Nutrition Book

I'm a huge fan of proper nutrition before and during a race. With the right nutrients you can drive your body farther and faster than if you just eat garbage. To put it succinctly, your body will take more abuse. And let's be honest with ourselves, the Classic is all about abusing your body. Not in a masochistic manner - more along the lines of drawing on all possible physical reserves to reach a certain goal. Classic racers are known for their ability to force their bodies into extreme endurance. Many a Classic race has been finished or won based purely on strength of will alone while ignoring pain and fatigue. Your body will hold up to this abuse much better if you give it the nutrients it needs. 

You will travel farther, longer and faster. You'll live longer and your mind and body will be more balanced if you eat right. So, having extolled the virtues of proper nutrition enough I'll get to the point. I came across a great book about sports nutrition the other day. It has some really good information about endurance nutrition.  Some of it is a bit basic but even that is all a good review. Here's a link.  Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes

Speaking of sports nutrition, here's another book that is based on endurance alpine climbing but has an excellent section on nutrition.  The cross-over between the Classic and endurance climbing is obvious and the nutrition fundamentals are very similar.  I'm not sure it's worth it to buy the book just for the nutrition section because it's fairly short but if you like climbing books anyway you should take a look.  I refer to this book more for the nutrition section than anything else.  Extreme Alpinism

Waihee Ridge Run

I did a great trail run the other day on the Waihee Ridge trail. I'm currently living on the North Shore of Maui and Waihee Ridge is about an hour away over in the West Maui mountains. I was pleasantly surprised to find some decent trail running here in the islands and this one is one of the best trails I've come across. Running in the West Maui mountains often means coping with clouds, rain and cooler temperatures. At the car in the sun at 1500 feet elevation, the temperature was about 75°. I climbed up into the clouds and gained 2000+ feet and the temperature dropped rapidly and it was about 60° by the time I reached the top.

The trail passes through thick forest of kukui, guava, ohi'a and ferns.

Amazing views of some valleys and waterfalls of West Maui a couple thousand feet below.

The sun rising over Haleakala.

The trail winds along a 20 foot wide ridge and drops off steeply on each side.

Some of the terrain looked positively Alaskan. This damp section was foggy, had evergreen trees and standing water on the trail. It was like something out of Southeast Alaska.

The top of the trail was a dead end with steep drop-offs on all sides. Thick fog prevented me from seeing how steep it really was but I've been up some of the valleys before and seen that much of the terrain is close to vertical. Great run up in the mountains with surfing just a few miles away.