Monday 29FEB2016

It was one of those days that started out sort of warm and nice, and then thw wind picked up.  And then there was a bit of a bite on the wind, but it was still warm.  Then you saw a front land over the Front Range, the sort where Boulder Canyon disappears in a cloud of gray.  And then it is windy and cold.  And I did not get out until then.  Spring in the Front Range. 

I joined the kids, who had their first official day of track practice (but nearly all the kids have already been running for weeks).  Soccer had tryouts going though so there was no work to be done on the track and we headed over to the Ridgeview Trail.  The winding was howling pretty good then so we did some (10) harder strides down wind (about 40 seconds down, 80 seconds back).   Not a big run or a hard run today, but a nice little recovery, with some good strides – and in a way that actually felt good even with the tougher wind.

Sunday 28FEB2016

I started reading Fitzgerald’s How Bad Do You Want It last night.  There are some good stories from where clearly the mind is clearly impacting the performance of the racer and the outcome of the race.  The first one covered is the Chicago 2010 marathon.  An incredible battle between Kebede and Wanjiru.  It is sick how these guy are going at each other.

Even nuttier than that race is knowing that Wanjiru would be dead seven months after that.  By the way, Wanjiru won that race by 19 seconds.  It just reflects how much he broke Kedebe in that last 300 something meters.

Separately, that sort of racing really reflects how elites, particularly east African elites race the marathon differently than us non elite Westerners do.  I am not saying the 3 hour guy ought to race like that, but it is interesting to see the difference when there is a half million on the line.

The next race covered is Simpson’s (nee Barringer) legendary breakdown in the 2009 NCAA XC meet.  Her loss was clearly and by her own admission in later interviews a melt down of her head.  She had crushed fields all year, but then collapsed in this race.  She finished 163rd, but it was clearly not an overwhelming physical issue that had plagued her that day given how she finished in the last 400 meters.

I recall watching that race, and how painful it was to see that sort of melt down.  I showed both of these videos to JZ and was yapping with him one of the points Fitzgerald makes:  it is not just how you feel but how you feel about how you feel.  Everyone feels like crap at some point in the race.  How you respond to that in the head is key.  Physical tools are still necessary of course, but they are limited by the head. 

Any runner racer that has been in the game long enough probably has their own personal testament of races they crushed and ones they got crushed at.  And while there are outcomes that were based on the physical, there are a number that were more a head space game for them than what was in their legs or lungs.  I have had more races where I have showed up to the line fit (for me) and had high expectations … and failed to meet those expecations because I began to wilt when the race did not play out as I was hoping or expected it to (based on how I felt, or looking at the watch as some split at some time or HR or whatever other input that I probably not pay attention to at that point).   There are few exceptions to that, but the track record would show I have rarely been able to put together a good stretch of preparation (training) and near flawless execution (racing).  It does happen of course, and when it does, it is beautiful enough that it addicts you to pursue and seek it again.   

I actually seem to do well when I free myself of expectation.  In fact when I am a bit less fit, my head seems to bring my body above what I should be able to do.  It is as if when I am fit and I feel bad in a race I then tend to think – “it should not be this bad!” and then react to that … and melt.  But when I am less fit and it hurts I am not encumbered by that thought.  It hurts, and I expected it!  And so I don’t have to worry about how crappy I feel because I sort of knew that was going to happen.  It is not how you feel, but how you feel about how you feel.

So my advice is treat every race as if it is going to be the worst you ever going to feel. 

By the way Jenny later won a world championship 1500.

Mid day – TZ and pals headed over to Standley Lake to do some walking.  I took the ride over and ran home.  I ran into a guy – Mark – and ran with for a bit.  He is recovering from falling off his roof, breaking both legs, gaining seventy pounds … he has lost about 60 of it, and was moving pretty well.  Once I got on the 36 path, I did 3 minutes on, 2 minute off, except in the muiddle when I was glad to find a port-a-potty in a construction site.   Not a super long run, but a good pick up over 10 miles.

It was a good week of running.  I picked up the miles (80), and they even were faster than last week (by about a minute a mile, even though I had more vert).  I had the Tuesday workout with the boys (about 15-20 seconds per mile slower than themm so not great but moving a bit), and even managed to roll a bit today.  A few more weeks of this and maybe I’d consider signing up for another race.  I can’t say that I am exiting February fitter than January, as I have not really tested that, but I do think my mind is better ahead of where I was a month ago.

This might be as political as I am ready to go on this blog.

Photos from the home front today.

Saturday 27FEB2016

I ran with Greg a bit yesterday and he noted how I was not really training for anything.  He is right.  I have had a few false starts, but nothing well defined.  Nothing with some goal out there that drives what I do from day to day.  I am content with this for the moment, as my running is a place for community (running with others), a place for a bit of meditation (running alone), while keeping some basic semblance of overall fitness.

AM – it was not even 10 and it was warm enough to go shirtless, and it was not even a stretch.  Like many of my runs these days, the first mile dictated how the rest of it went.  I got out feeling pretty good and the pace was sub 7:30 and so that is how it set up for the rest of the run (with a little bit of an exception coming back up Mount Lac Amora).  45 minutes on this oft run loop from my house.  Did some light yoga, stretching and planks with TZ post.

Afternoon – nearly the same loop, but a few variations, and TZ was on the bike.  A lot easier. 

Clearly it is good to be home and running at times that suit me a bit better.  I am at about the same number of minutes as last week (when I was in Charlotte), but 500 feet and 10 miles ahead of that.

Friday 26FEB2016

NSFW – but these are hilarious.  The one about Jim Fixx got me to actually laugh out loud.

It was was an insanely wonderful afternoon.  I got in a bit before heading over to the HS and getting in a few more with Greg.  Just a good run, about an hour an a half.

Thursday 24FEB2016

Interesting to see the Forbes coverage of the women’s OT marathon.  Good read.

I was thinking last night about the stuff I end up talking about with folks when running but never gets posted here.  Stuff like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders  and least of all evil options guns, God, relationships, parenthood, careers, MAF fallacies, and race directors who blast big time races and then have a pay for club to do their fat asses.  I still don’t think I will post it here as this might all be public record that a potential employer can see.  It is amazing how divided we have become.  So if you want to hear that you will have to come for a run with us. 

Hat tip to Brett for this one.  11 year olds make up a better band than you.

Okay, that is a helluva rivalry.  And a lot of data to support it.

Afternoon – I jumped in with the HS kids and they were going easier today.  I found their 7:15 pace a bit more palatable than their typical sub seven and hung with them for a bit.  I tacked on at the end some and actually felt a bit more like a runner today than a slug.  Their conversation today was assigning each other a spirit animal.  Options that came up included wiener dog, slug, polar bear, etc.  Also best running movie … surprisingly they leaned towards Unbroken.

KZ had Jazz and Java concert at the HS tonight.  A couple of vids.  Wow.

Wednesday 24FEB2016

Crazy read on an Olympic hurdler turned body builder.  The diet stuff is nuts.

PM  - I got in a jog with Hans and Lucy and was bit beat up still from yesterday.  I then headed over to the Coal Creek trail and met JV.  We headed north as he pretty much has not been out on that part of the trail near the Erie airport (afaik).  He had some sweet shoes for his girls.
And a cool hat.


Got out with TZ for a walk after that … with Bart.

Nice treat when I got back:

 

In the evening went to JZ’s band concert where they do the thing with the middle school.  There were like 90 trumpets on stage.

JV mentioned it so I figured I ought to look.  I checked out Pikes registration.  No comp entry this year … as I did not do it last year!  It is pretty hard for me to imagine tackling the mountain right now, but I guess I ought to give it some thought.  Okay, thought given.  I did find this funny on the site: Doublers will be charged an additional $50 (payable with your Ascent registration). This fee is intended to discourage runners from signing up for the double.

Tuesday 23FEB2016

Around the 22 mile marker I realized it wasn’t going to happen.

I really enjoyed this race report from Dave D, particularly the back and forth in the race between him and Nate J.  His splits are impressive too.  Has me wondering if I ought to do a variation of the Pre-30-45 workout to 41-60.

Scary stuff.

Hans is not buying in.

This is fascinating.

Mid AM – got out with the constantly improving Shad, Neeraj, Bob and Kendrick for some repeats around Harper Lake.  I knew this was going to be less than stellar for me because the muscle between my ears has not been focused well, but I figured I needed to jump into this … because it was yet again a start, because it would force me to stay on top of my Tuesday commitment, because it would be good to see the guys and all that makes the muscle between the ears … well, get better focus.

On tap was 4-6 laps around the lake on 2-3 minutes rest.  A lap is about 1500 meters.  We figured we better keep it just to a lap because we’d all get into some sort of gripe fest if we had to land on what a mile was (our GPS units would all come up with something slightly different).  And when we tried to land on running for time two weeks ago we still screwed that up.  So a lap it was.  There was the typical warm up and yammering at the start and knowing I was going to be the arse dragger on the day, I got on it.  I was quickly passed by the rest of the crew.  I figured if I was not going to go fast, I could accomodate to some degree by shortening the rest some, and so I kept them all to 2 minutes or less (I think as short as 80 seconds).  I was struggling through all of them, but at the same time I could sort of tell my ability to get in and do the work and the get to the level of hurt that Shad was reaching was … was well, not really there or desired.  Hmm.  But it was good work.  I managed through six even though I had told myself five would be enough when I was at four.

Admittedly, one of my favorite aspects of these runs is where we start debating some topic – and amazingly it is usually a scientific topic.  Recent topics have included what mechanical advantage is gained, if any, by a bike; if the salinity of sweat is constant (and sweat rates), what is a normal diet, and if time is collected on GPS watches from satellites or managed locally on the watch.  There is no lack of opinions, cursing, and emotion in these otherwise very well thought out and articulated conversations.

JV was in the ‘hood in the afternoon, so I got out for an hour with him.  It was easy but that ended up being 7:50 pace (as opposed to if I he had not been around I would not have gone out at all or if I did it would have been 8:50 pace).  Another great set of conversation:  siblings that have passed, kids (long days, short years), and how we tend to get worked up about things that are really not that important.  It has been too long since I have run with that guy.  Screwed up and did not bring a camera for a pic.

I am a pretty lucky dude to get to run with so many cool dudes.

Monday 22FEB2016

I might need to pee on my hands.

Haha … ice baths suck.  I did occasionally enjoy doing a dip in Boulder Creek in the spring after a good long hard run, but I could never bring myself to thinking that the ice bath thing was the way to go.

It is a cool thing to dream about.

Afternoon – I did a quick jaunt with Hans (we are all better when he gets out for at least couple of miles) and then buzzed over to the HS.  I ran with a couple of the kids for about a mile, but their easy was bumping under seven today and I was not really ready for that.  I cut off on my own and did an hour.  A good day.  My back is a bit sore from the yoga yesterday.

Sunday 21FEB2016

AM – got the dogs out.  I find I tend to go a bit slower with them than I do on my own.  After a round with Hans, and then Lucy, I got out for a bit on my own.  I felt sort of that same sort of bleh with the dogs but I actually got moving okay once I got solo.  I was out there about an hour 45.

I missed two days of running this week, and the week with the travel was less than stellar but I feel pretty good actually today based on how the last two days started to come back together a bit. 

I was thinking a bit of Brownie’s quick quip that my blog had got too whiney as of late, and I started relating it a bit to a movie I saw on the travel to and from Charlotte.  From The Martian.  At some point, everything's gonna go south on you... everything's going to go south and you're going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem... and you solve the next one... and then the next.  The movie is solid but that very quote sealed the deal for me.  If that is not a presciption to resolving most stuff, then I don’t know what is.

KZ has been juggling the post college thing, and that includes a possible gap year in a vocational program in Europe, or college somewhere (we are down to four … from seven).

Her car got hit – AGAIN.  This time it was beyond driving it away.  Note the angle of that back tire.
But we have a new hot water heater this week (thanks to managing that TZ while I was away).

I went to yoga with TZ in the evening.   As I finished up a warm up three minute plank I was doing before the class TZ leaned over and whisphered “honey, just so you know, this is not an intro class”  Uhh.  Okay.  Not only did I come to regret the warm up, I quickly learned that I was way behind everyone else in just basic stuff.  For example – when they were on the floor and brought one leg up, it was a ninety degree angle between their thigh and the floor.  I was probably like a 60 degree.  Maybe.

And then the poses got nutty.  Like this. 

That is KZ doing some of the pose when I described it to her later.  Except then the instructor in the class STOOD UP and flipped that wrapped leg out and up.  WTF.  Good workout for me though.  Even if I couldn’t do half the stuff.

Today’s listening:

And that is a pretty cool video.

Amazon Prime has The Good, The Bad and The Ugly up.  That might be the best western ever … although the remake of True Grit is pretty damn good too.  Kids are gonna need to sit down and watch some Eastwood.

