Friday, July 17, 2009

How The Hell???

Does she do it? I just ran across a Road Runner's Article on Anita Ortiz, ultra-runner. She won the latest Western States Ultra and holy crap, has four kids, and she's a full-time teacher. Here's a quick snip-it of the article. She has 100-110 mile weeks. That just seems really freakin' insane. I thought 60 mile weeks were really busy. I kinda think she's insane. But I'll give it to her that she could be the world's best multi-tasker! But it seems like her kids do a lot...even for being teenagers. I mean I am all for chores, but it seems like a lot. Maybe it's something we all need to think about to prepare more independent kids. I had lots of chores when I grew up but not this much!!! What do you think?

Go here for the full.

How did you train for the 100-mile race?

There's a 30-mile run I did a lot here, where I run up from East Vail over Vail Pass (at 10,662 feet), to Copper Mountain and back. And, usually, I try to avoid downhills in my training, but I did a lot in preparation for the Western States course.

What about mileage?

I put in 100 and 110 weeks, but I didn't start doing that until after Miwok [the Miwok 100K in May, in which she was second]. I did one 150-mile week. But usually, when I'm just training for anything, I put in between 90 and 100-mile weeks.

With four kids, a husband and a job, when do you do your training?

I run at 3:30 a.m. every morning. I go out for between 11 and 20 miles on trails with a headlamp. That's when I do my bulk. I get home around 7 a.m. and to work by 7:30. The kids get themselves off to school.

If I have a long lunch, I crank out an hour at home on the stair machine. After work, I come home, take the kids to soccer, dance, cross-country, whatever. If they're all gone at the same time, I go out again. Or I get another run in when the kids are asleep in the evening.

I do double days—or three times a day—every day.

What do you not do? What do you sacrifice?

I don't clean my house. My kids pick up a ton of slack. They do their own laundry, make their own lunches. I don't have to supervise them anymore.

When they were younger, I used my treadmill a lot more.

We don't sacrifice time together. We're big on the family dinner. Often it's not until 7:30 or 8 p.m. And sometimes I'll run outside or on the treadmill after dinner.

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