Like a Bigfoot

Motivation, Mindset, Positivity, Endurance, Adventure, Perseverance, and Possibility

Tag: trail running (page 1 of 2)

Movie Review: Barkley Marathons “The Race that Eats its Young”

“If you’re going to face a real challenge, it has to be a REAL challenge.  You can’t accomplish anything without the possibility of failure.”- Laz

Unforgiving Tennessee mountains, a psychotic (in the best way possible) and quite hilarious race director,  random books scattered about, a conch shell, over 100 miles of brutality, razor sharp thorn bushes, 40 racers seemingly lost in the woods, taps, blood, sweat, and tears, and no trail.

You can keep your Super Bowl- this is the greatest event in America.

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What I Learned During the Holiday Lake 50k

A week out from the Holiday Lake 50k and I’m already looking towards my next big event- the Grayson Highlands 50k.  You can read my race report here.

Today I wanted to do a post-mortem on Holiday Lake and breakdown what went right, what went wrong, and how I can improve next time.

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50k Training: 2 Days Out (The Dream of Pizza)

The Holiday Lake 50k is 2 days away!  On Saturday I’m going to be freezing, exhausted, and sore, but more importantly I’m going to meet up with an old friend…Pizza.  The meeting will be brief.  So brief in fact that I will probably not even recall inhaling this beautiful piece of food, but by golly it’s going to taste FANTASTIC!

Three weeks ago I gave up pizza, ON PURPOSE, with the sole purpose of giving myself a reward to look forward to during the race.

My mental plan of attack:

  • Give up something you love 2-3 weeks leading up to a tough event
  •            -For me that’s the three amigos of deliciousness (Pizza, Beer, Cookies)
  • ​Reward yourself after the event

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50k Training: Race Week

Race day is fast approaching for the Holiday Lake 50k.  One more week to go.  Training is essentially done and now all I have to do is sit here and TAPER.  This means that you run way way less than normal to rest your legs up for race day.  So my week looks like this:

  • Monday: Light weightlifting, 5 mile trail run, recovery yoga
  • Tuesday: Light weightlifting, 4 mile trail run, recovery yoga
  • Wednesay: Recovery yoga, go for a walk or play around on the slackline
  • Thursday: Gentle yoga, Eat a big bowl of spaghetti
  • Friday:  Rest the legs, light stretching, drive to Appomattox, eat sweet potato and avocado tortillas
  • Saturday: RACE DAY!!! Run 31 miles, eat a whole bunch of pizza and beer

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50k Training: Two Weeks Out

At this point I’ve started figuring out what works for me when training for these difficult events.  Whether or not its an adventure race, a marathon, or an ultramarathon, I’ve figured out how to successfully handle the last two weeks of pre-race training.

This isn’t going to be about how runners taper (fancy word for “SLOWING DOWN” or “NOT RUNNING AS MUCH”).  Instead these are a lot of mental tricks that help me through the most difficult part of the training plan- NUTRITION Continue reading

Life Goals

I am now 29.  Yesterday was my first birthday where I thought “29 does sound sorta…grown up.”  That thought worried me for about 2 seconds, but then out of the corner of my eye I saw a shiny object and thus went about living my childish existence.

After consuming half a cake, my wife asked me a simple question “what are your goals for year 29?”

I paused, thought about it for a second, and maybe it was the massive amount of sugar from the cake, but I honestly had no answer.  Is this where I’m at now?  Am I a dude with no goals???? That can’t be true!

So I spent the morning writing an answer to this question:

What do you want to do with your life? Continue reading

How to Survive Your Long Run

Whether you are training for a marathon, an Ultra or even something crazy like a obstacle race or adventure race, one day you will glance at your training calendar and spot these dreaded words: LONG RUN.

The long run.  The day of training that simultaneously has the time consumption of race day and none of the excitement.  The absence of good vibes makes this something to power through.  You won’t be out there with hundreds of other racers…you will be alone.  There will be no gunshot (or one of my favorite parts of ultras the announcement of “go whenever the hell you want, it’s going to take you literally HOURS to finish ha ha ha”).  Delicious Aid Station treats and spectators are non-existent.

During your long run YOU have to rely on pure IRON WILL to get your butt out of bed and spend the next few hours punishing yourself…on PURPOSE!! Continue reading

2016 Plan of Attack

New Year, New athletic goals.

First goal as per usual = get outside as much as possible.  I had an amazing morning recently running up two of the best trails near Roanoke Virginia. (Seriously, if you wanna experience some of the best views the Appalachian Trail has to offer, hike up McCaffee Knob and the Dragon’s Tooth)

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Copperheads and Changing Seasons

This is going to be a quick post today.  I promise I’m working on some serious articles and I have some awesome experiences I want to write about (mancations, meeting personal heroes, adventure races, book reviews and other crazy things), but today I want to do just one thing:

Scare the crap out of my mom.

Since beginning my trail running adventures a few years ago she has been adamant that I will step on a snake, specifically the venomous copperheads.  “Watch out for snakes” is what she tells me every time I mention heading out for a run. I’m pretty sure in her mind I’m hopping over like 50 of these creepy crawlers every single day.  In fact, she bought me a little tag to put on my shoe with my name and phone number on it in case of a snake attack. Continue reading

3 Ways to Spice Up Your Running Routine

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Running the same route day after day after day can get pretty boring. Here are three ways to kick your ass out of the monotony of routine: Continue reading

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