Kids if you are reaing this, I want this as a Christmas present someday.

Saturday 20FEB2016

Got back from Charlotte last night and was dead to the world within 15 minutes of hitting the door.  

I headed down to Littleton with JZ this AM.  He had a staff meeting for the summer camp he is working at.  While he was in that I did a couple hours of shuffling around, trying to burn some calories.  I need to given that I have collecting them recently.  Longest continuous run I have done in a while.  I had hoped two days off would make it feel easy but it wasn’t.  But it was beautiful to be out there today.  Warm enough that I ditched the shirt for a bit.  I ran up through a part of the Snowman Stampede and seeing some of that racing was motivating.

Afterwards we caught up with PG, Shad, Brownie, JP and a few others at the Great Divide Brewery.  I didn’t even get a pic.  What has come of me?  Things I learned … Shad and Patrick are gonna sandbag to see who can run the slowest road marathon.  JT and Amanda are gonna bet up a growler a month for a year for who ever bests the other at the PP Double.  Brownie is convinced that one of the marathon qualifiers will sit because they come up positive for a drug test.  And that my blog has become too whiney of me stating that I am out of shape, old, blah, blah, blah.  Good to have friends to set you straight.

Friday 19FEB2016

With no run yesterday, I thought I’d be up and at it and nail a good one before heading out of here today.  But that is not gonna happen.  I was up late working, slept poorly, and then was back up at work first thing this AM.  I travel back to CO late enough today that I won’t get anything in when I get back. 

My discipline has been lacking without some BAHG out there.  And the same way that discipline and training and build on each other in a positive way, the lack of discipline can swing it the other way.    I have fallen into a bit of a pattern of exercise a little bit, improve, get a bit excited about improving, have a set back and then reboot.  It bugs me a bit but I am also sort of okay with it.  Sort of. 

Thursday 18FEB2015

I should have read this a long time ago. 

Slept hard and long and still felt tired waking up.  I could not effectively muster myself out into the dark and cold for a morning jog.

You will have set-backs. You will fail and get beat at certain races. You might even hate the people who beat you, but it will happen. Does this mean you wasted your time? ABSOLUTELY NOT. You will learn more about yourself in the losses than the accomplishments.

5K training in a nutshell.

Braces are off!

Business dinner in the evening and no running after that either.

Wednesday 17FEB2016

AM – I could probably type the same thing for this run as I did yesterday.  My right Achilles was a bit irked from the harder running yesterday.  I was slow to rise and slow to get out.  I thought this might be a short 3 miler but I talked myself into a few more than that.  One. mile. at. a. time. 

Shad shared with me a nice pic from this past summer, photo credit to Jason Hatfield.

I tried to recall what I was thinking in that pic.  I can tell you that it was certainly not about what was ahead.  Or at least significantly ahead.  I was not thinking that I had 55 miles left at that point.  Or that I need to still come back up over Hope.  Or that I needed to get up the Powerline.  Or that I’d be out there for another 15 hours.  At that moment it was about getting to the top of that pass.  And then from there it was about getting to Winfield.  I just went into that tunnel of thought of about not thinking about what I was actually doing because to do so would be way too overwhelming.  Particularly since I was pretty shot by that point (and had been for about 25 miles).  I was really screwed on the down from there as well.  I found it way to steep to run and my quads were toasted, at least into Winfield.  I seemed to manage a bit better on the way back to Twin.

I also wonder if I will ever be that fit again.  I was not even that fit.  But I am far from it now.  Maybe.  Maybe not. 

Rizzo makes some good points from an athlete’s perspective on the Trials.  And then on half marathoners in the trials.

Dibabba is just from another planet.  Again, you have to wonder. 

Evening, around the UNCC Campus, chatting with TZ on the phone.

Today’s run of the government run amuck.

Tuesday 16FEB2016

AM – slept like crap and I stumbled around the campus for 50 minutes.  Stupid slow, stiff and tired.  I just was sore, short stepped and a bit grumpy overall.

I was still a bit soreish in the evening and felt sort of stiff, but I managed to work a bit for some.  Maybe 20 minutes of psuedo tempo in there.  Meh.

Monday 15FEB2016

AM – dark on the Mallard Creek Greenway in Charlotte.  I have not been here in about a year and … it is still a construction mess.  Of course there is some progress (like the new fly over road into the UNC-C) but it seems like it has been a construction project for three years coming here.   Saw several white tail deer.  None of the snow that anyone was concerned about (yet).

