Weekend:
I met my friends Carrie and Jesse, who were my teammates in the La Jolla 10-Mile Relay Swim, for a 2-mile open-water swim on Saturday. It was our first of the season because temps are still below 60 degrees. I thought it was going to feel colder than it did which was a nice surprise. The swim went well and I'm glad we got out there at least once before the Ford Ironman California 70.3 on March 29, in Oceanside, CA.



Monday:
The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is making a stop at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park this week. I scored Marie and I tickets for tonight’s showing. Check out this epic preview:

Tuesday:
TCSD track workout

Wednesday:
TCSD master’s swim workout

Thursday:
I’m meeting Tara Coleman, CCN for a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test. Tara has been a long-time Active Community moderator with an extensive nutrition knowledge-base. Check out and be sure to ask her any of your sports nutrition related questions.

Tara is going to help me devise a nutrition strategy for my 100-mile run in June. The RMR test will provide a baseline to help us determine how many calories I will need to ingest during the 31-hour race. Tara is going to analyze the foods that I use during training to determine how much I will need to have prepared for the race. It is critical that I relay this information to my crew team so they can monitor my food intake throughout the race. I’m really excited to gain this knowledge because it’s going to make me that much more prepared to step into the unknown.

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Inspiration

A few weeks back, I randomly met a local endurance athlete who is also training for the SD100. Jill Childers joined me and my SD100 crew team out in Cuyamaca State Park for a 20-mile trail run. We chatted with her during the run and Jill was really cool and super fit. I asked her about her experience in Kona in 2007 but it wasn’t until reading this interview from Competitor called Bouncing Back, when we learned of her truly inspirational story. Check out how Jill recovered from a life-threatening bike accident to compete in the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.



Make it a great week!

These are some of my favorite pictures taken last year. Enjoy the show!

My ultimate fitness goal for 2008 is to complete the San Diego 100-mile endurance run (SD100) on the third weekend of October. With some guidance, I’ve outlined a series of incremental goals, races and periods of rest over the course of the year that will gradually prepare me for this main event.

After finishing 2007 with a 52-mile training run and beginning 2008 with a 50-mile race, I’ve decided to use the sport of triathlon to build my fitness while taking a small yet strategic break from ultra running. My first half-Ironman distance triathlon is on March 29 in beautiful Oceanside, California. To prepare for this particular 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run, I’ve broken my training schedule into three phases and the first phase began Monday.

Bike course:

For the next 16 days, I’ll be training in all three triathlon disciplines, a variety of cross-training exercises, plus racing a Triathlon Club of San Diego (TCSD) Duathlon on February 2. My next break is President’s Day weekend, where I’ll use a long-weekend of backcountry skiing in the Sierra Nevada as active recovery before beginning the second training phase.

The focus of phase two is “brick” training or the combination of two triathlon workouts into one and less of a focus on cross-training. For instance, upon arriving home from cycle-commuting, I will immediately go for a run. The purpose of this is to train my legs to learn how to make this transition and get used to the switch so on race day, I can jump off the bike and break out into a fast half-marathon. During this phase, I will bump up the weekend mileage on the bike and race in another TCSD Duathlon on March 3.

Phase three includes brick training, a long training ride, plus a trail race in San Luis Obispo called the Mountain of Gold on March 16. I plan on running the 25km option and Marie will run the 50km race. This way, I can fit one last long run in before my event and I will be able to pace Marie for the first two loops of her four-loop course.



I’m nervous about the half-Ironman since it is an unknown but I like the pressure since it is rapidly approaching. I need to focus right away and get to work. Having confidence in my base fitness helps, but I’m honest with myself and admit that my swimming needs work, my cycling needs work and I must include plenty of brick workouts between now and March 29 to have a decent race.

Now that I have my sights set on the SD100 in October, I’m excited to get into triathlon shape and to roll over the fitness into the next event on the list: The Leona Divide 50 on April 19. This year is off to a great start and I plan on checking in with you all along the way. Let's make thisa fun and exciting year. All the best to you and your 2008 goals!

Yours in Adventure,
~Toby

In November, I wrote about my good friend and fellow adventurer, Albert Lin, who kept an email journal of his five-week journey all over China. Once again, Albert has returned to his homeland for the holiday season and this time, there seems to be a deeper and more intimate connection to his land. Please read the latest installment to Albert in China.

Nearly two months after my return from the road I found myself once again crossing the pacific towards asia. This time to visit my aging Grandparents in Hong Kong. Christmas and Newyears in the city had become a bit of a tradition in the previous years.

I walked beside my gong gong (Grandfather in chinese). He had decided to get out of his wheel chair and was now slowly strolling down the pathway which bent around the Hong Kong harbor. We talked in mandarin about our mutual adventures, his over 50 years ago, and mine barely more then 50 days past. A light breeze passed through the park, its peaceful embrace hidden away from the bustling streets in this sanctuary of serenity. It carried along with it the scent of a small cropping of Gui trees which had been planted within a garden in the middle of the park. The beautiful smell wafted into my nose and traveled deep into my mind, extracting the most subtle of memories from the darkness of time. As thoughts of the road swirled through my head my heart began to pound with the excitement and longing one gets from seeing a long lost lover pass by in the street. The realization that the past is never with in reach strikes painfully at the sweet sanguinity of hindsight. The faintness of those beautiful memories being weathered by the hands of time, only grow more precious with age. I stood struck in my steps, taking in the fragrance of Guilin. Before a word was spoken I turned to my gong gong only to find the same distant stare in his eyes. The same breeze had transported our souls, if only for a moment, to the tree lined streets of Guilin. And for a brief second the hands of time had been thrown to the side, and my grandfather and I were on the Big Road together. The rising limestone camel back mountains, the voices of food stand owners, the winding canals, and the spirit of the city danced through our minds. We stood for a few minutes and reminisced over the town which had captured both our hearts. He had spent over two years in Guilin, escaping the Japanese solders during world war II and being one of the last men to evacuate the city as it fell into enemy hands. I had spent only a few wandering days in this magical city, exploring its many parks and streets via the back of a motorcycle cabbie. Yet in the end we had a chance in this lifetime to walk that road together, and if even for a couple of minutes, it was incredible. For although time inevitably changes all things, the road is constant, and it is in front of us all.

Albert Yu-Min Naching Lin

Yet again, my Thanksgiving festivities took me down the road less traveled. Last year, I ventured to southern Utah, hiking and backpacking throughout Zion National Park. This year, Grand Canyon National Park was at the top of my list.

John’s flight from Boston arrived in San Diego at 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday, he was at my house at 2 a.m. and we were on the road by 3 a.m. Driving through the night was effortless with no traffic and perfectly straight highway. Our conversation kept us entertained as we made our way east into Arizona. John and I have been best friends since kindergarten and this was his first experience in the Wild West. We’ve done well at keeping in touch over the years and this adventure was our way of reuniting and celebrating our friendship.



Our first stop of the day was the backcountry permit office at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. We were denied a permit for Wednesday night, but secured Indian Garden campground for Thursday night followed by Bright Angel campground on Friday night. Since we weren’t beginning our descent until the following morning, John and I cruised through the park and snapped a bunch of photos from the overlooks. We were both extremely fatigued from pulling an ‘all-nighter’ so we made our way out of the back entrance of the park and into the Kaibab National Forest where car camping is free.



Although temperatures dipped into the 20’s Wednesday night, this was the coldest weather we encountered because it actually gets warmer as you descend the canyon, causing us to shed layers while en route to Indian Garden campground. We arrived at our designated campground quite effortlessly, overtaking all shapes and sizes of travelers and tourists along the way. With our tent set up and permit visible to park rangers, we consolidated our gear to daypacks and set off on a hike to a plateau overlooking the Colorado River. As we approached the lookout area, a solo hiker informed us of his encounter with a California Condor. I immediately broke-out my camera and got into Steve Erwin-mode. The next twenty minutes made our 1,300-mile road trip worth every second.


