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Xterra Snow Valley Trail Race and Triathlon July 26 – 27, 2014 – Special SCR Discount
Looking for a fun, beautiful and challenging trail race? The Xterra Snow Valley Trail Races and Triathlon are worth putting on your calendar. The Trail Races are on Sunday, July 27, 2014. Below is my video from the 2013 21k (half marathon).
You can read the full race report at:
http://socalrunning.com/the-xterra-snow-valley-21k-7-28-13-race-review/
They are also offering a special for SoCalRunning.com readers. Use the code “SoCalRunning” for 15% off your your registration.
To Visit the Xterra Site and Sign-Up Click Here
My Garmin race data is below. Click “View Data” on the bottom right of the Garmin frame
Race Focused, Steve Mackel – Master ChiRunning® Instructor
Catalina Marathon – A Must Do Trail Marathon – Video and Recap from 2008
The Catalina Marathon is a Must Do Trail Marathon. It is always rated as one of the best trail marathons in the US by Runners World magazine. This marathon boasts has almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. The view are spectacular. But, my favorite part is the participants. There are old-timers, first-timers, trail veterans and trail newbies. Most of us are there for the same reasons. The first is, “Because it’s there.” The second, to see a Buffalo . Third, you know it’s hard but so worth it. Almost everyone I have met, no matter where they are from, trained on hills because this is a hilly marathon. People from Florida do hill repeats on highway overpasses to train for this race. And, I forget to mention the after-party.
This video is Part 2 of my 2008 Video from the race. I can’t find Part 1, but Part 2 is better. It starts out at the top of Pump House Hill and goes from there to the post race party, hosted by the Race Director. I interviewed some of the runners. I even met a couple from London, England that saw my 2007 video and decided to come out because it looked so cool, for their first marathon.
There is still plenty of time to sign up. Email me: Steve@MarathonTraining.TV for a discount code. I hope to see you on the island. If you see me, please come over and say hello.
Training for Catalina, Steve Mackel – 5 Time Past Catalina Marathon Participant
Lost in Madrid, Espana – November 2010
Madrid, Spain is a beautiful city with lots of great site, varied terrain and runners. I had a great time just walking around but running was even more fun. I take you around a small but popular part of Madrid, running on tiny streets, through town squares, parks and past the local sites.
I was scouting Madrid as a possible Marathon to take the Sole Runners to one of
these years. It is a great fun place to be and run.
Train Focused, Steve Mackel – Co-founder SoCalRunning.com
Athens Classic Marathon – The 2500th Anniversary of "The Marathon" 31-10-10
I don’t even know where to start but can I ever top this marathon? Probably not. Today was history. Today, 2500 years later we retraced history. Everything about the day was special and the last 2 minutes of the video are almost worth the first 10 minutes.
Once again I try to show you the course and the people running it, as well as share my personal experience with you. I met people from all of the world. What I don’t show you or talk about are the smells. International marathons, or at least this one had some smelly people. If you smell the chances are I don’t interview you. Second, more men run than women and it feels like it is the exact opposite in the States. Also, the runners are much faster. I haven’t seen the official stats but the median finishing time has to be closer to 4 hours rather than most marathons in the States which seem to be around 5 hours.
The city of Athens stepped up and this marathon was managed very well. I felt it ran smoothly and have some suggestion for race directors that I Iearned today.
I also managed to PR which added to the day and my feelings but nothing beats running into the marble Olympic stadium in Athens. The music was pumping and the people never stopped cheering. It was amazing.
Now, I can start looking for the next international marathon to run. Join the email list in the center column and it will keep you in the loop because the Sole Runners had a great time and are going to make this an annual event.
Lastly, I have to thank all the Sole Runners that made the trip over with us, Michele for making our wings that everyone loved, and all our well wishers. I’ll see you State-side soon. Look for my Madrid video at the end of the week.
Train Focused, Steve Mackel – Head Coach Sole Runners
My Amsterdam’d Fun Run – October 2010
This video gives you a good idea of Amsterdam, and the type of terrain if you are considering the Amsterdam Marathon in October. I also take you around to some of the more popular sites. It could be considered as our 2011 Annual Away Marathon.
