Sunday 080711

My September issue of Running Times arrived in the mail yesterday, and the article that Todd G referred to in an earlier comment was indeed in there:  2 page spread on Matt Carpenter.  In the article, it is made pretty clear he is running this year.  It is a well written piece by Metzler.  “I use to win races and feel a lot of joy and satisfaction.  Now if I win a race, I feel relieved.  And relief is not a good motivator for me.”  Matt mentions taking a few years from the race to free himself from both the public and personal expectations of how he is supposed to perform.  It appears – and I am glad about this – that this year is not that year. 

I have wondered what Pikes would be without the legacy of Carpenter.   In a similar fashion, I wondered about the landscape of road and track running without Geb.  There would be this monster of a guy named Tergat.  Tergat is not forgotten, but he is a bit of a footnote in the shadow of Geb.  At Pikes, there are some incredible performances … Elliott, Boettcher, Mackey, Burrell … not forgotten but they are clearly overshadowed by the depth, breadth of performances that Matt has put up there.

Yes, comment away on the man crush.

In regards to my own personal expectations at that hill in a couple of weeks, I am unsure as to what will play out.  Last year at this time, I had this odd confidence:  a knowing that I had put in the training and was fit, that I’d approach the race with a good balance of race ready aggression but caution in the early stages, and an almost uncaring as to how I performed.  There was a sum of things at the edges that I could begin to see though that made it clear to me that the race would probably go well.  And it did.  I PR’d, came in 12th overall, and “won” the masters age group.  I even got the nice sting of coming up short of one of my goals – breaking 4:30 (a little something still out there to keep you motivated).

This year, I don’t feel nearly as fit, am a bit road weary from a load of significant business travel, and have spent more days at true sea level than higher elevations.  I wake up and my legs feel … well, not tired or sore but a bit off.  I am excited to do the race of course.  There is a part of me that thinks that with a bit of time back home and a bit of a taper that I will be as ready as I was last year.  Be careful in the early stages, run more than you want to above Barr Camp, really run more than you want above A-frame, and then ask yourself how bad do you want it on the way down.  I also realize that those thoughts with the lead up I have had might be a bit self delusional. 

So the fun of this one this year will be to discover that.  Where am I and how much can I eek out of this frame come two Sundays from now?  Really, no different than probably what Matt, Bernie, Brad, Ward, JV, the lot us are all really facing.

AM – 12 miles.  Sort of a fartlek.  JZ was on his bike so it was often a game of catching up to him, racing up to some spot with him, just cruising relaxed or checking out the trains going by.

 

Week was 75 miles over about eleven hours.  Some fair vertical (almost 10k), even with the Tel Aviv trip.  Taper time.  Will look for the next couple of weeks to be easy with a few harder jaunts up Green or similar.  I’d like to think I can sneak to the Decalibron, or maybe Audobon but that is up in the air still.  2325 on the year.

Evening … working on setting up the wireless with the DVD, and I contacted support.   I wonder where Austin is from …