Thanksgiving dinner consisted of precooked turkey from the market in the park village paired with instant garlic mashed potatoes. We sliced and diced the turkey and added the potatoes into my Jetboil cooking system to warm them. This was a slight improvement from the classic turkey sandwich I ate with my feet dangling off the edge of Zion’s Angel’s Landing. Check out the picture from last year:



The next morning, John and I arrived at the Colorado River by 8:30 a.m. This is when we decided to change our plans for the next stage of the trip. Since we had arrived to the river where our next campsite was located so quickly, we made the decision to hike the rest of the way out of the canyon. We consulted our map and searched for a trial that would allow us to return to the South Rim without back-tracking over terrain that we had already covered. While discussing our plan, we met a day-hiker named Jordan that had left the South Rim at 4 a.m. and was planning to ascend the South Kaibab trial. After further discussion of trail options, Jordan had invited us to join him and offered to drive us back to our car at the Bright Angel trailhead. This was exactly what John and I were hoping to do—hike all the way out, not cover any of the same terrain and not worry about getting back to our vehicle. The three of us set off from the Colorado River, ascending the Grand Canyon via the South Kaibab trial. This was a challenging hike because of our weighted packs and the countless switch-back trials but it was by no means difficult. We were out of the canyon a little more than four hours later and extremely satisfied with our experience and our decision to push ourselves to finish off the hike.



Somewhere during our ascent, I came up with the idea for the next stage of our adventure— Joshua Tree National Park in California. I had told John of my many camping and climbing trips to this park, but words and pictures still do little to describe its unique beauty. After pizza at the village market, we were back on the road. Our drive out of the park and through the National Forests while the sun was setting continued to add to the experience. We had to come to a stop when three Rocky Mountain Elk darted across the road.



The drive to Joshua Tree was tiresome and John and I took turns at the wheel to make sure we arrived safely to the park. We pulled into the south entrance late on Friday night and took the first campsite we could find in Cottonwood campground, marking the end of an epic day. Early the next morning, strong Santa Ana winds shook the tent until we were awake. I made a quick batch of coffee in my Jetboil cooking system and began the 45-mile drive from the south end of the park towards the northwest entrance. We made a stop at Jumbo Rocks campground and scrambled around on the gigantic boulders until our stomachs demanded breakfast. Crossroads Café in the town of Joshua Tree remains a favorite after a hearty breakfast for the final leg of our road trip. As soon as we neared San Diego, I cut west to the coast and drove the remainder of the way into the city on route 101. The sun was shining bright over the ocean and it was 70 degrees. There’s nothing like returning to San Diego from an adventure. Thank you all for joining me--I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Yours in adventure,
Active Toby

My good friend and fellow adventurer, Albert Lin, recently returned from a five-week journey through China and Mongolia. Every few days during his travels, Albert's friends and family received an email journal entry. Each story overflowed with a detailed description of a foreign land few westerners have ever dared to explore.

Albert is a fascinating individual who feels as much at home teaching graduate level engineering classes at UCSD as he does in Mongolia eating sheep's carcass and drinking fermented horse's milk with his nomadic Mongolian ancestors.

Upon Albert's safe and highly anticipated return to San Diego, he organized his photos, stories and sound bites into a blog. His collection of photographs is impressive, but the adventurous spirit that radiates through his stories is one of a kind.

With Albert's permission, I present to you, Albert in China.

My climbing partner, Gil (aka Mountainroad) and I attempted the Palisade Traverse this past weekend which began with a 5.5-mile approach-hike from South Lake trailhead (9,755 feet elevation) on Friday morning. The trail was well-maintained and we acclimated by sleeping in the parking lot the night before, allowing us to hold a quick pace from the start. It began to snow when we reached Long Lake and continued to snow for the remainder of the hike until we reached Bishop Pass (11,960 feet). We knew snow was in the forecast, but didn’t realize it would start so early in the day. The snow let up while establishing base camp (12,200 feet) just below the chute to Thunderbolt Peak, which we planned to ascend at 4:30 a.m. the next morning.



While replenishing our water supply in an alpine lake, the sky became a darker gray and the snow began to fall again, but this time at a heavier rate with steady accumulation. As soon as the sun set, the temperature dropped to the high-20s, giving me the opportunity to fully appreciate the warmth of my brand-new zero-degree down sleeping bag (Thanks, Mom and Dad!).



By morning, a fresh foot of powder blanketed everything in sight, including the chute to Thunderbolt peak, the first on our list of peaks for the Palisade Traverse. It was obvious at this point that we were snowed-out because the route would be too dangerous to negotiate.



Immediately, our focus shifted to staying warm, so we quickly broke-down our camp and packed our bags for the descent. The sun had yet to crest the ridge and it was still frigid. The hike back to the car was gorgeous. We were in a