Tag Archive for 'electrolytes'

Power Up with GU Roctane

Published on June 29, 2011 by a ok.

By now most people know about energy gels – they’ve been on the market for a large number of years. In the 1985 Race Across America, Jonathan Boyer fueled his bicycle race on an 80% liquid diet. The reasoning? Simple: the human body absorbs energy from liquids far faster than it does from solid food sources. Not only that, but solid foods require blood to be diverted to the stomach to aid in the digestive process, which hinders performance. Athletes require as much blood as possible to be flowing to their muscles while they’re exercising.

GU's relatively new chocolate raspberry flavored Roctane with 2x caffeine.

That fact has led to the widespread adoption of energy gels as a nutritive input. When exerting oneself at length, gels give a Continue reading ‘Power Up with GU Roctane’

Located in 06 Energy Sources and 13 Gear Testing 0 Comments Tags: , .

Lofty Goals: Running The Grand Canyon From Rim to Rim to Rim

Published on November 25, 2010 by a ok.

Cactuses and rocks line the trail.

A OK: This is John’s version of our Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Excursion, providing a second point of view on the day. In keeping with the G rating of this website, minor edits have been made. They won’t be obvious at all. Really. Other notes are preceded with (Ed:). For the record, John is a marathoner, and has managed a sub-three hour time at Boston. He is one fast fella. I am not. All pictures here are by John Maxey.

If you tell people you ran a marathon, they nod and say “gee whiz”.  If you tell them you ran 50 miles they shrug and shake their head like you told them a joke in bad taste, then they look away.  You are now officially crazy.

The plan was to camp instead of getting a hotel.  Most of the blogs I read about people doing this run talked about staying at hotels, but I liked the idea of treating it more like an expedition than a pampered marathon.  I remember at the Detroit marathon we stayed at the Ren-Cen “the official hotel of the marathon” and it felt identical to traveling for a work conference – everybody soft, nervous, corralled in groups, waiting for elevators together, the continental breakfast feedlot.  Yeah, a tent sounded better not to mention cheaper.  The Mather Campground was the first area I saw when looking at a map of the south rim and I figured we would have the place Continue reading ‘Lofty Goals: Running The Grand Canyon From Rim to Rim to Rim’

Located in 03 Adventures, 10 Road Trips and 11 Perspective 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim

Published on November 23, 2010 by a ok.

A mountain frames the Grand Canyon off in the distance. Even from a hole, I can spot snow-covered mountains.

Along with my recent distance partner of choice, John Maxey, I did the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim on Saturday, November 20, 2010. We arrived at the South Rim of the old hole in the earth about an hour before sunset the day prior. Scouting the trailhead’s location – it had been a long, long time since either of us had stood in the spot – we made our way to the nearby Mather Campground, pitched a tent, cooked up some grub, and were quickly settled in for a few hours of tossing and turning with little sleep. Auspicious beginnings.. Continue reading ‘Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim’

Located in 03 Adventures, 10 Road Trips and 11 Perspective 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Double Marathon Attempt / Sheep among Wolves

Published on October 15, 2010 by a ok.

Familiar sights in GTNP, different angle.. (l-r) The Enclosure, The Grand and Middle Tetons.

John Maxey made it out to SLC and we once more headed to Jackson, Wyoming to try a one day, double marathon length route in Grand Teton National Park. The course contains numerous mountain passes good for nearly 10,000 feet of vertical gain, good water access, a decent amount of loose rock coupled with plenty of stationary rocks, and more stunning views than a Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Fortunately, this time around, the route wasn’t covered in snow as it was the month before. The weather was perfect – cool, not much breeze, no clouds except in the evening. We ran where we could and tried to speed walk most of the uphills.

All that going for us, I felt lackluster for days afterwards, and it was Wednesday before Continue reading ‘Double Marathon Attempt / Sheep among Wolves’

Located in 03 Adventures, 10 Road Trips and Tetons 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Teton Snow Wreaks Havoc on Double Marathon Attempt

Published on September 15, 2010 by a ok.

Sometimes, when you plot out an adventure, everything goes right except for one item. This time around, that one item was snow – lots and lots of snow. Here at tetonsandwasatch, snow is rarely moaned about, but there have been exceptions besides the following! A storm on September 9th blanketed Grand Teton National Park in 2-14 inches of snow, wreaking havoc on Light and Fast plans to pull off a double marathon length route on foot with the day’s partner, John Maxey, on September 11th.

As we departed the car, the best news was that it wasn't really, really cold at 26 degrees.

At this point - a few miles in - I actually believed the snow would burn off somewhat during the day. Huh. Photo by John Maxey.

Continue reading ‘Teton Snow Wreaks Havoc on Double Marathon Attempt’

Located in 03 Adventures, 10 Road Trips and Tetons 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Summertime Evokes Blizzard Memories

Published on July 23, 2010 by a ok.

Roasting through Salt Lake City’s version of summer – scorching in the valley, naturally cooler and just about bearable in the mountains, my thoughts turn without effort to better memories. One day in particular keeps reappearing in my mind. It was February 20th, 2010, the snowpack was maintaining avalanche danger at a level significant enough to keep everyone checking and re-checking that their Ortovox’s were turned on and working, and I headed out solo to work on pushing vertical on reasonably safe slopes.

The uncrowded skin track as it breaks off from the main White Pine trail.

For a lack of crowding, I chose well, heading to the ridges between the Birthday Chutes, located on the North aspect of Red Top. Having headed up to this area the day prior, I knew Continue reading ‘Summertime Evokes Blizzard Memories’

Located in 03 Adventures and Wasatch 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .