Sunday 31JAN2016

I'm gonna work the straw
Make the sweat drip out of every pore
And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding
Right before the lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me
And I will think no more
And the stains comin' from my blood tell me, "Go back home."
Jack White

Your 2015 year captured by Strava just got trumped … I don’t have the desire to do what those guys do (guys like Honnold and Macaskill) … not that I could do it to the even half the level of what they do if I wanted to, but I do enjoy seeing some of the poetry they put into motion.

Motorized doping  …

I found this to be a cool read … and while it is not applicable to me really it is insightful how we can get wrapped up in the results of others in this information age rather than keeping our heads down and getting beter.

Small fields at yesterday’s winter classic

I had thought I would get up early this AM, bang out some miles and be done for the day.  But I ended up enjoying a friend’s 70th birthday party a bit too much (translation, the wine was good) and with the shift in temps to bring snow in last night – I sucuumbed to the stronger gravity of the bed at 0600.

It was a particularly busy Sunday.  JZ and I met with our volunteer staff that will be teaching the winter camping course (quinzee building), and then we had a ceremony to head to where two Scouts were getting awarded Eagle. 

And the next storm came blowing in over the afternoon.   I got out for a little over an hour, with most of it easy and my legs feeling a bit heavy … but then I did some reps on the local Col d’Khol hill – a nice hill that is about high forty seconds when I am running it well, and a minute when I am working but not moving great.  Today was closer to the later but it was covered in snow …

No need to report miles on the week, or the month, or heck even the day … I am doing that purposefully so that I am less worried about that.  I can say – that is not really super easy for me.  I found I was still comparing my miles from this January to last January.  And I was wondering if I had accomplished some requisite number of miles in a week or a month.  Those are fine numbers but they need to be considered behind the big number:  am I faster at such and such distance than I was last month?  Am I improving?  All the other numbers are just that … numbers, HR, weight, V02 … can I run a mile or a 5k or a 10k a bit better than I did previously?  Am I improving?  There may come a time where I decide to forego one set of numbers – like how fast my mile is – to improve in some other area or for longer term improvement of course.  But that needs to be done thoughtfully for … improvement.

Some pictures from the last couple of days.

Saturday 30JAN2016

Headed over to look for the eagles near Stearns with TZ but they were not there.  She jogged back home and I headed out for my run. 

I bushwhacked up towards the old Varra property and then played arm chair archeologist for a bit, checking out the left over debris, foundation, matress springs, where some kids had looked to have built a fort, and wiring that come into this place that is now gone.

My exploration cost me though.  I scratched up my inner thigh on some scrub brush.  Not pretty on multiple counts.

I felt a bit sluggish to start, and my Achilles was hot, but I was particularly motivated to get some work in as I was not racing as I thought I might.  After a few miles I decided I do a first try at the Mona-fartlek.  My legs were a bit heavy from yesterday.  I covered just a hair under 3 miles in the 20 minutes of the fartlek, which is not great but better than what I had did for my so called tempo yesterday.

I have been doing some efforts back to back as of late because it is working to some degree.  I don’t think I am fit enough yet to crush myself on any one day (most days) that I absolutely need the recovery or time off the next day.  It also takes a bit more time for the fatigue or soreness to catch up and so I am playing with trying to jump on that effort in day 2 – and often it seems to be okay.  So this week, I had an effort on Monday but had a better workout on Tuesday.  I had an effort yesterday and then a better workout today.  I suspect that as I get fitter this may change that if I am really getting on a workout that I will truly need to recovery the next day, and maybe the day after that too.

Anyway, this is a good little workout – 20 minutes of running with 10 of punch and 10 of recovery, but not draggin’ arse recovery.  It could be good to see if I can extend that distance I cover in those (I should since I ran the freakin’ half marathon at a pace faster than what I averaged today).

I am gonna go with the pedigree on the men’s marathon – Rupp, Ritz and Meb.  There are a lot of guys right there that can be in the mix for those spots and there is certainly a possibility that none of those guys make the team.  For what it is worth, I think all three of those guys might have the 3 fastest 10k PRs in the field (even if they are from some time ago).  On the women’s side I will go Flanagan, Linden, Hastings. 

Friday 29JAN2016

David left this in the comments the other day.

I think low HR training takes lots and lots of volume to work, especially with an economy-based activity like running. 12-14 hours is the "breakdown" point for many I've seen. That much requires a slow down in order to survive unless a person is insanely durable.
At 10 hours, breakdown risk is less, and it's a pretty small amount of training in the big scheme of things (coming from a 10 hour/week runner). To get much out of that training for experienced runners, you have to be doing work that stresses your running economy in a way that is somewhat similar to racing. My guess is your form at 8:30 pace is completely slog-tastic, compared to 7ish-7:30, where you are probably running similarly to faster efforts. For young guns that are racing at 4:20 pace, those 6 min pace days are MAF AND simulate solid form. For masters runners and non-pro younger runners, 8:30 min MAF pace likely does not simulate the same form as their 6 min race pace. In some ways, I think the slogging is more similar to cross training. Not useless, but not particularly beneficial.  When I start working with runners with your background, the first thing I do is increase the speed of their cruise pace. I always have them start with a mile super slow and easy to work out the kinks, then settle down into an honest easy/moderate effort (probably no slower than 7:30 for you). At first, that's always followed by a recovery day where they run slower, but over time, we take out recovery and have them comfy clicking of easy/mod miles like clockwork. Only then do we add hill intervals and speedwork.  TL;DR. Aerobic benefits in experienced runners accrue from work. With 10 hours a week, work is maximized by increasing the pace of everyday running

Good stuff.

I was thinking about running shorts recently.  I actually think about them quite a bit without really thinking about it.  I have favorite pairs.   The ones that fit just right.  Not too long, not too short, don’t create any rubbing in the wrong spots, and keep all the bits in the right places. 

I have other pairs that are not so favorite but need to be brought into use because of use of the favorite pairs has relegated those temporarily to the laundry.  They are too long.  Or too short.  Or they seemed to be the right length at one time but with where I am at now, they are a bit too short.  Or when you put them on, they just feel like you are wearing them backwards.  Or they don’t split just right on the side.  Or maybe they rub something and chaff now.   Or the elastic on the waist has given up.  Or the elastic on the under liner has started to fade enough so that stuff is not held effectively. 

Or the under liner has been worn in a pattern characteristic of parts that have rubbed there for hundreds or thousands of miles that stuff is moving in places and directions it ought not too.   I have stared at that and been a bit intrigued that something so otherwise sensitive could actually wear away cloth an an imperceptable way.  

There are shorts that used to be acceptable but because of some degree of fashion sense they are not any more.  I wore city camo Skins for Pikes a few years back.  Not really shorts but the half tight thing.  They were awesome.  But a bit scary.  Particularly on a middle aged man.   My family has threatened bodily harm to me if I wear them again.  It is too bad because they are a great pair of shorts.  I have a pair of shorts from 1996 that were so freaking bright USA red white and blue in some sort of scatter paint pattern that I can’t bring myself to wear them even if they are good fitting. 

I noticed that almost all my shorts now have to have some sort of pocket for a key or a gel or something.  I almost never used that sort of thing years ago.  The pocket in almost all those shorts was so small and positioned in the front waist band that if you could get a key in there it was stabbing you in the gut or the thigh.  Now they are almost always in some little zipper pocket in the back that I use.

Worst of all is the shorts that have to be retired because they are just out and out funked out.  There is no eliminating the smell despite the number of washes, bleaching, cooking in the sun.  They have just become a petri dish of stuff you really don’t want near you … although it usually takes a few runs too many to realize that.  They just need to be tossed or burnt or some how destroyed.

I thought I might race tomorrow but I decided against it.  My head has been on a bit of a roller coaster this week and while a part of me could use the diversion … I will enjoy the AM with TZ in a walk instead.

In the afternoon I headed jogged over to the HS and jumped in with those guys for their run for an hour.  I held on for about 40 minutes and then spun off for my own thing, and so with that I essentially got in a tempo fartlek or something.  They average sub seven pace but sometimes it is 7:15 and sometimes it is 6:05.  Sometimes it stops at the light and then sometimes it takes off when traffic clears.  They gave each other crap, and even talked some smack to me.  It was a good mix up for me, but I could feel it when I spun off.  Sheesh. 

Thursday 28JAN2016

So I shouldn’t care.  because I don’t know him.  And there is a chance he is on PEDs.  I get sucked in  … but Rupp is in.  I wonder if he will wear the Kylo Ren mask for the race. 

Afternoon – I took this as a recovery jog with Greg so really easy.  My right Achilles was a bit hot.  6 miles.  Greg and I debated who will make the US marathon team.  Then we had this conversation about old timers that have been forgotten … guys like Jerry Lawson.  We also pondered who had the most talent and did not make use of it.  Not really a nice conversation and when we got to some of the names, alcohol was often in the mix in a bad way for those guys.  Sad.

Live at high altitude and you are less likely to have lung cancer.

Another example of how the PED and TUE converation is not easy.

Kids these days.  No respect.  I train with this guy and this is what I get. 

Yes, I purposedly made that small because that is all that weak effort deserves.

Wednesday 27JAN2016

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein

I headed over to BHS to get some jogging in.  But then I ended up not jogging.  And that was good.

Greg had set up a workout for the kids:   20 minute warm up, 8 x 1 minute at 5k pace to 3k pace.  Okay, let’s do that.

I ran a bit a better than yesterday and it was a harder workout for me.  It shouldn’t be because 8 x 1 minute should not be harder than 5 x 3 minutes for a lot of reasons, but tat reflects where I was yesterday IN MY HEAD more than anything.

More importantly – the kids kept me honest throughout.   They jumped on their warm up, or it feels like it to me … it gets me getting on it as these kids fall into 7 flat pace to get going … versus my 8:30 fumbling.  And afterwards I found Jake and he was jogging his relaxed 6:50-7:10 pace.  It nudged me to keep moving a bit rather than just slogging.  They don’t know MAF or base or whatever for that part.  They just run. 

8.5 miles.

Tuesday 26JAN2015

I had a bit of a day yesterday.  Nothing major, but curve ball after curve ball … at one point TZ and I looked at each other and said, “what the heck is going on here today?”  I got a bit unmindful with my eating and I felt it as I lumbered around this AM.

I got out with Shad and Neeraj this AM … Shad had 5 x 3 minutes on tap for a workout as he is 12 weeks out of Boston.  Oh yeah, hills.  We debate-discussed what hill to do and I talked them into starting at the bottom of the draw on the new connector trail and heading up to my place.  Trails were muddy messy. 

Conversation included how clocks work on GPS units, sweat rate, how Phil is nuts on certain topics, corporate downsizing, parents dying, the Pikes course, the Boston course, running form and economy, what podcasts to listen to (we all listen to ATC religiously but probably not much else on EP) and if Paula Radcliffe took PEDs.  I love this stuff. 

I felt like crap because of my gluttony, but I waddled through the first three minutes and found my mark on the trail.  I was able to get a little more past this on each rep.  This reminded me of the old Linden workout I used to with JV and Scott E and Galen B.  That hill is a killer workout … but more than anything it would teach me pacing.  I could easily cruise the first one but then I would find to reach that time on subsequent reps was much harder.  I learned over time that I needed to be exact my effort a bit more carefully over such hills.  

The structure of that workout was simple:  three minutes or half a mile up a hill, each one the same in time or a little faster (or farther).  5 or 6 does the trick.  About the same in terms of rest.  The rest can be a bit long, but that forces you to up the ante a bit on the rep.  JV and I also used to do this on Green on the back side, on the top of the trail from what used to be the four way junction (it is now three) to the Summit in what I called the Elliott Stairs.  I called them that because Scott used to do those to prep for the Golden Stairs on Pikes.  That guy knows a thing or two about that race.  While that workout was geared towards working up big steps, it was the same sort of structure – about 3 minutes up and an equal down.

11.1 miles.

I was (am) considering the Winter 4 miler race this weekend over in Harlow Potts park near Fairview.  It would be nice to see how I have progressed on that since my run there last month.  I’d expect that I have improved.  But, I might skip it as life priorities might take the front seat. 

On a lighter note, KZ as a total goof decided to apply to be a mermaid at the aquarium in Denver – thinking they would not take it seriously.  Well, they called her back for an interview so now she is fretting as to how to get out of that.

Yapped a bit with Hal W yesterday.  He is pretty sure that only five guy have ever won the Pack Burro Racing Triple Crown.  He won it once in 2013, and I won it in 2015.  He thinks that Bobby Lewis won it in 2008 or 9.  The only other guys to have won it are Ardel (Oscar) Boes and Tom Sobal – but the years are not clear.  I got some contact info though on some folks that can hit up to see if they can give the info.  Tom and Ardel are around but it is not exactly clear from them as to when they won it.  I want to get a plaque on the side of the TC trophy that indicates who (man and burro) won the TC in what years. 

Monday 25JAN2016

I have dug the well of stupid pretty deep a lot of times.  I might do that again.  But maybe not this weekend.  Anonymous (but you might be able to guess).

I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't and tries the short stroy which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing that, only then does he take up novel writing. - William Faulkner

I felt a bit more worked than I ought to have after yesterday’s run.  My gut was all off and I was a bit slow for the rest of the day.  Nothing huge, but a bit of a dent.  Noted.

Afternoon – 20 minutes with the Lucy dog.  I felt like crap!  I then headed over to the school and did another hour, but pretty easy.  This lady followed me for a bit.

A little later I headed over to the school with KZ and jumped in some jogging with the team.

Been kicking around if my general slowing is because of age, lack of fitness or both.  I am not a fan of the age graded tables but I was wondering if my fall off in performances over the years could have been predicted – meaning that if I ran something that was an XX% age graded performance Y years ago, what is that same percentage for that distance (or others) now.  If it is the same, you could say my performances are declining with age.  But if it is lower then it might not just be age.  Or something like that.

The boy post practice

Sunday 24JAN2016

I forgot to mention in the Carlsbad Half report that these guys were a quarter mile from the start and finish.

It might be the best finish line band I have ever encountered.  The dudes were killing it like that for four hours.  And mixing in stuff with the screams like “you need to keep running!”  KZ came into the last mile a bit grumpy, but when she saw these guys, it definitely made her smile.

Wow.  And I thought the lines on PEDs and TUEs were arbitrary. 

AM – got over to Tom Watson with Shad at 7:30, and we looped around the res.  I had hoped we’d open up and warm up a bit before the effort with the BTC but I felt flat throughout.  Once we joined the BTC group, I was quickly out the back … the group is solid, probably starting at 7 m/mile and then carving down some.  I was not ready to deal with that today and was soon looking at a guy in basketball shorts and Nike Frees running away from me.  Big group too.

Rather than do the whole run, I opted to cut the effort short and doubled back at 4.5 miles out.  Shad had been holding up for me throughout this and finally decided to do some work and eased away from me.  I caught up on stuff with Andrew A, including picks on the OTQM. 

While I felt like crud and I did not get a “great” run in, I still ended up with 15 out there and I was moving over those nine at a quicker pace than I would have if I had been left to my own devices. 

Back home I got in another mile and change with TZ.

On the week, sixty and change but over 5000 feet with the trips on Camelback.  Not a great week in terms of hitting key workouts but I sort of got some stuff in with a tempo on Tuesday and today’s half arsed effort.  Nothing to point to as stellar in the week, but I think for a travel business week, I am still moving the fitness needle forward.

These graphs show aging.

Saturday 23JAN2016

… the leaders split 28:54 for the 10k between 20 and 30k — that’s 2:01:56 pace … I sometimes think what other sports would do if there were splits considered like that.  Like what if Lebron scored 50 points in a quarter? 

AM – jogged over to BHS and connected up with Greg, Dan and the team.  The kids headed out as the three of us gave crap to each other about who was better in days long gone by.  I got some harder strides in and some fartlek work in as well.  Little break and then some more jogging back from the house for 11.3 on the day.  Managed in some core and squats afterwards.

All unstuctured … so what I call exercise, not training.  Once I establish some goals, then it should focus to particular workouts, with an idea on specificity.  At this point, the goal is to get a goal and to get in basic shape.  I think I am moving on that goal.  When I did the 4 miler for XC, I was at over 7 minutes a mile … and then for Carlsbad I was 30 seconds a mile faster than that for 13.  Sure, I recognize that there is altitude and snow and grass in the XC race, versus road and perfect temps and sea level for that half, but that still represents some degree of improvement.  I will look to come out of January fitter than I came out of December … and likewise with February. 

While runners (and people) tend to debate what is the optimal level of training (or whatever in life), it is pretty simple how to structure a training.  Listen to this podcast from Jay Johnson to get the basics.  Or the latest ATC. 

Headed down to the Stock Show in the afternoon with TZ.  Always fun to connect with that community and to get on some donkey lovin’ …

Our competitor this summer … Yukon.  I got him out and he was fine for a bit.  Until he saw any other donkey, mule or horse.  And then he wanted to get into it.

I must say, the idea of winning one of these buckles one day … well …


Headed over to another BHS BB game tonight … local battle with Holy Family.  BHS was down by 12 going into the fourth, but came back and won by 3 in overtime.  I think I have no voice left.

Friday 22JAN2016

“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.” ― Viktor E. Frankl

Vance goes right at Hall.

Thinking about this race.

Love me some Nate training articles.   

Crazy work day … my laptop has been crapped out all week.  I had to get that corrected and catch up in a variety of places (home and work) from all the road trip stuff at work.   Thought about heading out for a run in the evening, but I had a better time going to the local BB game with KZ instead. 

Physical game – Fairview over BHS 65-50.

Thursday 21JAN2016

Got together with Wyatt, who happened to also be in the area and we did a trip on Camelback from the Echo Canyon side.  I had not seen Wyatt since he was heading back from Winfield with Matt Curtis at Leadville.  We caught up on running topics and what plans are in the mix for 16.  His 16 is set with a run at WS and PB with just about 2 months between the two.  I am still up in the air as to what I will focus on.

It was pretty dark and my headlamp kept going out, but the trail is rocky enough anyway that we were not running much. 

I did some hill repeats in the parking lot afterwards to get in a little harder work.  4 miles.

Wednesday 20JAN2016

AM- nine and change easy along the canal.


Evening another three before heading out for dinner.  Also along the canal.

Tuesday 19JAN2016

AM in the dark and before the sun up... 7.2 miles on the canal path. Super slow to start but it opened up a bit towards the end. Calves are still a bit cranky.

PM a quick jaunt before heading out for dinner. 5.1 miles. I did not feel great in the legs but I felt compelled to stick to my "do something Tuesday and so in efforted up to a tempo after a few minutes. The miles were sub 7 but not as quick as the half over the weekend. But with the achy legs it was good enough.

Monday 18Jan2016

Travelled to PHX today. Once I got settled I headed over to the familiar but always challenging Cholla trail over Camelback Mountain. It was the most crowded I ever saw it, loaded with what I assume were college students. I am sure (based on comments I sort of heard as I went by) I had become "that guy." "Whoa ... Look at him." "Old man getting it done!" There was once exception... on one climb and older guy saw me coming and he decided to run for a bit. He gave after a bit and turned around to yell at me. "Make way for the young buck" he bellowed. I had to laugh and I told him that it had been a bit since I had been called so much.

The effort was easyish. The trail gets nutty enough that running in many places is beyond my abilities. But it was good movement to break up the soreness from yesterday. Both my Achilles were a bit sore from the race but this effort was off enough from regular running that I didn't pound on them so hard.

I also hit north side of the hill. I had never done that and there are certainly differently challenging sections there ... I am sure JV would love this hill but only when no one else was on it. Picking a line and grinding would be right up his alley.

My PC is down so I am a bit challenged in doing things from the phone ... Lot of posts to read and comments to responding to. Thanks for kind words on yesterday's half ... But I can say the best part is knowing I can get heads down and do a half dozen minutes better than that.

Sunday 17JAN16 Carlsbad Half

Lately I'm getting better

Wish I could stay sick with you

But there's too many egos left to bruise

FF

Typical race morning stuff ... up, some light eats and coffee, bathroom a half dozen times, and wondering way too much as to why I feel stiff or bloated.  Getting KZ and her pals set up kept me nicely distracted.  I also watched the earlier starting marathoners go by.  It included Colorado kid Cabada who missed a time bonus of a grand by just being over 2:18.

There was no 90 group.  There was a 95 group and I was not going to lay back for that.  I set the Garmin "virtual partner" (first time ever for that) for a 6:50 pace, thinking that would give me a visual regarding how I was doing related to a sub 90.  

It was a solid race.  My slowest miles were 1 (6:42) and 7 (6:45, uphill) and the fastest were around 6:25.  So I found a good groove there.  My lungs/ breathing were fine but I was feeling the lack of trainin at sub 7 pace in the legs.  The lack of familiarity with that started to rear its head a bit at  expectedly 9 miles.  It was mostly in the calves, but my feet were not digging it too much either.  No biggie though.

I could see I was gaining time over the 90 minute goal and after things shook out a bit in the first mile or two I was just catching up to folks and working my way from group to group.  However as the GPS often laps a mile before those marked on the course I probably ought to have set the partner for a slightly faster pace.

Bill Lawrence and his son were running and I had some visions that Bill would plow me down in the second half like he has done in the past.  I managed to hold his 61 year old tail off.

The course was a bit more rolling than I had anticipated but not bad.  It was sort of those hills that if you can hold it on the ups you know you get a little break on the flat or even a down after it.

I finished in 86 and a half, and apparently may have even negative split the secind half.  I was happy to break 90 and even happier to run 13 faster than I could run 4 last month.  This race is my best workout in a few months!  And it is a good reminder that races in the right doses with the right mindset for me can be very motivating.  I could also see how that racing not only challenges the body but that my head was a bit out of shape too.  I was a bit hesitant to push too much as it was an unfamiliar space there.   I probably could have rolled the dice a bit more than I did.

I circled back after the finish for KZ.  Huge accomplishment for this kid.  Longest run ever for her.  I am pretty sure I never ran 13 in one shot in high school. Needless to say she was enjoying the fruits of her efforts afterwards but she was a touch sore too!

Definitely a fun event and already thinking I might do it again.  Huge thanks for Jason and his family for making this happen.  It was a blast to hang with KZ, his family, hit the beach, and get an effort in that was the right sized boot in me arse.

Back to CO before heading to AZ in the AM.

Saturday 16JAN2016

PC blew up en route to San Diego today, so I will post from the phone for a few days.

We got to San Diego, got numbers for tomorrow, got some eats and played on the beach. I saw and chatted with Dick and Rick Hoyt in the elevator. As I was headed off to bed, I ran into Bill Lawrence, a guy I have known from the Boulder scene for 20 years now. Bill was kind enough to remind me he ran 16 flat at 5k here in Carlsbad when he was 46.

Got out for 3 something miles to shake out the legs.  Maybe a touch creaky around the knees?  I feel heavy but will go for it tomorrowanyways.  Got to figure sea level counts for something.  

Apparently there is a 90 minute pace group and I am thinking I will start with that.  It will either feel just right, too fast or too slow.  I will probably make a call on that at 2 miles.

Friday 15JAN2016

To suffer is to be human. As I’ve said without any pain how can we hope to feel the true joy of life?  Vasu Sojutra.

So the big running story today is Hall’s retirement.  Well, if you discount that the IAAF is just falling apart.  His choosing to retire should be of interest in that it adds some interesting fuel to the what is a PED fire, and it comes on the month eve of the OTQ Marathon.  Webb done, Hall done, it does leave you wondering what Ritz will do now.   Hall ran under 2:10 eight times.  That is pretty nuts.  And he walks away from the sport at 33 basically stating he put it all out there and his body can’t give any more.  Sounds like Salazar.  Or Roes.  

I propose that how well such an athlete performs on race day is determined 60% by the intensity of their recent training and 40% by their recent volume.

Ya gotta have goals:  here are Nate’s. 

Sometimes a bit slow, but a good podcast from LetsRun interviewing Derrick and considering if Rupp were to run in the trials, how’d he do.  If he does it, you either have to fall into the camp that as it is his debut, he is unlikely to run faster than 2:10 without rabbits (Hanson thinks this given Rupp is not a superior runner to Farrah and Farrah struggled in the rocket fast course of London with pacers in his sole marathon) or that he is gonna make the team no problem as a sub 27 10k, 61 while jogging a half marathon guy.  I will say he won’t run. 

Afternoon – 7.1 miles.  I am back home so I had a bit more time, but I decided I needed to keep this a bit shorter given I am racing a half in a couple of days.  My legs felt a bit heavy so I tried to be relaxed, but not lethargic.  I feel like I am either gonna run 88 or 98.

Thursday 14JAN2015

Good is the enemy of great.  And is one of the key reasons we have so little that becomes great.  We don’t have great schools prinicpally because we have good schools.  We don’t have great government because principally we have good government.  Few people attain great lives because in large part it is just so easy to settle for a good life.  Jim Collins

AM – 5.2 miles.  A little over a 2 mile warm up while I grumbled at myself about being soft and fought the urge to be soft.  The hill I did (leading in / out of the greenway) was just shy of 200 meters and probably a 6% grade (guess there).  10 repeats of that.

It was a bitch to get started this AM.  I woke up stiff, and almost feeling a bit swollen.  I did the stupid leg flex thing a lot of the night.

I started wonder if I wanted to go out and run.  I felt the laziness slip in last night and passed on the run in hopes I be amped for it in the morning.  And I was not.  And then I wondered why I was wondering.  I knew I was gonna get out but then I was just making excuses, staring a the computer, clicking on the next useless article on whatever.  5 minutes past, 10 and the window starts to close. 

There are times when getting out is easy, and there are times when getting out is hard.  Part of why I look to get out regularly is because I don’t want the habit of not getting out to form.  Once it forms, getting out might get really really hard.  Training can beget training.  Lack of training can produce more of the same. 

But even in my getting out more days than not, I have often slipped into just doing that.  The habit has shifted.  The regular mentality of pushing the envelope, going after workouts and just finding the edge so that you can get to the next level from years past … I have let that habit fade away, often hiding in the embrace of some log of just miles and minutes.  At times, it is the appropriate thing to do – like taking time off, or not running hard or just logging big miles. 

But I feel need to shift habits.  The more I think about what I do, and start to challenge it even a little, the more I recognize the more I need to challenge it.  It is easy for me to continue the habit of just getting 70 miles a week.  But would I run 30 miles a week but in a different way and doing other stuff to run a sub 17 5k again?  Not with the habits I currently have.

And when I consider such habit shifting, or perhaps habit slipping, it is not only about training, but appropriate in so many aspects of  life.  Once we trained hard, now we don’t.  We go through the motions.  Once we studied hard, now we don’t because we don’t need to do that any more.  We stop practicing that instrument because we are good enough.  We have got the job and so we don’t push forward to cultivate our career.    Young love turns old.  We get lazy.  Good is the enemy of great.   Ordinary can be extraordinary, but as long as to never settle for ordinary. 

Perhaps it is a passing thought.  And maybe I am too lazy or weak or old to change the habits I have.  Maybe it is just a habit to blawhg about it and not really do shit about it. 

Traveling home today.