Food haul, traveling and mental prep- race week
Crown King Scramble 50k race week! I am so excited, happy, and grateful for everyone that has helped me get here. I can not express enough how much I love our trail running community. Your encouragement, showing up for special runs and overall good trail vibes is something I will forever treasure. Everyone of you are appreciated. Thank you!
Travel: I flew into Phoenix Tuesday morning, arriving at 9 am. I arrived with barely any sleep since packing took way longer than expected. I drove here for my October 2022 visit to run Javelina Jackass race and brought everything I could possibly want. This time I had to carefully choose items that would fit into one bag. 2 pairs of shoes and my race gear took up half that bag. I tried on all my clothes the day before I left to figure out outfits that would work the race and visiting my family that lives here.
Fitness: I feel overall fit. Training went well, not perfect. I had some over use issues happening in my plantars/achilles. I noticed this started when the ice on the trails were really challenging my muscles. Looking back, I should have worked on some stability strength after I finished my marathon in November and Javelina Jackass 32k night race. This is something to improve on for future. I am still happy with my dedication to get the miles in the cold weather. I love snowy winter trails, but the cold weather is mentally grueling to step out the door into. I am grateful for a Spring race to train for to help stay motivated through the winter.
Mental preparation: Over the last few weeks I reflected to be kind to myself when doubt creeps in. Crown King Scramble is a mountain, uphill course that is way out of my comfort zone. I love to choose flat & fast sort of courses. Hennepin Hundred, Javelina, Kettle 100k are a few of my favorites. I feel these are all runnable trails that I am comfortable on, and know how to train for. It is scary, and exciting to try something that I have never done before. I do not have 100% confidence that I can finish under cut off, but I will have fun trying. I know I will need to not waste time at aid stations, taking photos, or chatting. Keep er’ movin……
To prepare: I adjusted my training to get better on hills. We do not have long uphills to train on, but I still made sure to run all that we do have. I did all my training miles on trails to get strong, confident trail legs. I got out there even on the coldest of days. Often as athletes we will think we should have done more to prepare. When that happens to me I like to start thinking of all the things I did well and saw improvement on.
Anxiety: I have noticed the same sort of anxiety when preparing for a big Race that I direct. Our team/family works for months to create an amazing race day experience for everyone. We are constantly trying to think through every single detail to make the day perfection. I often have to remind myself, “Michele, you all have worked hard, the race deserves to go well and it will”. I have done this same thing when I start to wonder if I can stay in front of cut off at Crown King Scramble. I did the best I could in training and now I just need to go enjoy this beautiful race course. Just like with every new experience, I will probably learn some lessons along the way. This is the fun of learning and improving.
Nutrition is a huge part of my training. I stay on track nutritionally and I am in a groove that I feel comfortable with. With over a year of hard work with a Registered Dietitian my body has gotten very good at telling me exactly what it needs. I love nutritious food and always make sure it is handy. The first task when I arrived in AZ was to go grocery shopping to buy food that I am used to eating, and will fuel my body to be the best it can be. Check out my haul and some of the dishes I can quickly put together.
Thank you for all the support, encouragement. I appreciate you all. I am so excited to see this trail that I have been enjoying the videos of! I look forward to being on the trail with trail folks. They are my kind of people! Have a beautiful day my friends!
What is happening back home at OMR: I am super excited to hear about the Castle Rock State Park run by OMR Run Club (Dani and Matt) that happen this weekend while I am gone. Dani, Matt, Jessica, Trish and Nicole have really done a great job planning fun and inclusive runs. They host runs in Illinois and Wisconsin. Learn about upcoming runs here. OMR Run Club
~Michele Hartwig, trail runner and Ornery Mule Racing Race Director
I was on CUSS Running podcast with the awesome ALLY, give it a listen. LINK
Food Haul for eating healthy while traveling
It took a year of learning to get my nutrition plan working smoothly. A quick summary is no sugar, gluten free, zero processed foods, lean proteins and drinking lots of water. Find what works for you. I share what has worked for me in case it can help you.
Eggs and Tuna are a very good protein for me. I pair these with lots of amazing fresh, crunchy veggies.
If you have never tried fresh jalapeños I suggest you do. Cut out the whites and seeds if you don’t like it that spicy. I have noticed as I cut out all the processed foods I appreciate the taste of things like jalapenos much more. Keep trying new foods. You may find out you love them!
I eat healthy oils and zero sugar. I normally make homemade mayonnaise for my tuna salad, but there are store bought options that use Avocado oil and zero sugar that I can use when traveling.
I only use a dressing (mayo) on salads with tuna. On all other salads I load up with real food, sea salt and pepper. The juicy tiny tomatoes I pile on. I love these kind of salads and never feel deprived. Once your body learns what makes it feel its best it will tell you the foods to eat.
I chopped and cleaned veggies so they are quick and easy when it is time to eat.
Oranges and apples are easy snacks. I love to have hot pepper cheese with sliced apples. That is a snack that is filling enough that sometimes is my meal. I will add a few cashews to it when I make it my meal. It is truly yummy and satisfying.
Roasted cashews and almonds.
100% only peanuts, Peanut butter. I will put this on ezikial bread with Spring Energy CanaBerry gel for one of my race nutrition options.
Learning to love real food, non processed is not something that happens overnight. Dedicate yourself to the journey. It makes eating well so much easier once you learn what works for you.
I love to hear about foods that work for you. I am constantly trying to improve my variety! Please leave comments to share.
Tuna salad- I salt and pepper the salad then pull in a little tuna with each bite. Love this when I am craving a meat protein. Canned tuna is easy to have on hand, and is a protein that I can have daily. I limit red meat to twice a week, but actually have it less often than that.
These radishes were so beautiful and tasty
Spring mix salad, garbanzo beans, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes with sea salt and pepper. Absolutely delicious favorite of mine.
Eggs, avocado ezikial toast
Training and family photo album
If they are not on website yet they will be soon. We have new merch coming in monthly and we test all run gear to make sure it is something we love.
Training on my home trail. This is “Tin man trail”. Such a fun little section of our Crystal Lake race courses. Each race course is unique but include this section. Frozen Gnome, Earth Day and Soul Crusher. Coach Reese and Coach Loretta just did a great YouTube show on preparing for Earth Day trail race. Check it out by clicking this link
The family at the AZ Trailhead for some pre-race miles.
What am I wearing? I am wearing rabbit race tights, rabbit race pace short sleeve, and the rabbit pack jacket. They all worked great on the trails here. The jacket is a stretch material, water resistant and will rollup into a little bag to put in a pack. I am wearing a size large in all of them. I am 5 foot 8. By the rabbit size chart I measure a size large. If we would have bought a size x-large in the jacket I may have kept that, although this one is super comfortable and does not feel tight. I just would not be able to layer a lot underneath of it.
Tasha snapped this photo of me while we ran together in AZ. Wearing the short sleeve rabbit race pace shirt. It has tiny cut out holes in it to keep you breezy and cool. I like the small sleeve to protect my shoulders from sun, and I find it easier to wear with a pack.
Tasha and Zlata (my grand doggy)
The AZ trails are different than Midwest. The rocks are solid and when your toes catches them they take you down rip your skin open. I worked on improving my trail legs. Pick up my feet while running to stop myself from falling down.