Train Focused, Steve Mackel ChiRunning® Instructor
Running "In Bruges"
I am on location looking for our next destination marathon and half marathon. My first stop was Bruges, Beligum. I finally found the time to finish this video. I was able to edit most of it on a train before my computer battery ran out. Bruges, is a beautiful little city. It was one of the only cities spared mass destruction in WWII. It feels like you take a step back in time. In this video I try to give you a view of the city and the few people that run in it. If you ever visit Bruges, run and be one of the only ones out there! It is another great and easy place to explore running.
As for my lodging, food, sites and nightlife experience, I found some fantastic spots. Email Coach Steve for the details
Train Focused, Steve Mackel – MarathonTraining.TV Head Coach
On Running, Recovery, and India
Have you ever had your identity just pulled out from under your feet?
Like you spent years building yourself up to be someone only to see someone else in the mirror the next morning?
I have. And a running injury was the turning point.
What seemed like a career ending injury has turned out to be a blessing. And I didn’t even know until I came across the world here to India.
By about this time of the year, runners are preparing themselves for a fall marathon. The last two weeks before a marathon becomes a really important time for recovery and rest.
This article will share some essential tips I’ve learned from years of doing marathons and more importantly, from coaching marathoners.
First a little update on my whereabouts: I’m traveling around Asia, currently in McCleodganj, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, and one of the most spiritual places in India. The brand of spirituality around here is Tibetan Buddhism.
The Dharma runs deep here. Saffron clad monks walk mindfully through these streets (that with cows, dogs, spaced out tourists, and lots of Indians hustling to make a living). Monasteries are all over this Dalhousar mountain range.
I’m having a profound and deep spiritual experience. And still recovering from a running injury and a serious case of RUNNER BURNOUT.
Marathoners don’t realize the impact on your body that running for three to five hours causes. Here’s just a sampler:
- Thousands of foot strikes. So if you’re not landing correctly like I was, wear and serious tear can occur.
- Massive OXIDATION in your cells. This means you’re creating lots of free radicals that can oxidize and prematurely age your cells.
- Lots of pollutants coming into your body from the Air especially in a city like Los Angeles or Long Beach.
The fact is, many people don’t continue doing marathons for a long period of their lives. It’s difficult and puts a serious wear on your body.
Yet marathoners just keep on going. We’re generally tough, goal oriented people. We like difficult challenges, it gives us purpose and makes us feel alive. The idea of slowing down and taking a rest is not something that appeals to our characters.
In addition, with good coaches like Steve Mackel of Solerunners, we learn many ways to keep going even though the body is telling us to slow down. Ways like ChiRunning, good nutrition, message, sugary goos, mental training, yoga, and even lots of post run celebrations.
Toss in a good heaping of pride, your inner drive, the competitiveness of your team, the investment of your race, talk about pacing…and you create an inner drive that ignores what your body is telling you, over and over, again, until…
The body forces you to stop. That’s what happened to me. A running injury. I haven’t written about this before on SoCalRunning.com. I kept it my little secret. I was a running coach. My pride refused to let me admit that my own coaching advice had led me to an injury.
It was a double blow, to my identity and to my body. But now with some distance between that coaching life of mine and where I am right now, I feel I can be very honest with you.
Enough about me. Let’s get down to business. This article is about you. And how you can avoid the same mistakes I made so you can prepare and run your marathon taking the best care of your body.
Here’s some things that will help your recovery in the weeks leading up to your marathon and beyond:
1. Get lots of Rest. Eight hours of sleep (or more) is essential. Cut out the caffeine. Drink herbal teas. Cut off the TV and computers early in the evening. Take days off running after a long run. Don’t run if possible the week before your marathon. And seriously consider taking some time off running after you finish your marathon. Even professional athletes don’t train year round. Don’t push yourself on every run. Learn to take it easy. For me, burning the candle at both ends and not taking at least one six month break from marathoning in five years really put a toll on body that lead to an injury. Getting lots of rest and recovery will make you a faster runner in the long run.
