#VermontLife
Updates updates updates!I let it go so long there is plenty to be said, and I don't know where to begin! Training is going really well here in Stratton. I can see how the US Ski Team finds this a great area for their training base. There is just about any sort of terrain here -- flats, hills, mountains....short climbs, long climbs....technical trails and runnable paths....clean lakes where you can take an ice bath....it's basically like a Dr Seuss rhyme about training! There is also very little distraction: one coffee shop, a couple restaurants, and a general store/market. Just the basics!The most crazy wildlife I have seen so far up here is a little black bear sprinting across the road while I was driving, and then when I was running up a forest service road I think I disturbed an owl that I didn't see because (s)he was NOT pleased with me and flew after me! I think that was the most nervous I have ever been from something in the woods -- it looked like it meant business!My legs are getting strong and I continue to just run up and down the mountains, getting a feel for the trails and seeing as much as I can. Because of the tricky logistics, I'm not sure I'll get to cover every inch of it which was my initial thought, but I am going to be pretty darn close, and am making a point to get through the longer, more isolated sections.
I've had surprising moments of greatness in other areas of training with some good swims despite the pool being less than desire-able....and I held my highest 30 second power the other day during an interval on the bike! Maybe the mountain-climbing quads are going to get me faster for triathlon after all!!I've also been working hard on the logistics of the trip. This can be fun and challenging, but is also not my strong suit. I prefer the game plan of "let's wing it!" .... but when you have a team of about 10 people coming together to help you out, they kind of need more than that. It's a lot of work to make time estimates, food estimates, get all the gear planned, and make sure people have somewhere to sleep (even though that means a car a couple of the nights!), make sure we have all the gear to make that happen, etc... So that takes a lot of time these days as well.And finally, I've been building out the website for the project. In creating this whole thing, I realized that this FKT attempt probably won't be my last adventure like this. I have a few more ideas of things I want to try....and I wanted to encompass all of this under one title. I spent a lot of time online looking at words and scouring the thesaurus trying to come up with an appropriate adventure name for this, and I finally stumbled upon it - a German word!
wandelnto wander, to strollto walk(transitive) to transform, change(reflexive) to change, transform
Since I started endurance sports some of my most favorite moments have been not in races, but in a day or weekend adventure - from biking the Blue Ridge Parkway, to the California Coast....running R2R2R....a training weekend in Deep Creek Lake....triathlon camps in Tucson. These are all things that have not necessarily been the fastest, but have been a journey from one point to another where I came out a little bit different than when I started. And I think the Long Trail is very similar. While I want to get the record with the fastest time, anyone who knows the trail knows that means you still aren't going very "fast" at any given time! So a "stroll" seemed just about right :)Before I start the Long Trail I will have a website for this that will have a tracking link to my progress, etc. I will though of course continue to share my thoughts about the journey through this blog too!