but it got old after awhile.

I was so focused on the trail that it took a few moos from the cows to get my attention and notice them!

Part of the jeep road trail…then we would go down the canyon on some fun switchbacks and up again…and repeat…

Ran into one of the Aravaipa race directors, Noah, who was running the 60K with his brother. Love the night Insomniac Series that are part of his races!

One of my favorite parts of the trail is seeing the windmill that is pictured on the belt buckle

I was tracking 30 minutes ahead of schedule at each aid station (my estimates were conservative so I knew this would happen at the beginning).  During this time I kept myself entertained several ways:

  • I love being in nature so I started and spent quite a bit of time just being present, focusing on my technique and enjoying the scenery.
  • I listened to a few motivating podcasts:  Trail Runner Nation’s Intuitive Training with Courtney Dauwalter and Final Surge’s with Camille Herron.  I was hoping to see Courtney at the start as I was lucky enough to get a picture with her in the middle of her course record on the Coldwater 50 mile course. Huge amount of respect for both of these ladies and love that they both mentioned beer as part of their nutrition (more on this later!)  I couldn’t get beer out of my head after these podcasts!
  • I went back to nothing and then decided to listen to some ChiSchool to keep me focused on technique again. I have about 105 lessons on shuffle on my phone and ironicallly, the first one that came on was the lesson called, Dealing with Fatigue.  Perfect timing to get refocused.

In between this, I got to the Bumble Bee Aid station ( Mile 19) and it was great to see some familiar faces there. The key at aid stations is not to spend too much time there.

So great to see my friend Nancy at Bumble Aid station with her husband Bill. Also some Surprise Running Club peeps!

This was an awesome aid station (I think Bumble Ranch..maybe a dude ranch?) At any rate, they had a bar that was open! So tempted but too early in the game!

Had to get a photo opp with the “man eating cows” for my Run Heifer Run friends!

My next aid station was 4.5 miles away and my new friend Denise was there with Will and Mike. I switched my socks out here because they were rubbing (they were a new brand and I know better than not to try new stuff on race day but I brought a back up pair in case. Glad I switched when I did because I did end up getting some hot spots that impacted me later in the day).  Another couple volunteering at this aid station were asking me about Girls On The Run (I had my hat and shirt on) and I started getting into it when Denise said to me “This is about you today, you need to keep moving.”  As much as I love talking about GOTR, she was right and I need to stay focused (one of the hardest things for me to do at aid stations LOL).  By the way, icing on the cake, thanks to all of you that donated in one way or another to Girls On The Run!  I raised about $2,600 for our local council!

Getting into the aid station to change out my socks that were rubbing and bugging me. Glad I planned ahead and brought an extra pair with me!

I look at my pictures and love that I truly was smiling and having a good time pretty much the entire time! Taking a break at the aid station for sock exchange 😉

At the next aid station (last one before picking up my pacer at the 60K exchange), I was still 30 minutes ahead of schedule so I decided to take my time here.  My Garmin was running out of juice and I had brought a charger for it. I put it on the charger and put it in my pocket. I also choose to do another facebook live here.

I knew all I had to do was get to the 60K aid station and that’s where I would pick up my first pacer, Elaine.  I took my Garmin out of my pocket and realized it had paused.  Ugh, not sure how long it was paused but now I couldn’t update my crew on where I was.  This leg was harder than I remember so that ended up taking me 15 minutes later than I expected.  Good news is that I was able to text them when I was a mile away due to a course sign. I have to admit, the markings on the course were great!  One of my biggest fears in ultras is getting lost.  I’m not even sure how at one point in my life, I was actually an Underwater Navigation instructor! (yes I used to teach scuba diving!).  Navigation is definitely not my strong point.

Part of the single track uphill trail…this was one was clean with rocks on the side but a lot of it, especially towards the end, had lots of rocks filling the trail.

River crossing before the 60K aid station. The cold water felt good on my feet…I didn’t even try to keep them dry…I knew I would be at the next aid station soon to change shoes and socks again.

I was excited about seeing my team at the aid station…and what an amazing surprise when I got there!  In addition to my crew, there were several other friends that came out to cheer me on!  At first I saw my friend Heather and her daughter who were waiting a big ahead and ran in with me…As soon as I crossed the mat, I noticed the bigger group. I was so excited that I stopped and took this picture of them!

A picture of my crew/pace team and friends waiting to cheer me on! Wasn’t expecting this (and there are more friends not pictured like Heather and her daughter)…Elaine is already yelling at me to hurry! LOL

Got a little chaotic here because of all the excitement but I needed to stay focused.  I changed my shoes, socks and got some warmer clothes. One of the things that I had been thinking about for awhile was a cold beer!  Both Courtney and Camille had mentioned beers in their podcasts and I figured a little beer would keep me relaxed.  My friends had one in the car but further away…and this is what I love about trail runners…all of the sudden, this girl I’ve never met before walked up to me and brought me two Lagunitas! I only drank half of one but it was the best beer ever! I stayed a little longer than I projected but it was so re-energizing to see my friends. And I have to admit, I still felt pretty darn good!

That was one of the best beers I tasted! Only had half of one but was perfect! Cheers to Courtney and Camille!

They finally kicked me out with Elaine.

Not before I could try to get another selfie with my friends!

OK Elaine and I are finally really leaving!

I’ve blogged about Elaine before here as she did my first 50 miler with me.  We were 30 minutes behind my projected time but at this point, I didn’t care at all.  We started running but this is when the trail started getting rockier than I remember.  It was single track with lots of loose rocks so it was hard to get any momentum going.  Plus those hot spots on my feet seemed worse when I was walking but I just couldn’t get any momentum and run on those rocks.  Even though we were hiking mostly at this point, we were still keeping a good pace.  Any time the trail got smooth with no rocks, we’d start running (which felt so much better) but we would literally go for 20 feet and then ….the Mother Effin’ rocks again!!  This happened a lot on this last 25 mile stretch!  OMG, it was getting frustrating but Elaine kept telling me not to focus on them.  As much as I love running alone, having Elaine to talk to really helped time go by! At one point she said, we’ve been out for 4 hours!  I couldn’t believe that much time had gone by because it only felt like one.  We hit one of the aid stations and I had the best tortilla filled with peanut butter, some coke and M + Ms.  It was night and getting cold and there were several people at the aid station that looked like death warmed over.  I was grateful that I was feeling pretty darn good still at this point! Elaine did about 13 miles with me which included a few river crossings but they were not bad at all.  At one point we stopped and turned our headlamps off to enjoy the night sky!  What a trip to be out in the middle of the desert running a 100K!  We reached the next aid station and she switched out with Lori.