2. Get SuperNutrition. Your regular diet is just not enough to compensate for the demands of marathon training. Runners seem to think a long run is just an excuse to pig out on the weekends, booze hard, and eat what they want to eat. Then they think that loading up on a bunch of carbs the week before the race will get them ready. When Steve and I interviewed Luanne Pennesi and Gary Null a year ago, it was a rude awakening on the nutritional needs of an athlete. And if you’re training for a marathon, YOU’RE AN ATHLETE. You need lots of antioxidants, supplements, juices, and proper rest. If you want to learn more then consider purchasing the interview series called Optimum Performance Athlete.
3. Slow Down. The way I see it. There’s two main ways you can run your marathon. One is to go out there and hammer it for a certain pace, shooting for Personal Record (PR). I’ve done this a bunch. But it takes serious training at that pace. In other words, you need to be close to that pace during all your long runs. Most marathoners way overestimate what they can do on race day (especially as they get fitter and fitter). So if you’re getting super nutrition, lots of rest, and doing long pace runs, great! Go for it! But if not, I simply recommend slowing down on race day, and making your race a CELEBRATION. In other words, make your race into a party. Slow down, interact with the runners and the crowds, and enjoy yourself. Even better, try to help some runners out on the course with good jokes or good Steve Mackel advice. The most enjoyable marathons I’ve run were the ones where I said, “Screw the time, I’m having a good time!””
4. Get Professional Care early. For about a year, I knew something was wrong with my left foot and ankle. It really bothered me during trail runs and long runs. I hoped it would just go away. It didn’t. It just got worse. I didn’t even think of seeing a doctor. Why? I had a long training run to do, or some race, or a track workout. Anything but to face the reality of what was occuring in my body. And all this running on a minor injury, finally caused a MAJOR INJURY. Finally, I saw a podiatrist, good chiropractor, and then a physical therapist. Between all of them, I pieced together a pretty good picture of what happened to my foot. And more importantly, how to treat it. If you’re in pain, you must stop what you’re doing, and go get some professional care and advice.
Hopefully some of my experiences can help you in the weeks and years ahead as a runner.
It’s very typical in Western societies to overwork, under rest, eat poorly, and then just tough it out. Thinking that this hard work will all pay off. It does, sometimes. But the cost can be high for our lives and the health of our bodies.
There is a different way. Get rest, learn proper nutrition, slow down, and listen to your body.
And if you do get an injury. Maybe it is a signal to take a little time off running. Reassess your life. Try something new. That’s what happened to me. I realized I had accomplished almost all my running goals. So it was time to pursue some other lifetime goals, like seeing more of Asia, particularly the Himalayas.
Which is where I am now.
I still run. My running is much slower and more deliberate now. I run a couple times a week here in India, do lots of rehab for my foot. But more than anything, I’m learning to slow down in all areas of my life and live much more in the moment.
The fast lane is only one lane of the freeway.
God Bless,
Gary
The Body is Just a Vehicle
My Tibetan Buddhism class in Dharamsala, India.
Always as a marathon date comes closer and closer, I feel not a relaxed calm and confidence in my abilities but instead a never ending anxiety about training.
My sleep becomes more restless in the evenings as I battle through my subconscious asking me questions such as: “Am I training enough?”, “Am I doing enough speed work?”, “Am I on pace?”, “Will I make my time goal?”, and “Will this damn Plantar Fasciitis ever go away or will it derail my marathon?”.
Talking to all my fellow runners seems to make the anxieties worse. They all want to know things like about my pace, my goals for race day, even what I plan to do after race day.
Often my job seems to get its busiest right before the race. Just adding to this ongoing stress level.
Well I was thinking about all these things this morning.
A brief update. I am in Dharamsala, India (Home of the Dalai Lama). My dream for many years was to run a marathon. I kept on believing in that dream. Kept learning, kept making daily little progress. It came true seventeen fold. Even helped a few others complete a marathon.
My next major dream was to travel around Asia, especially to see the Himalayas.
That is what has taken me to India. Dharamsala is the spiritual gateway to the Himalayas. I look out of my guesthouse window to the beginning of the mountain range. They are huge and majestic.
Interestingly enough, I have been attending Buddhist philosopy classes the last few days.
They are held in a classroom next to the Tibetan Library. Most of the great Buddhist texts and scholars were destroyed by a tumultuous Indian History. The Tibetans, however, translated all of these into Tibetan. Then through their devotion to the monastic life and scholarship, kept the teachings alive through the centuries.
