Estrella Mountain Competitive Track

Yesterday I ran/hiked the 12 mile competitive track at Estrella Mountain in preparation for next weekend's Xterra Trail Race. There will be a 20K and an 8K Sunday the 3rd of October and this is just the first event of the series to be held here in the valley. January 2011 there is a 19K at the White Tank Mountains and a 15 miler in February at the McDowell Mountains. After scouting the course I'm only going to run the 8K next weekend as I'm training for the Phoenix Rock'n'Roll Marathon in January and don't want to over-do-it too early in the season. There are two loops at the Estrella Track. The Long Loop is 8 miles of hilly single track. The Technical Loop is 5 miles of challenging single track marked for experts only. The 20K marries both trails into a 20K race. The 8K portion is the Technical Loop.

Mountain Biking the Sonoran Loop

Labor Day weekend was inspiration enough to do some hard labor on the mountain trails.  I decided to hit a different trail every day this four day weekend and prepare for some fall racing.  The Sonoran Loop is right in my backyard and is host to numerous professional and amateur races throughout the year.  This is a killer trail that has a technical loop connected to it as well as a nice climb via a few switchbacks.  The backside of the climb is a fast downhill but riddled with a few white-knuckle areas that force you to slow down and navigate rocks, jumps and washes.  Had a great ride and didn't even flat, imagine that!

Iskiate

Another product the Tarahumara use to sustain themselves on their routine long distance runs is a drink called iskiate.  In Born to Run, author Christopher McDougall wrote highly of the simple drink that propelled him up and out of the Copper Canyon as he was about to bonk.  I found a recipe on the web and then found the chia seeds at Sprouts, a farmer's market style grocery store.  The drink is quite tasty and much better for you than most sports drinks on the market.  Chia seeds have numerous attributes including antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, protein and fiber.  The seeds are also hydrophilic meaning that they absorb water and combined with their fiber content the drink, iskiate, becomes slushy after a few minutes.  This is a good thing though.  It keeps you full longer and actually helps endurance.  Look up chia seeds and you can read much more about their medicinal purposes but if you haven't read Born to Run yet I highly recommend it.

Iskiate (or Chia Fresca)

2 teaspoons of chia seeds
2 teaspoons of agave nectar
juice of half a lime
10 oz of water

Stir and refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Can be made in larger quantities and kept in the refrigerator for a week.  I read on-line that when making a larger batch to whisk the ingredients together and let sit for 10 minutes then whisk again  before refrigerating to prevent the chia seeds from clumping.

Pinole

I read about pinole in Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run. He talked often of the endurance energy the Tarahumara derived from this simple corn based food. I searched the internet and tried the recipe below. It is so simple but not bland and defiantly goes a long way. After I made a batch I ate one pinole bar and two hours later could barely finish my dinner. I will experiment with using it on the bike and on long runs but I'm sure this will be a staple of mine as it has been for the Tarahumara. I might experiment by adding some raisins or dried cranberries next time.

Pinole Bars
Ingredients

* 1 cup cornmeal
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 2 tbsp agave nectar
* 2 tbsp chia seeds
* 1 cup water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Toast cornmeal in a skillet until colored. Combine ingredients with water till cake batter consistency. Spread in a glass square baking pan that has been sprayed with canola oil. Bake 10 minutes. Cut into bars while hot. Remove from pan when cold.