Racing (in person) may have been canceled, but running hasn't! Yes, some locations are stricter on the lock downs and stay at home directives then others. Getting out to trails and the mountains has been challenging for some people. But others are getting creative and doing their runs around the block or even smaller. How to stay motivated when there's such a limited range for adventure? After so many March and April races were canceled, with May and June looking ominous, the race directors have stepped up. They need to stay in business - which means putting on races. No races means no money and possibly even worse as runners demand refunds for events that were canceled. (Side note - if you want your favorite grass roots race series to survive, don't ask for a refund if the race was canceled on short notice and don't do a charge back! That's a sure way to bankrupt the events. Let the RDs figure things out that will both help you and the events.) The solution isn

Thelen Coach Athlete Dennis headed up to the Wind River Range in Wyoming for the inaugural Drift 100 Fat Bike race . It might have been one of the last race held before new guidance from the CDC came down! Here is his report from that race. Sounds like it was a great event and one that fatbikers should consider in the future! Remember - support your race directors and take a chance on the smaller events.  All photos from Dennis Pre-race and ready to go! Gear list coming soon... The Drift100 course was beautiful, challenging, and fun; everything a 100-mile fatbike race should be. Below is my perception of the course, at least as well as I can remember it. You can forget a lot of geography over the course of 25.5 hours of pedaling! Course markings and tracks The first 47 miles of the Drift100 are almost entirely spent climbing. From the start, the course climbs up the valley for 19 miles at a gentle gradient punctuated by a few short, steep grunts. There are a handful of ro

The last few weeks (and the upcoming ones I'm sure...) have been crazy. It seemed each hour brought new cancellations to the racing world and new restrictions on everyday life. It's hard to see the effects that the widespread cancellations, closures and such will have on people and businesses. We do know that things are changing and changing rapidly. Some things will survive, others will not. It's our job to help the people, businesses and series so that when we emerge on the other side, they are marked on the survivor side. There's plenty of information out there on the importance of social distancing to slow the infection. That doesn't need to be repeated. Social distancing doesn't mean time to go out and plan an awesome vacation because you are "working from home." It means minimizing unneeded travel, decreased close up and in-person interactions. Yes, camping off the grid decreases social interaction, but that overlooks the unneeded travel part o

I was going to write about setting up goals for the 2020 season. I was planning on reviewing SMART goals, updating an earlier article on writing and implementing goals. I was also going to discuss some of the pitfalls of setting resolutions as related to the SMART goals. But there's always some much written about goals this time of year. Why write the same thing again? So here's the link to the SMART goals . There's plenty of good information there to help you craft achievable goals. Instead, I want to talk about rebuilding. It's never a comeback , as I've discussed before. The athlete who suffered the injury, had the layoff - what ever, is no more. We can't return to that athlete no matter how hard we try. Rebuilding isn't crafting a comeback, it's creating a new version of that old athlete. The athlete we are now building into is coming from a different place then the old identity. It's important to remember that the rebuilding process takes time