In other words, when you study Tibetan Buddhism you study some real authentic, old teachings. Some say the “real stuff”.
So this old scholar comes in in the morning, we all bow, say a bunch of prayers which I can’t even seem to read the English translations of. Then he begins talking. A lovely funny older English woman gives the translations. They have been working together for like 30 years. Translating like 10 of his books or so, to give an idea of his scholarship.
So he is giving a talk this morning which is part of bigger talk on some sacred text, which is a commentary on some other sacred philosophies.
And in the midst of it, I thought of people training for the Marathon.
The main theme of the talk is about how to be a Bodhissatva. This is a very holy Buddhist term to describe someone who doesn’t go off to nirvana in order to devote their life to care and compassion of all living beings. Like a Saint.
One of the essential characteristics of such saintly work is PATIENCE.
Here’s where it gets interesting. He says we all suffer. And some like the Tibetan people have suffered a great, great deal. And the more you persue a spiritual, or in my opinion, an athletic path, the more suffering, and enemies you will encounter.
It shouldn’t be that way. It should get easier right? Your training should get easier as you get closer to the goal.
Well, hogwash according to the spiritual master.
It gets harder so you can develop some patience. And this he defined as a calmness in the face of suffering. A faith in the direction of your work. A willingness to face your hardships. A certainty in the teachings of your coaches or spiritual masters.
Because this patience will allow you to learn. This patience will shatter your overblown pride as athlete so you can begin listening again. Listening to you body, your coaches, the old teachings.
And ultimately this patience will be your greatest teacher. To teach that you WILL get through this anxious time in your training. And you WILL survive those long training runs with that bunk ankle. And someway, somehow you find the patience in others to juggle all those people in your life so that you can just show up on Saturday morning.
Well when you get through all these little hardships, you will get some real patience.
This spirital master taught us to imagine that you are experiencing all of this in order to help all the other marathoners out there. To imagine that you are experiencing all of this to demonstrate to you family that you can stay strong in the face of adversity. And to imagine that you are experiencing these pains to show your friends and colleagues that great things are possible.
The Bodhissatva way is to experience all of this so we can develop the greatest of all human qualities…COMPASSION.
Because on race day, you will need some compassion. You’ll need to be compassionate and loving to your body and mind in that great battle of 26.2 or 13.1 miles.
Or even more important, and this is the part I love…
You’ll need that compassion to lift your head high to look around you and motivate the runners around you. You’ll need that compassion to share a joke when they look sad. To share an inspirational story when their spirit seems down. You cheer on every honorable runner you pass to let them know how awesome they are doing. Because YOU KNOW what they suffered through to just get there on race day.
And even better, when you develop more and more patience and compassion your performance, your race day time, your goals will just dissolve away into the practice of something deeper….seeing just how many people you can help on race day.
And in that, you will find happiness beyond your dreams. That by making others happy in training, before the race, and on race day you will find….happiness.
So hang in there, be patient, this time like all others, will pass.
That is why you suffer. So you can help others. So simple and beautiful.
This was the teaching I heard today, that has been taught for over 2,000 years and just might help you in your journey today.
Namaste,
Gary
Catalina Marathon Saturday, March 14, 2009
Here it is, up only 48 hours after the race. I never know how it is going to turn out while I am filming and I wanted to show the whole day, because the Catalina Marathon is so much more than just a race. I hope this video does it some justice.
As usual, I had a great time and wished I could have interviewed more people. I was going for a PR which makes it difficult to pull the camera out in some sections, when I was pushing through some pain or flying down hills. Sorry if I missed you.
Remember, if you see me come up and say hello. I will pull out my camera and film you.
Steve Mackel – Sole Runners, Head Coach
Live your life to the fullest!
Top of San Jacinto!
First beach runners mountain of the season.
While events in the country make us reflect on the meaning of life…
To me it means get out into nature with good friends
Catalina Marathon finishers and Beach Runners Sandy and Sindy…
Notice the three inches of snow that dumped on us Sunday morning.
Sandy and Sindy are scheduled to do the ultramarathon in Big Bear in June.
Who else is in?
Gary
Founder – Coach Steve
Running Shoe Store of the Month – Jan/Feb 2017
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