This aid station had sausages and Somoas!  So crazy how you never know what your body is craving under these conditions!.  It was great to see my honey again and my friend Vicki who kept me on track and filled my water pack at the aid stations so I could focus on food and clothing.  Lori paced me for the last 12 miles.  How can I be at mile 50ish of a 100K and talking about upcoming races?  I think I had this conversation with Elaine too.  Weird thing about ultra running is that it can get addicting.  The terrain was the same…..we’d get a little momentum running and the Mother Effin’ rocks again!

My crew/pace team did it again with an awesome cake the next day with my Mother Effin’ Rocks on it!  They added candy rocks and love the purple sneakers to match my favorite color and business logos!

Of course I was using the real word and our joke is how much I swear.  Lori was trying to count them but she must be used to hearing me swear because at one point she said I was at 4 and I know I had to have least swore 10 times.  I was really surprised at how good I felt considering I had been on my feet for 15 hours (this is how long my 50 miler took me).  My original goal was to finish by about 12:30 am but that last 25 miles was so rocky that it slowed us down considerably.  At one point I realized my food alarms were not going off.

I set food alarms to remind me to eat 150-200 calories every 90 minutes. I’ve posted about this before and thanks to Fuel To The Finish (Brooke Schohl) who changed my nutrition world when it comes to ultra running and my regular diet. http://www.therunninguniversity.com/2016/02/25/50-miles-of-gratitude-2-nutrition/

I had set them to go off every 90 minutes as a reminder to get 150-200 calories in me.  I looked at the time and I realized it was 1am and I had only set them through 11 with the assumption I was coming in at 12:30.  This is when I started to panic. I looked at my spreadsheet and we were cutting it close.  We could barely see the the last aid station…a light far away…a mirage and depending on how we were winding on the road, it would disappear and reappear.  It seemed like it was not getting closer.  I was worrying because the last leg was showing to be 4.8 miles and we were really cutting it close. There was no way I was going to be able to run 5 miles in the last hour…not with those rocks!  I am sure I could’ve done it on smooth trail because running felt pretty good still.  Thankfully when we reached that aid station, they told us it was only 3.5 miles and we finally got more relief with less rocks so we could run more.  This last section was surreal…I couldn’t believe I was doing it and almost done!  In a weird way I didn’t want it to end….but a the same time I was ready for it to end too.  I kept looking at my watch and was saying “I really don’t want to have the same dramatic finish from my 50 miler”! (I came in with 12 seconds to spare on the clock!).  We could see the lights where the finish line was and I was starting to get excited.  We could hear Elaine calling out to us and I knew we were going to make it in time.  And before you know it, there was the finish line!  Before getting there, I was trying to figure out how I would feel when I crossed…would I cry, get emotional?  I was surprised at how excited I was to cross it….as a matter of fact, when I crossed the finish line, the official picture didn’t come out so my friend Kisha (who volunteered at the finish line just to see me finish!) had me run back through it for the picture. She also gave the buckle to my honey so he could give it to me.  I did a Facebook live in my car on the way back home!

Still smiling big at the finish with my first belt buckle! I finished in 19:46:01 with 14 minutes to spare on the cutoff! I was out there from 7am Saturday to 2:26am on Sunday. And I loved every minute of it! (mostly, except for the mother effin’ rocks!) There was a 20% DNF (Did Not Finish) rate so pretty proud that I finished!

with Jubilee, the race director! What an amazing, well organized race!

This blog took me several days to write.  It’s 5 days after the race and I am still on cloud nine!  I describe it as one of the most epic experiences of my life…part of it is because I affirmed that and wanted it to be that way!  I know they can’t always be this way but one of the pieces of advice I received from fellow ultra runner and Chirunning Instructor from WI was “You’ll have highs and you’ll have lows, just ride the waves.”  Greatest thing about this event is that I never really had a low.  Don’t get me wrong, those Mother Effin’ rocks were getting on my last nerve but I kept a positive attitude all day and felt great the whole time!  Of course I was sore for a few days afterwards and I know it will take me a few weeks to truly recover but today I feel great!  And no injuries during my 900+ miles of training or at the race! Thank you ChiRunning!

A huge thank you to all the aid station volunteers, Aravaipa Running and race director Jubilee for making it a great event, and most importantly to my crew:  my best friends Lori, Elaine and Vicki for crewing and pacing me and my boyfriend for crewing as well but also for supporting me throughout my crazy training schedule.  I seriously don’t know that I would’ve made the cutoff without my pace/crew team keeping focused and moving!

I DID IT!!

I celebrated my finish and 47th birthday the next day. NO one escapes a cake in the face from Erica! And yes, I AM WEARING THAT BUCKLE!

Yep, I’ll show my buckle off! Hanging with fellow 100K finisher Chris Worden. He was the last one to come in to get the lottery entry for the Western States!

Wearing the buckle a few days later with my shirt at Running for Brews. I’m the Organizer so I picked the theme: Favorite Medal 😉 Hehehe (funny is that I don’t wear buckles so I had to buy a belt for one. I did it last minute and it arrived 30 minutes before my party….then I realized I got the wrong size so Greg had to make a new whole it in for me too)

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Race Report

Race Report: Coldwater Rumble 52K Fun!

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

I think I found another favorite 50K! Well actually a 52K 😉

On Saturday, I completed my 10th 50K??  (I seriously can’t keep track…technically my 10th 50/52K not including the 60K/64K?).

Anyways, it doesn’t really matter.  I picked Aravaipa Running’s Coldwater Rumble because I’ve done the 20 Mile event 3x and I wanted to get more mileage so I figured why not?  This race is in the Estrella Mountains which are my old stomping grounds when I lived in Avondale.

The highlight of the entire run was being able to get a picture with Courtney while she was in the middle of her 52 miler (she still won the race in 7:10:22 , broke the course record and was 2 hours and 12 minutes ahead of the 2nd place runner!).  She is truly an amazing athlete (she did the Moab 240 miler last year, placed first and the 2nd runner was like 10 hours behind her!).  She had an amazing stride and my friend Nancy just yelled out and asked her to take this picture with us and she stopped and did!  How cool is that?!

The amazing Courtney Daulwalter stopped to take a quick pic with us and she still placed first!

A few of my favorite things about this race:

  • There are distances for everyone: 4 miles, 20K, 20 Miles, 52K, 52 miles, and 100 miles.
  • Because of all the distances and some looping on the course, you get to see people doing the various distances. You can tell by their bib color which one they are doing. Trail runners are one of the friendliest people and there is always a “good job” or “way to go” as you pass someone or they are coming toward you.