Various articles out that show how the heat ate people up at the Trials.  … of the 166 men’s starters, just 18 would finish inside the 2:19 qualifying mark and 61 would not finish at all. Among the 198 women starters, 40 broke the 2:45 women’s qualifying mark and whether due to heat, injury, or disinterest, 49 did not finish.

PM – poked around in the dark near the campus again.  I have to say it seems to be the most subdued campus in terms of student life I have ever seen.  And by that I mean I hardly see ANYONE ever.  I get it that I am out at 6AM and that is not when college kids are out.  And maybe tonight’s ice storm drove them in but it always seems like there are very few people around this place. 

Is Meb the US GOAT?

Sunday 14FEB2016

AM slogging …

I was yapping with Bob yesterday how I have just fallen backwards in the last two weeks – and summer dreams of a sub five mile or another crack at Leadville seem so far away now.  His response was that it is good that July is so far away.  This past week was a lot better in terms of training than last week (a bit more miles, and some work mid week with the boys). I have to be practical however and just view where I am as where I am … and it is gonna be a long haul to be where I want to be.  The challenge is that I am not sure I am gonna dot all the “i”’s to get there.

Travelled to Charlotte.  The whole state might shut down tomorrow though because there is a risk of some snow.  In the hotel room I decided to spend 20 minutes less time reading crap on the net and fakebook to do planks, squats, lunges, and a little yoga (if you could even call it that … maybe it is just stretching).

I was listening to the HOR podcast today and the were considering how there is this odd cloud over the sport.  We have perhaps the greatest pro runner of our time debut in the marathon, he wins it easily, but we can’t feel great about it because he is tainted in suspicion.  There is no winning there … he either is doing something sketchy or on the edge of sketchy and we don’t like it, or he is doing nothing and he is incriminated anyway.  Just sucks. 

Then there is the Meb story.  Dude is unbeliveable.  And I will admit that it is so damn unbelievable I have to question if it is belieavable … which just sucks. 

Good interview with Shalene.

Saturday 13FEB2015

I was dragging a bit this AM.  A bit too much debauchery last night with guitars and agave.  Good noise was made though. 

Boulder and Broomfield were socked in with a crazy fog, but you only needed to climb a litle bit to get above it.  I headed over to Flatirons for the viewing of the OT Marathon, and ran up to NCAR from there.  Bob joined me for the second lap.

We settled in front row for viewing of the trials.  Bob and I were working on a variety of possible bets pre race … over under on the human interest stories, over under on times Salazar was mentioned, if Scherf would take the lead at any point, Puskedra-Ritz-Rupp-Meb for the top three v. the field, over under on the first mile, what mile do they break 5 for the first time, how many breaks were missed by television coverage going to commerical, number in the top ten that would wear compression socks, etc.

Good races for sure.

Meb cracks me up.

Friday 12FEB2016

I thought I’d get out for some harder work but I felt heavy in the legs from step 1.  I slogged around for 80 minutes in hopes that I’d open up a bit but it never really came to being. 

Later in the evening, jogged back home after dropping off a friend and his car. 

Thursday 11FEB2016

How a guy who thinks of himself as a serious runner stacks up against national class elites.

Boulder Running Journal article that former FF teammate Amanda M wrote regarding “legit” runners.

4.5 for a warm-up and then drove over the HS with JZ to do his workout over there.  Nothing particularly great to write about there for me but it was some good fartlek type work.  Greg was laughing at me as I ran with kid who took second in 5A XC state and who was going “threshold” at 5:20 pace.  I made it look a lot harder than that, partcularly compared to him.

In the evening JZ and I had a call with the adult leaders of the Troops that will be attending “Oopik” or the winter camping snow cave course we are teaching in a few weeks.  Some of the material we went over was sort of like this:
Dressing for the cold:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-5xJh8jSg4
Sleeping bag for the cold:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXpFNdC5GuI
Quinzee construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCQo0I0jEhQ

Thursday 11FEB2016 Wellness Check

Wellness check results are in:

So I get dinged for being pre-hypertensive again.  I actually probably should have been dinged as such last year but they transcribed the results incorrectly.  They did that again this year as I saw on the form the result listed as 122/82 – not 112/82.  Given that there are such transcription errors on a regular basis it leaves me questioning many of the other results.  In any case, whenever I talk to my doc about my BP, they always shake their head at the BP measurement and say that if I am actually in that range (which is questionable) that I am still fine.

I know my waist circumferance did not drop 2 inches, but that was a matter of the tech measuring about 4 inches above my hips and pulling on the tape pretty hard.

The other number that falls into the unhealthy range is total cholesterol.  I admit I don’t quite understand that, particularly since the HDL, LDL and triglyceride numbers all fall into what are considered healthy ranges.

The numbers on whole seem pretty stable though … at least from my untrained to medicine eye.

Wednesday 10FEB2016

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The full length flick (55 minutes) Haulin Ass is now on Youtube.

This is a video from the race season the year before I started burro racing (my first year was 2010, where I did Fairplay only).  Lots of good footage in there.  It pretty much helps me conform that the last three winners of the Triple Crown are me and Jack (2015), Hal Walter and Full Tilt Boogie (2013) and Bobby Lewis with Wellstone (2009).  I know Ardel Boes and Tom Sobal won it at times as well but I don’t know what burros and what years. 

In addition of the challenge of figuring that out, there is the challenge of determining the “gender” winners.  First there is the question if there should be a different winner for the different genders of the humans in the team.  This is further complicated by the fact that Leadville has had a women’s race which is shorter than the course the men run. 

For example in 2013, Hal won Fairplay.  Karen Thorpe and her burro were the first team with a female driver across the line but third overall there.  At Leadville that year, Karen won the women’s course and Hal won the long course.  And then at Buena Vista Karen won on a long course and Hal was second but first male.  But there has not been a long course there since then.  Both Hal and Karen and their burros were declared as Triple Crown Winners, even though neither of them won all three races outright.  It is all a human created problem that the burros don’t care about.

Oh, interestingly it looks like that 2009 was a year in which BV was second in the TC series, versus the typical sequence where Leadville is second.  It makes me wonder if that sets up better for some burros to perform versus the back to back long races. 

The movie also answers a question that we were bantering about last year:  had any team ever taken second in all the Triple Crown races?  Clearly in the video, Hal and Laredo do and clearly as Justin and Yukon had, they made the races and set the stage for Bobby and Wellstone.

Afternoon – unseasonably nice, and got out for an easy 80 minutes. 

Tuesday 09FEB2016

One of my friends once told me that there are two types of people in this world: 1) those who walk in a room like “Here I am!” and 2) those who walk in a room like “There you are.”

I had my annual set of wellness tests at my work this AM.  The blood work will take a bit to get.  The BP reading was 122/82, or about what it has been for the last five years or so.  Or what the corporate wellness program would consider as “pre-hyerptensive” but when I visit my doc they say is completely okay.  Good news is that I grew an inch and am now 5’9.”  Gonna need that to make the BMI calc work for them because I put the LT belt with my knife and cell phone hanging on it to see if I could get listed as obese. 

This is a fasted test meaning I eat nothing AM.  No coffee either.  I mentioned to TZ that a dozen years ago that probably would have been a test of some sort of will, but now it is a “whatever” moment.   Maybe that means I am fat adapted?  My weight came in at 155, but the morning scale at home had me at 149 in my birthday suit.  I am about 10 pounds over what I showed up to summer races at last year.  The lowest I have seen this calendar year is 148 and most the time it is above 150.  It ain’t just the beard.

Listened to this podcast between Prager and Pinsky on the daily slog yesterday.  Excellent.  Not running related but thought provoking on many fronts.

Mid day I was able to sneak out with Shad, Bob, Neeraj and Kendrick.  After some quibbling about what we’d do for a workout, modifying that and the quibbling some more we got to work.  2 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes.  It was supposed to be a 2-3-4-5-4-3-2 ladder (on 2’ minute easy rest) but someone screwed up the 4 on the way up and made it a 3 instead.  So we made up for that on the down side of the ladder.  I felt a bit gimpy with my right Achilles still a bit angry but I managed under six pace for all of the reps except the two longer slightly uphill reps.  I was breathing a bit but this was more about the legs turning over.  Good work and with good guys. 

Shad looks to be continuing his climb in fitness.  I give him crap on these days but I am excited to see what he is going to do at Boston.

Not overly worried about it but I noticed a lot of older blog posts are missing pix.  Not sure why.  If anyone has a bead on that I’d appreciate it. 

Recent interaction with KZ on FB.