We've all heard the old adage, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game," at one time or another - most likely at a time when you've just lost.

In fact, we hear it from the Wells brothers each year after they get knocked out of the Team CLIF BAR Foosball Invitational in the first round. But, sometimes it is actually relevant. Take, for instance, Freddie Wilkinson's attempt at climbing a new mixed route up the West Ridge of Nuptse (a mountain in the Khumbu

Many athletes know the frustration of balancing real-life responsibility with the need to train and compete. As life gets busier and spare time becomes an invaluable commodity, we often have to make some tough choices to maintain a workable home life while retaining a semblance of our past fitness. Do you spend your one or two days off each week with your kids? Or do you go out and get the four-hour training ride you need in the bank so you can hang in next week's local crit? You can mull those two options, or you can get super-creative and have it both ways.

TEAM CLIF BAR athlete Meredith Kessler is an anomaly in pro sport. Although she is a professional triathlete performing at the highest level, she refuses to sacrifice the important things in life in order to achieve success out on the course. Meredith's daily training routine is, therefore, a super-focused regimen that fills in the spaces between her full-time job, family life, and other passions and hobbies. This is not to say that she trains lightly. Meredith recently took me through her routine, and trust me - it's brutal. Meredith is on the treadmill at 6 a.m. for an hour-long interval session, then in the pool for a good, long swim before heading into her downtown San Francisco office to put in a full day's work. After work, it's off to Velo SF to teach an exhaustively long spin class which serves as a warm-up for her regular TRX workout. Only then does she get to head back home for some well-deserved family time. It might seem crazy for a high-caliber athlete to try to maintain this type of balance, but apparently it's paying off.

A couple weeks ago, I received this email from Matt Hart, ultra-distance runner from the Montrail team: Hey Eric, Hope this finds you well. I just decided in the early hours of this morning (while pacing at the hardrock 100 miler) to have a go at the Colorado Trail speed record. I'm in the midst of planning it now. Everyone I've talked to that knows says the record is "tight." The 500 miles was done last year in 8 days, 12 hours, 14 mins. I'm wondering if you can send me a few special items for the adventure.

To say that Todd Wells has been killing it this year would be an understatement. So when he took the National Championship jerseys for both cross country and short track this past weekend in Granby, Colorado, we were super-stoked...but not all that surprised. Here is Todd's report from the weekend.

This is definitely one of the best race reports I have ever written. I have always had bad luck at the National Championship races for some reason, but this weekend was just about