Thanks to Surprise Running Club for being at the key aid station where we crossed several times on the course with the other distances.

  • This trail has so much diversity: uphills, downhills, sand, rocks, gravel, single track, wider trail, etc.  Lots of cacti, chollas and white quartz too.

Great views and cholla forests!

Mounds of quartz!  I love this spot! As you approach it, especially when it’s sunny, you can see it sparkle and it looks like 2 big mounds of snow in the middle of the desert.

 

  • Aravaipa just puts on a damn good race! Volunteers and staff are amazing and the aid stations always have great food and drinks.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about this race.  It might be a bit of a drive out to the west side for some people,  I’m not big on loops but the 52K was the 20 mile loop and a smaller one that was reversed so it looked like another trail in my opinion, I loved the diversity of the trail but I heard some people didn’t.

This was a true training run for me.  I was so excited to see how many friends I had that were doing the 52K!

 

Kisha did her first official ultra trail race! Like a true ChiRunner, before the race she said she was oddly nervous because she felt so prepared for it. I stayed to watch her cross the finish line and she finished in exactly the time she expected to! Great planning and congrats!

ChiRunners Emily and Tricia at the start. Both are training for their first 50 miler (Antelope Canyon like mine!)

Always fun to see old friends and make new ones!

Sometimes I may get in “race” mode because I want to PR that event…since it was my first time doing this event, I wasn’t concerned about PRing but wanted to have a solid run.I am always prepared with podcasts, audio books, ChiSchool audios for these long runs.  I did the first 9ish miles by myself and in silence. Sometimes there is nothing like being one with nature on the trail which is one of the many reasons I prefer trails over road.

I ran into my friend Tricia, Ragnar Ambassador and ChiRunner and gave her some tips as we ran in sand (see below).  We picked up Nancy and one of my newest running friends, Aaron at the aid station at 11 miles. Unfortunately Tricia was having some cramping issues so she stayed at the next aid station to work through it.  The three of us ran from mile 11 to the finish together.  If it works out that I’m with people who can stay at whatever pace I am doing, I am happy to run with others. This running season I’ve done more long runs than normal on my own so I was happy to have some company.  We had many conversations over those 22 miles while hiking and running that really helped the time go by! Before you know it, we finished our race in about 9 hours.  Here is a video of our finish.

Lessons Learned/Technique Tips

  • I did this Facebook live after the event. I’ve talked about this before: the difference between attending a race and using it as a training run vs actually racing the event.  When I’m in race mode (which only happens if I’m trying to PR the same course of a race), I have an entire different process: I taper the week before, I check my previous stats and know exactly what pace I need to average to get the PR, I’m more focused on how long I stay at aid stations and try not to waste any time on the trail. I usually prefer to stay by myself on these types of runs.  If it’s just a training run, I treat it exactly as that. It took some practice to get to that point but you have to mentally just decided it’s just a training run.  I love doing races as training runs because you have aid stations and you get to see friends and more runners on the course. It’s really just a mindset that you can decide!
  • I’ve done several training runs and races in sand and have learned a few things.  From a ChiRunning standpoint, you always want to move your body to flow with nature rather than fight it (like in martial arts, you never meet a force with a force).  When I’m in sand, I work on keeping a faster cadence (strides per minutes).  The slower I move my feet, the more time I have to sink in the sand…so although walking was tempting, by increasing my cadence, I didn’t sink in the sand as much.  I also work a lot on peeling my foot and leaning rather than pushing out of the sand.  When pushing, calves are overactive, they are smaller muscles and I prefer not to burn them out.  It’s still a work in progress but I felt this was the easiest time since I’ve done this part of the course several times so something is working!
  • My abs were more sore than my legs yesterday!  I always take this as a good sign!  ChiRunning is about learning to engage gravity while in good posture (requires working the core muscles) and using legs for stability NOT propulsion.  My abs worked hard on Saturday!
  • I could also feel my upper back and shoulder muscles.  This is typical for me when I do uphills (use more arms than legs to propel me up the hill) but I noticed in several photos (including the finish line video) that my shoulders were hiked up.  I try to work on relaxing them but looks like I will be focusing on this more as I train for Black Canyon.  One of the things I love most about ChiRunning is that you are constantly focusing on becoming more and more efficient with your body movement.  Running therefore becomes a practice and not just a means to an end on race day. I get excited when I have a new “project” to work on with my running form!

With all of this said, this was truly one of my favorite races…not just the course, but the entire experience!  Thanks to the volunteers, Aravaipa, and running friends for an awesome time!

Connie was ahead of us on the 52K but the great thing about this course is that she had to come back towards us on her 2nd loop so we got to take a picture. It was fun seeing people going in both directions completing various distances!

Gorgeous sunset after our finish! Apparently I didn’t take any pics with beer or Fireball after the finish but it happened 😉

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Race Report

Race Report: Xterra White Tanks: Did I PR?

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too.  I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received.  Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:

  • I love White Tank Regional Park!  Always fun to be on trails I don’t get to see often.
  • This is a tough course.  There is something about the challenge that I love about this race.  I also get to use a lot of different ChiRunning skill because of the terrain changes.
  • Xterra supports Girls On The Run and I love to support them back!

This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:

“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.

Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!

Pics don’t do the views justice!

Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!

Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!

I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37.  Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours.  I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years.  However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.

ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race.  I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible.  Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.

Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:

  • I focused a lot on uphill and downhill technique.  I love hilly courses for this reason.  Lots of upper body with uphills, some ChiHiking (it was steep and if I can walk it faster to save energy and not tire myself out, I will).  Tried to relax as much as possible on the downhills.  A little hard due to the rockiness but it was the best I felt running downhill.  I also need to give credit to Greg Riverdieu from the High-Altitude Training Institute. Last year, I took a technical trail running class from him and learned quite a bit.  But one of the things that stood out the most, and you probably had to be there, is he would say, you just go down like this…“boom, boom, boom” for 3 consecutive footsteps.  So that was in my head as well as Danny talking about “dancing down the trail” and “be the water”.  Using imagery and visualizations are fun when running!
  • Worked quite a bit on ankle lifting.  Rocky courses are great for this.  This course is known for taking some blood as people fall but I was determined to stay upright. Most common reason to fall on a rail is clipping your toe on a rock because you have a pendular stride instead of a circular stride (part of lifting the ankles).  This was my nemesis when I started ChiRunning and love to practice it as much as I can.

Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:

  • I realize I make this part of my “pre race” ritual. I get mentally psyched up for a race.  I am not going to win and my goal is to get a good training run in, enjoy it and have fun.  I was so excited to get out on the trail today.  Oddly, even with a hard course, “only” 12.4 miles wasn’t going to be too bad after 40 last week!
  • I set a goal to PR last year.  I rarely get attached to those goals though.  I think having a goal is part of race mentality but I also see too many people beat themselves up about it or setting unrealistic goals based on their experience and training. As mentioned a PR sounded reasonable but I had to consider other factors in my training like the 40 miles on the previous Saturday and my 50 mile weeks of training.
  • I rarely listen to music and XTERRA doesn’t allow headsets (which I really appreciate, especially on a technical, single track trail).  For some reason, I had an old playlist I hadn’t listened to in awhile so put my iPod on speaker and jammed out all the way up the hill. As soon as I started going down though, I really wanted to focus on relaxing and not falling on this technical trail so that’s what I did.

I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling.  Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly.  I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet.  So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could.  I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close!  I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year).  At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend.  As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal:  I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good.  I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.

Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results!  I PRd by 8 seconds!!  I finished at a 2:57:29!!  What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks.  Bring it on!!!

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Race Report

Race Report: Xterra White Tanks: Did I PR?

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too.  I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received.  Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)

This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:

  • I love White Tank Regional Park!  Always fun to be on trails I don’t get to see often.
  • This is a tough course.  There is something about the challenge that I love about this race.  I also get to use a lot of different ChiRunning skill because of the terrain changes.
  • Xterra supports Girls On The Run and I love to support them back!

This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:

“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.

Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!

Pics don’t do the views justice!

Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!

Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!

I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37.  Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours.  I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years.  However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.

ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race.  I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible.  Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.

Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:

  • I focused a lot on uphill and downhill technique.  I love hilly courses for this reason.  Lots of upper body with uphills, some ChiHiking (it was steep and if I can walk it faster to save energy and not tire myself out, I will).  Tried to relax as much as possible on the downhills.  A little hard due to the rockiness but it was the best I felt running downhill.  I also need to give credit to Greg Riverdieu from the High-Altitude Training Institute. Last year, I took a technical trail running class from him and learned quite a bit.  But one of the things that stood out the most, and you probably had to be there, is he would say, you just go down like this…“boom, boom, boom” for 3 consecutive footsteps.  So that was in my head as well as Danny talking about “dancing down the trail” and “be the water”.  Using imagery and visualizations are fun when running!
  • Worked quite a bit on ankle lifting.  Rocky courses are great for this.  This course is known for taking some blood as people fall but I was determined to stay upright. Most common reason to fall on a rail is clipping your toe on a rock because you have a pendular stride instead of a circular stride (part of lifting the ankles).  This was my nemesis when I started ChiRunning and love to practice it as much as I can.

Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:

  • I realize I make this part of my “pre race” ritual. I get mentally psyched up for a race.  I am not going to win and my goal is to get a good training run in, enjoy it and have fun.  I was so excited to get out on the trail today.  Oddly, even with a hard course, “only” 12.4 miles wasn’t going to be too bad after 40 last week!
  • I set a goal to PR last year.  I rarely get attached to those goals though.  I think having a goal is part of race mentality but I also see too many people beat themselves up about it or setting unrealistic goals based on their experience and training. As mentioned a PR sounded reasonable but I had to consider other factors in my training like the 40 miles on the previous Saturday and my 50 mile weeks of training.
  • I rarely listen to music and XTERRA doesn’t allow headsets (which I really appreciate, especially on a technical, single track trail).  For some reason, I had an old playlist I hadn’t listened to in awhile so put my iPod on speaker and jammed out all the way up the hill. As soon as I started going down though, I really wanted to focus on relaxing and not falling on this technical trail so that’s what I did.

I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling.  Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly.  I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet.  So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could.  I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close!  I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year).  At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend.  As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal:  I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good.  I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.

Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results!  I PRd by 8 seconds!!  I finished at a 2:57:29!!  What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks.  Bring it on!!!

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Race Report

McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50K Race Report: Success Redefined

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

This is the 3rd year in a row that I do this 50K. It’s one of my favorites and perfect timing in my 100K Training Schedule to have a nice long training run.  This has been my 2nd, 5th and 9th 50K!   Still unbelievable to me that I swore I would never run more than a 5K when I started running!

McDowell Mountain Regional Park has some of my favorite trails and Aravaipa Running always puts on a great event.  This was meant to be a training run but since I was doing the same race for the 3rd year in a row, I did have it in the back of my mind that PRing (personal record) would be an added bonus. I went into the race with that idea but was also detached from it since technically this was supposed to be a training run.  I normally don’t have a race pace but I definitely get into a different mindset if I’m wanting to PR or “race” an event.  I also had to consider that I had run 20 miles the Sunday before so I didn’t taper for this race and I did a tough marathon downhill marathon 3 weeks before.  I was so close to PRing and made a “fatal” mistake which cost me the PR…but all good and that story is down below….

Miles 0-12.5

Rachel’s 2nd 50K and Joan’s first one! Waiting for the start….

The energy before a race is always exciting, especially when you realize how many friends you have out there!  Several of them were doing their first 50K.  It was great to start out the race after getting so many hugs from friends!  I love the Escondido trail as it’s rolly polly . I knew I could easily get started too fast here so I tried to keep a nice pace, walking the uphills and running flats and downhills.  The last third of the race is the hardest and I’ve struggled on this part the last few years.  My goal was to not let that happen again.  I immediately started focusing on my ChiRunning form. At about Mile 5, I decided to listen to some ChiSchool lessons so I could continue focusing on my form. I put this on shuffle and even though I listen to some of the same lessons, there are always some great aha moments.  This time it was with the lesson “The World’s Largest Treadmill” and some cueing from Danny (the founder of ChiRunning) about feeling your leg get swept back by the trail every time it hit the ground.  I’ve heard this lesson many times and it’s one of my favorites but something different clicked with me this time.  I skipped the first aid station strategically so I didn’t “waste” anytime as I had plenty of water and fuel. The 2nd aid station was at mile 12.5 and I knew there would be a 10 mile gap until the 3rd one and it would be during “the hill”.  Refueled and filled up water and was off again.  I knew I had to keep under a 14:58 min mile to PR and I was doing great!  At this point I was averaging a 13:23 min mile and I knew I would be hiking that hill.  My goal during the first third of the race was to run as much as I could without using up too much energy because I had that last third of the race always in the back of my head.

Miles 12.5-22.5

I had forgotten about the part of the course before “the hill”.  Pretty runnable and great scenery.  I was still feeling pretty good here. Ran into my friends Jennifer and Rachel and took this quick selfie.

The hardest part of wanting to PR is that you need to stay focused as any extra minute can add up.  I felt leaving them so quickly but I was on a mission.  It’s also hard for me to do this as a coach as I always like to give words of encouragement and hang with people but sometimes I have to run my race and I was determined since I was on track.   I had stopped listening to ChiSchool from the aid station and at mile 18 decided to listen to a few motivational TED talks I had downloaded. Sometimes I like to listen to stuff on long runs but I only listened to a few as I was truly enjoying being out there and present on the trail. The weather up to mile 15 was perfect. There was cloud coverage and we even had a few sprinkles. After my last Black Canyon experience (my character builder run) I was no longer worried about running in the rain but it didn’t happen. At about mile 15, the clouds were gone and the sun came out…I immediately stripped off my sleeves and the weather got hot really fast.  I think many of us were impacted by that change during this race.  I hiked the entire hill and ran the downhill more than last year…I remember it was rocky so I was careful but was still tracking to PR.  Even though I completely filled my hydration pack, I went through my water and couldn’t wait to get to the aid station. I was out of the water for the last 1.5 miles and it kept getting warmer.

Bottom of the hill…it’s not steep but a long hill…you can see runners on the other side of the trail

Beautiful chollas and Rockknob in the background

I think this is Rocknob..its the name of the trail but beautiful rock formations!

Another angle of Rocknob

Miles 22.5 to 31

I knew I had to stay focused on the aid station.  A friend of mine, Suzanne was there and she hooked me up right away. Helped fill my pack, put some ice in my buff and hat, I grabbed some munchies and I was off again.  At this point, due to the hiking, I was averaging a 13:58 mile so I knew the PR was closing in on me.  I did something I don’t advise people to do but decided to take two ibuprofen.  I figured even though my legs weren’t too bad, they were a bit achy and I knew this would help me run more.  Unfortunately my TomTom died at mile 24 so now I had no idea how I was doing.  There is an uphill after the aid station but then a nice steady downhill, although a bit rocky.  My goal at this point was to keep running as much I could. I was doing a lot of body sensing since I didn’t have a watch to tell me how I was doing (this is truly a better way as the GPS watch can be a distraction and play into the ego more than listening to your body)  I listened to music for a bit but my MP3 player died.  I just keep running as much as I could until I reached the last aid station.  My first question was how much longer do I have to go. They said 3.4 miles,  I looked at my phone and it was 3pm.  I had to be done by 3:44 to PR and this was cutting it pretty close but doable.  I usually don’t do much sugar until the last aid station (thanks to my nutritionist)  I drank some Coke, had a piece of potato with salt, and handful of peanut M + M’s.  I left and took my phone out to text a few friends that were waiting at the finish line for me.  Here is where I made my mistake.  I wasn’t paying attention as I was texting and walking…Before you know it, a guy yelled out “What distance are you doing?” I said the 50K and he said, “You’re on the wrong trail”.  So grateful for this guy as I would’ve kept on that wrong trail for who knows how long!  I was 4-5 min in so I turned around right away but I knew this set me back and I would’ve been cutting it even closer.  Even though I ran as much as I could towards the end, I knew it wasn’t happening.  I could start hearing the finish line (they have a DJ!) and knew I was almost there.

One of the several hills on the last 3.4 miles on the technical trail..

It’s a great feeling when people could say they recognized my running form from far away.  As I finished through the last section on the technical trail, I was getting excited to be done.  Always great to finish and see friends cheering you on at the finish line…even though it was my 9th 50K, finish lines never get old!

Biggest Learning Moment

So how do you define a successful race?  Everyone has their own definition. I think it depends on the race too.  Although I didn’t make my PR on this race, it was a great success for me. First of all, it was the first time doing this race that I felt strong on the last third even though I ran into some challenges.  I crossed the finish line feeling really good!  And considering I didn’t taper last weekend and have been building mileage, I was very happy with how I felt at the end!  I attribute this to my race strategy and more importantly my ChiRunning technique. As I was by myself for this whole race so it was easier for me to focus on my form and adjusting it as needed to the environment coming at me.  I may have conserved to much energy since I finished strong but I’ll take that over being miserable and injured any day!  As mentioned, I follow my fueling plan that I learned from my nutritionist and that makes a big difference too!

The After Party

Much like the beginning of the race, at the end of the race there were so many friends around. There is always a beer garden for people to hang out and it’s right by the finish line so you get to watch people coming in. I for wanted to wait for Joan as I had been training her for the last 3 months for her first 50K.  She finished strong as well and we shared a celebratory beer (ha, she drank the koolaid and is already talking about her next 50K! She done 20 marathons but moving on to the ultra/trail world 😉 )
This year, Aravaipa added night races and I love the fact that several women from my recent Ladies Training Program, had decided to either do the day or night race!  I missed the morning ladies but had a chance to see those at night time as they got ready.  Is it bad when your running coaching is encouraging you to do a Fireball shot before you go?  Even worse that they listened to you?!  Ultimately this is about enjoying the experience!  I/we (my peeps) are never going to win the race because that’s not our goal…the goal is making friends and having fun, while staying in shape and doing some crazy things along the way! This is how we roll…….

Gorgeous sunset!

Joan finishes her first 50K! So proud of her!

Oh no….here comes the Fireball 😉 LOL

And encouraging others? Bad coach, bad coach!

It didn’t take them long to succumb to the peer pressure…although this was pre race!

One of my proudest coach moments?!

Part of the Ladies Training Program reunited! Thanks for volunteering Kisha! I better have good finish line pics 😉

 

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Race Report

Monument Valley 50K: Race Report

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Wow! Where to even begin?  I know I have to keep this succinct but very hard to do, especially for those of you that want to get a detailed report about the race and what to expect if you plan on doing it. Continue Reading →


Race Report

Black Canyon Race Report: 2017 Mud Run

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Where to even begin? One of the recent facebook posts about this event was something like “people will be talking about the 2017 Black Canyon Ultras for years to come.”  And the memories will probably not be pleasant for most of us.

First of all, I want to give a huge congratulations to everyone who participated. Whether you finished, dropped from the 100K to the 60K, or DNF’d (Did Not Finish).  The weather conditions were ridiculous and just being out there was an amazing feat!  Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers and Aravaipa staff who were out there taking care of all the runners!

This was supposed to be my first 100K race. I blogged last week about some of the changes that happened to the race course due to the upcoming weather conditions.  I was pretty bummed that everything was not going as planned with the weather but I finally got over it….

4:30 am: Alarm was set to go off but I woke up about an hour earlier and couldn’t fall back asleep.  I checked weather.com one more time hoping that a miracle might happen and the rain would not be in the forecast.  No such luck. (I had weather.com up on my computer all week and had been checking it at least 5x a day!)

6:20am: I arrived, picked up my packet, chit chatted with some friends and waited impatiently to just “get this party started!” (I say this almost every morning when I start my day).

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Before race start. Had to go visit the Altra booth. Love my Altra shoes!

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Quick selfie before race start…it was raining at the start..see below for note on yellow colored glasses 😉

7:00am: We are off! I always stay towards the end as I’m never in a hurry, especially with that many miles to go.  We did one loop around the high school track, ran through part of the town of Mayer and on the road to get us to the trail.  And here is where the “fun” began…

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Jeep road portions of the trail were a muddy mess!

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This is what were dealing with on the jeep road portions of the race…Photo credit: Jennifer Berry

It might’ve been at mile 2 or 3 or so that we encountered this and my first thought was doing this again on the way back at mile 60 in the middle of the night with my pacer. Yikes!

Then we hit the Black Canyon trail (I really do love this trail). It was better on the single track and things were starting to look just a little brighter!  On a side note, I highly recommend wearing yellow colored lenses in this type of weather (I have them in the start photo above).  Knowing there would be wind, and it would be too dark for sunglasses, I brought them and was so happy I did.  All of the sudden I was seeing the world through yellow colored glasses and it was so much brighter! Every once in awhile I would remove them from my face and then the world was all dreary again (literally and figuratively). Highly recommend them for running when it’s not sunny out.

I had created a race day strategy with my crew/pacers.  My plan was to skip the first aid station (although had to stop to give a quick hug to my friend Dan Pena who was volunteering).  The rain had stopped and the trail was getting better.  The downhill portions were a blast to run down and there was no mud on this part of the trail. Hallelujah! I was having a blast and happy that things seem to be going better than I expected with the weather…..until….

I’m almost at the 3rd aid station and was tracking exactly as I planned. I see my friend Senovia, who was also doing the 100K and she was heading back towards the start. I asked her if she was injured and she told me that the at the next aid station, they were recommending that the 100K people turn around (which is where the 60K turn around was) due to upcoming bad weather. Whhhhaaaat??  Although you could see black clouds all around the area, the weather seemed to have backed off.  I had about a half a mile to get there and now was trying to figure out what do with this information. So many thoughts started rushing through my head…”I am not a quitter”, “I trained months for this race”, “this was supposed to be my first 100K”, etc, etc…

I arrive to the aid station and check in.  Sure enough, they said that the race directors were recommending that 100K people turn around as the storm would be getting worse after 4pm.  They also said they would allow us to drop down so we could get credit for the 60K.  Dang it! I was feeling really good at this point (mile 20) and was not ready to make this split second decision!  I called my very supportive boyfriend first...poor guy, why I am calling him and adding this pressure on him? He doesn’t know what to say other than “I’ll support you in whatever you decide.”  I know several of my friends decided to keep going and I kept thinking, if they can do it, so can I….something in my gut was not feeling right though…I called my pacer/friend/trail wife Elaine because she is my rock when it comes to this stuff. She’s a great athlete, mentor, friend and I knew she would give me objective advice.  Sure enough, she knew all the right questions to ask me.  Within a few minutes, I knew what I had to do. This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in that short of time.  Elaine gave me my sanity check and I know I needed to respond logically to this situation rather than react emotionally.  As much as I really wanted to do the race I had trained for, I needed to trust the race directors advice.  I also had to take into consideration that there was a chance that my pacers could not get to me for the last 20ish miles due to the weather conditions.  I could be on that trail, in cold, wet, dark, muddy conditions all alone. One of the things she said to me was:  “you can have a good 60K race or a bad 100K”.  All of the sudden, everything was in perspective and I knew that I had to make the decision for my safety more than anything.  Do I think I could’ve finished the 100K? At that point I believed I could but after being in the horrible weather after 4pm, I believe I would’ve DNFd this race had I continued on.  So I did a quick facebook live video on my business page, told them I was choosing to drop to the 60K and back to Mayer High School I went.

One other important thing I took into consideration is that even though this was MY race (not coaching anyone else for it but me), as a running coach, I am setting an example for others.  My client and friend, Sharon, said it best in a text I received while still at the aid station “I know it must’ve been hard for you, but your decision gives other permission to make good decisions.” This really stuck with me and helped me feel better about the decision.

I ran into a few of my friends doing the 60K on the way back and shared the news. It was so weird because the weather seemed to be cooperating…as a matter of fact there were a few moments where a few sun rays came out. But you could clearly see the black clouds surrounding us. I was second guessing and feeling disappointed in myself. Did I make the right decision? I knew I had to let those thoughts go as I couldn’t go back now. So I got refocused and reminded myself that a 60K is still an amazing distance!  and this was still my 2nd longest distance ever…and it was my first 60K (I still have to keep reminding myself of these things as my ego can’t help but get in the way).

I knew I would be power hiking quite a bit as now we are going up all those hills. I met a new friend, Pancho, from AK at about mile 28 or so.  We ended up staying together the rest of the way to keep ourselves motivated. We also ran into Lara who was from Canada and leap frogged with her a bit.  As if the uphills weren’t bad enough, the weather took the turn they were expecting it to.  It started raining harder (almost felt like hail at one point), the wind started blowing and it started getting colder. I am glad I switched my shirt out and the second to the last aid station as it helped keep me warm, although I was freezing a few miles after that.  We know what was coming…we had to get back through all that mud on the jeep road portion of the race.  Pancho helped me find the best paths to take on the mud so it wouldn’t be so bad.  At one point I realized that running where the water had pooled, was the easiest place as the mud had been compacted down. Unfortunately I couldn’t feel my feet already because they were so cold.  It was either struggle through the mud slower or get through this faster by running in the cold water puddles.

bcmud1

More mud…(photo credit Jennifer Berry)

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And more mud…photo credit Melissa Ruse from Sweet M Images http://www.sweetmimages.com/

The last 5 miles were just ridiculously brutal between the rain, cold and mud. I was so ready for it be over at this point.  I don’t like road running but I remember telling Pancho I couldn’t wait to get to the road.  I kept thinking about how awful it would’ve been to be doing this segment after 20 more miles and way later at night with worse weather and reassured myself that dropping to the 60K was the right decision.  We finally got to the road and knew we only had a few more miles to go…felt like forever!  We turned at the high school and all of the sudden I could hear my name being yelled out. I could barely see and realized, there was my crew: Elaine, Lori and my honey!  So happy to see them and know that we were finally done with this! Best cheering section ever!

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Elaine & Greg hanging while waiting for us!

We crossed the finish line, high fived each other and I needed to get warmed up.  I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. So grateful that Mayer High school opened up their gym to us so we were able to get into the locker rooms. My clothes were soaked and stuck on me already but I barely recall getting into the hot shower with Lori and Elaine helping take my cold, wet clothes off while I heated up my body…warm broth and hot chocolate helped too! My first  thing when I cross most finish lines is having a beer..but I was too cold for one!

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This was a blur of a moment!

We waited for our other friends to come to repeat the hot shower process for everyone.  Everyone was hanging in the warm cafeteria.  Mayer Fire Department and the race EMTs were working like crazy…so many people with hypothermia.

Post race reflections

  • Outside of the crazy weather, I was ready for this race and have no doubts I would’ve finished it.  I have no regrets about making the decision to drop to the 60K as I don’t know I would’ve been able to finish it under the circumstances. And yes, I’m human so of course I’m disappointed that I didn’t do the 100K…after all the training and anticipation up to that day, it’s a bummer that I couldn’t get my first buckle.  However it was the right decision for me and I’m glad that I did.
  • Not going to lie, I am disappointed.  Three days have past and it feels very weird…like it’s all behind me and it’s over. I remember the amazing high I had after my first 50K and 50 miler for days!  Even though this was my first 60K, I don’t have the same feelings.  I had such high expectations for this race and the day didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.  Was this race an amazing character builder?  Hell, yes!  Do I run to build character? Sure, one of the reasons I love ultra running is because it allows me to push a little bit further out of my comfort zone. This race made me a stronger runner and person for sure….but the reason I love ultra and trail running is because I love being out in nature for hours, taking pictures and soaking in the beautiful weather (this is why I live in AZ for crying out loud! 😉 ).  This race did not provide most of this for me this time. I could hardly take pictures because my phone was wrapped up so it wouldn’t get wet. I will admit the desert was still beautiful but once the weather turned, I was ready to be done.
  • Always thankful for Brooke, my nutritionist from Fuel To The Finish, because I never have issues and always feel great all day!
  • So grateful for ChiRunning and all that it has taught me. From a technique perspective, I stayed focused on what my body was doing and how I could move my body to meet what nature and elements were presenting to me moment by moment. Not surprised that very different body parts were sore the next day.  Hip flexors and ankles from peeling my shoes out of the mud and wiggling around trying not to fall in the slippery mud.  My neck was sorer than normal because I normally keep my head neutral on my body so my eyes are looking at the horizon and the trail. Due to the amount of mud, I had to keep my gaze down to my shoes which added pressure on my neck and upper back muscles.  My core is always sore which is great because I know I’m using it!

Sooooo no buckle for me this time.  People have asked me: what now?  I am trained for a 100K so why not find one and do it?  Well, I have the Monument Valley 50K on 3/25 and on the following weekend, Crown King 50K (I am one of the coaches for this race via Aravaipa’s Women’s Ultra Training Program and can’t wait to see them cross the finish line!  For several of them, it will be their first one!).  I have not made any decisions at this point but my gut feeling is that I’ll want to take revenge on this course next year. It’s around my birthday and I love this trail.

I’ll leave you with this quote…never knew this about the lotus flower!

“Whenever you should doubt your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.” Suzy Kassem

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Pancho, Lara and I after finally warming up after our finish.

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Only took one photo of the views…just love this course..better with sunshine though! 😉

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Thanks to AZ Traileggers Aid station where I stopped for awhile on my way out and back! Great motivational signs!

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More good signs!

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Cloudy with a Chance of Mudballs

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Well, I was planning on writing a blog about my week of tapering before my 100K in 2 days…..but since there has been a major change in the weather forecast, and I hate running in the rain, I decided to share the learning lessons I’ve already had in the last few days about this situation. Continue Reading →


50 Miles of Gratitude: (12) Training & XTERRA Events

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Yesterday, I did the XTERRA White Tank 20K “race”. I put race in parenthesis as you know I normally use races as training runs for my bigger races (first 100K in 6 weeks!). I already blogged about Aravaipa races awhile back.

This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:

“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”  You can see my Tom Tom results here.

Cheryl Miller from Miller Endurance Coaching is one of their sponsors and she hosted a preview run a few weeks ago that I was able to attend. I actually did this race back in 2012 when I was training for my first marathon but I can’t find my results anywhere. At any rate, I knew what I was getting myself into…

Which is why I wanted to do it!  Hills are part of most trail races and I love to train on them to keep improving my ChiRunning technique.  White Tanks are also a great change of scenery for me so I was excited to do this one.

First I want to thank XTERRA because a portion of their race proceeds go to my favorite local charity Girls On The Run Maricopa County (GOTR-I’m currently on their board of directors serving as Secretary). If I’m not racing their events, I’m volunteering because I really appreciate their support!

Now on to my learning lessons from this race!

The more running story develops year after year, I have found that I prefer to preview runs if I have a chance. This gives me a chance to get familiar with the course and know what to expect vs the element of surprise that I used to like more before. Even though I did part of the course backwards on the preview run, I knew what I was getting into!

Even though this was a “training” run, I wanted to race it…my version of racing it 😉 My race strategy was:

  • Bring my hydration pack so I wouldn’t need to stop at any of the aid stations.
  • Power hike the uphills and run as much of the runnable part as possible
  • Focus/improve upon on my ChiRunning hill technique (runnable/non runnable hills, uphill and downhill. I just taught a ChiHills class yesterday so it was all fresh)
  • Continue to get more out of my comfort zone on rockier trails and improve my technique there
  • Get myself mentally psyched up and excited for this race no matter what (this has become a regular strategy for me. Why got all worked up and nervous?  I start thinking about the friends I will see, that I’m getting to spend a “few” hours in nature, getting some ME time, burning some calories, etc.  Literally think of as many positive things as I can to get pumped up for the race to get positive energy flowing)
  • Last but not least, as much as I don’t like always setting time goals for races, since I did the preview run in 3:17 and I wasn’t as racing, I was shooting for a 3 hour finish.

It was a beautiful day! I got there in plenty of time to pick up my packet and run into many friends including GOTR volunteers/board members.

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Holly is our Vice President and was racing as well!

I started running right away knowing that the grueling part would be around Mile 2. I had to stop momentarily at the first aid station to get this selfie with Bob and Cindy Hansen who are huge supporters of GOTR and I love seeing their smiling faces!

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Bob & Cindy Hansen, GOTR volunteer superstars! Love the rays of sun shining on us!

Then it was all uphill so I started power hiking and using my arms, core and obliques more (which are all sorer than my legs are today!) I knew I was at the back of the pack already but OK with that. Every time there was a wee bit of level terrain or not too many rocks, I ran a bit…however if I know I can power hike it faster and use less energy, that is my strategy. (one of the many things I love about trail running as it’s more “acceptable” to walk due to the hills.) I had several more friends at aid stations that called my name out as I ran by which is always motivating!

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We are pretty high up there! Pictures don’t do it justice for sure!

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If you look closely, you can see the trail on the other mountain going down hill…

It was finally time to come downhill!  Was cruising in several locations but the trail was rocky so this slowed me down more than I wanted.  I was really trying to focus on relaxing as much as possible as I know any tension mentally or physically slows me down (which is why I get pumped up before a race too…to keep from having mental stress!). I almost tripped a few times but never fell.

I hate looking at my watch to reach a time goal (again more mental tension) but at this point I could tell that I was close to my time goal. I had conserved my energy so I knew the last 2 miles should be pretty easy. I didn’t realize mile 11 was a wee bit of an uphill and I started walking a bit.  I knew I was cutting it close on the time goal so I decided to put my playlist on speaker just to change up my energy and get some motivation.  Funniest thing was that I turned it off in less than 2 minutes!  The music was too distracting. I was in a really good zone (had been for the entire race between my ChiRunning/ChiWalking form focusing, being present and truly enjoying the beauty of the trail.) On a side note, I find it interesting that as my running story continues to develop, I used to only be a social runner. I couldn’t run unless I had company and someone to talk to.  Now, my solo runs hold a special place. I can’t describe it but there is something to be said about being alone with yourself for hours in nature, running on a trail.  Time flies by somehow…Mile 11 was my hardest mile of the entire race and I started thinking I wanted it to be over with.  With 1.5 miles to go, I got it together and started really focusing more on my form and breathing. Before I knew it, I could see the finish line and was getting excited. I was at 2:52 and knew I would make it on time if I kept my pace…..and I did! My official time was a 2:57:37! (and my fastest mile was my last one!)

I felt amazing and was so dang proud of myself when I finished!….

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Thanks to my friend Diane for taking this awesome photo of me finishing! It truly describes how I felt!

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The GOTR Executive Team..2 of us running and 2 volunteering!

…..Until I started comparing myself to other runner friends….that is another blog post…for now, you can watch my 5 minute facebook live video from yesterday here.

All in all, this was one of my best races from strategy to how amazing I felt at the end.

Do you use races as training runs? Share your comments below!

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My badass friend Diane who is an Ironman and did her first 8K trail race!

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Selfie with Terry who is an amazing athlete who will be 60 this year and placed first in her age group and 13th woman overall!

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You know it’s going to be a great day with this sunrise!

Click here: 50 Miles of Gratitude: 50 Posts about my first 50 Miler

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

My Next Big Running Goal on my Birthday Weekend!

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

This is one of the many things I love about running.  Of course everyone has their own running story and you should NEVER compare yourself to any other runner.  But for me, I love the idea of continuously pushing myself to the next level.  As they say, life begins at the end of your comfort zone and I can attest to this!  Earlier this year I did my first 50 Miler at Antelope Canyon the day after my birthday.  Even though I finished dead last, I felt strong and really enjoyed it (I know, crazy talk)…so of course the next goal is to push myself to the next distance level…sooooooo

I’m excited to announce that I will be doing the Black Canyon Ultra 100K!
Why did I pick this one? In no particular order…

  • 100K is 62 miles so it’s the next step after a 50 miler.
  • It’s on 2/18/17 which is the day before my birthday and I love doing crazy things on my birthday to remind myself how grateful I am for every year I am on this Earth.
  • It’s an Aravaipa event and they are one of our local ultra/trail racing company. I’ve been doing their events since 2011 and they know how put on a good race!
  • I get a buckle! I’ll admit to feeling a bit weird about this because usually you get a buckle for a 100 miler…the other funny thing is that I really don’t wear belt buckles at all (I spend most of my days in workout gear!) but a buckle is like a rite of passage in some strange way.

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  • It’s a point to point race which means I get to cover 62 miles of our beautiful AZ landscape. One of the reasons I love ultra running is the ability to visit places I’ve never seen before and enjoy Mother Nature.
  • Aravaipa is hosting training runs on the entire course over 3 months which means I’ll get to preview the entire course before running it.  Last Sunday I got to run the first 19 miles and loved it.  It was mostly single track downhill.  The hardest part for me is being afraid of heights. Some parts of the single track were very close to the edge of the canyon but the more I practice, the easier that will get….I hope!
  • There is some cool history about this trail:  “This historic trail is of national significance, following a route used since the times of pre-historic Native American travelers and traders.  The Department of the Interior officially established the route as a livestock driveway in 1919, when it was used by wool growers from the Phoenix area to herd sheep to and from their summer ranges in the Bradshaw and Mingus Mountains. The Black Canyon National Recreation Trail was originally designed as a livestock driveway. Many segments of the trail roughly parallel the old Black Canyon stagecoach road between Phoenix and Prescott.”

I still can’t believe I am doing it but as crazy as it seems, I’m very excited. I’ve already started training and have already changed a few things from my 50 mile training:

  • I’m spending even more time stretching and foam rolling.  I’ve added more strength training to my weekly routine.
  • I’m also varying my running workouts more than I did last year.  This course has a net downhill elevation profile with about the first half being downhill and the 2nd half will include uphill climbing as well as several river crossings (which I used to be afraid of before but having done this several times now, I’m much more comfortable with it).  So I am doing more speedwork and hill training. I’m also planning on doing more night trail running as I know I’ll be out there at night time.
  • I still take 2-3 runs a week and listen to ChiSchool on shuffle so I can continue to improve on my ChiRunning form (my running form had the biggest improvement last year when I did this for the 50 miler). And I will continue to use the same nutrition advice I got for my 50 miler.

One of the other big motivators for me is that I’ll be raising money for Girls On The Run Maricopa County again via their SoleMates program. Last year, I raised $2100 so I want to bump that up to $2300 at least.  I am on the Board of Directors and this organization means so much to me.  If I only had this program when I was in elementary or junior high school! I want to help as many young girls as possible be part of the program so they can learn to dream big and activate their limitless potential!

What is the next challenge you are taking to get out of your comfort zone?

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From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)