Sunday 30APR2017 Month end wrap

I forced the 70 mile a week trend today by getting close to 16.  It was not pretty.  Well the scenery was but the running I was doing was not.

 

On Friday, I was pretty convinced this run of 70s was going to come to end.  I had dealt with a week of travel, long work days, a day off from running, an achy lower back and then a snowstorm when I got home.    It is a silly streak now, but as it is all I really got going for the moment in the exercise department, I am going to hold on to it (which probably is the setup for a blow up right there).

April ends with 313.3 miles, 31.38 hours, 8025 feet.  On the year I sit at 1240.4 miles, 167.92 hours, and 56,390 feet. 

Saturday 29APR2017

6.1 as the crap continued to fly in the AM.  No biggie though as it is likely to be the last snow of the season and the water is welcome.

Things didn’t clear much by afternoon, but I got out for another ugly 10.

Friday 28APR2017

5th goose egg on the year.  I missed setting the alarm last night and slept until just a few minutes before having to meet up with the crew in the hotel lobby.  Complete miss on my part.

But I probably need the sleep.  I could the difference in my level of focus on the work day – it being perceptibly better today over yesterday. 

Traveled back home today too.

Thursday 27APR2017

This email from Dave Dunham to Jim Johnson – where he sends back an email that he sent seven years ago – is the funniest thing I have seen all week.

Later to rise this AM, but I was still up before the sun.  Probably a good thing because it was already pretty warm and stupid humid  when I was out there.  6.3 miles.

The gig I am on this week is really enjoyable, working with an amazing company with some amazing people.  One of the clients I am working with grew up in CT about the same time I did and ran.  Once we figured that out, there was the trip down memory lane of people we both knew, races, and locations like CT’s Wickham Park.   The commonality might stop there since he went on to one of the military academies and became a test pilot and flew all three versions of the F35. 

Evening – work has driven some long days (the 7 to 6 gig and then usually a biz dinner) so getting out at night is a challenge.  I forced a run on a bit of a full belly, starting over at the causeway to the beach and back – 4.2 miles.

Wednesday 26APR2017

My back is still messed up but I can tell it is getting better.  I started this run in the dark and rather than drive to the beach (like I did yesterday) I did the drudge from the hotel over the Indian River Causeway.  10.3 miles.

Tuesday 25APR2017

AM – my back is still pretty sore.  I can’t specifically determine what I did to jack it up, but I have a vague memory of perhaps landing funny and thus tweaking it on Saturday.    Nonetheless, it is well enough that I can jog and my desire to jog on the beach was strong enough that I was up before dawn to drive that.  The sand of the beach sucked me up to some pretty slow work.  6.1 miles.

Monday 24APR2017 The Back is Jacked

Landed in MLB FL at 2AM but I knew I had to get up early to get to the beach.  It was a bit further than I expected.  I thought by a quick eyeball on the Strava map on my phone it might be 8 miles there and back but it turned out to be 11.4. 

Around four miles in I could tell that a little soreness that I felt in my back yesterday was growing to be more problematic.  I should have turned around then but I was so close to crossing the dang Indian River at that point and getting to the Atlantic that I pressed on.  I was fine running but I could feel it gimping up at each stop of a traffic light.  I paid the price by being pretty damn sore around the lower back the rest of the day while in the office. 

No doubt about it, this is some of my favorite running:  go someplace for business, get up and get to a destination that is pretty damn cool before most people are awake.  It really feels like unwrapping the gift ….

Sunday 23APR2017

JAM – the post prom “Just After Midnight” party put on by the community for high schoolers was last night.  JZ and I went over for the pre-party public walk through.  This year’s theme was “Press Play” so there was a focus on games, apps, and mobile tech along with the other regular fun games.

12.4 miles before heading out to the airport.   19th week of 70 or more miles in a week but it is still just basic volume.  I was talking with TZ this week about my apparent unwillingness to jump on a workout regiment that regularly incorporates quality efforts.  She thinks that my efforts on other aspects of my life are effectively sapping that.  I am not sure I wholly agree because in younger years I still found a way to get that done, despite having other things I also focused on.  I might be just past wanting to make it hurt like I did in the past.  I know that sounds weak, and perhaps a bit silly for a guy who does this for 10 hours a week. 

Saturday 22APR2017

AM – 11.3 miles, over to practice, then with the coaches, and then some afterwards with DKV as he was doing some intervals at Stonehenge Loop.

This is what cutting the lawn looks like on a GPS.

Cutting, weed whacking and some other yard chores:  I set an FKT on this route.  It is challenging because the job has to be done right.  Periodically you have to stop and talk to a neighbor because that is the neighborly thing to do.  And then there is weed pulling and tending to some of the dead spots with grass.  Just over an hour and 1.1 miles.

Evening – another 3.1 miles, helping JZ out at the track.

Friday 21APR2017

5 miles as the rain and cold front blew in. 

Thursday 20APR2017

8.1 through the open space before practice, then another 4.4 with the coaches before and after practice.

Wednesday 19APR2017

8.3 miles.  Ridiculously windy and I was getting pummeled with little pieces of gravel out on the Rock Creek Trail.

Tuesday 18APR2017

10.2 mid day with Bob and Lucho. 

Snakes are back out.

Monday 17APR2017

10.1 miles.  A few miles over to practice, then a couple with Greg, Dan and Ian and then I ran home.  80 minutes.

Weekend through 16APR2017 Week in review and some post meet thoughts

Friday – 10.6 on the Rock Creek Trail. 

Saturday – zero miles for my fourth day off this year.  I was just too cooked after being at the BOCO meet up in Longmont all day.  I was sacked out in bed just a tad after 8.  It was one of those days where I could have gone out and thrashed for 2 or 3 miles just to avoid a zero, but I would not have got much out of it other than some mental satisfaction that would be offset with disappointment in the run.  More on the meet below.

Sunday – 15.2 on the Rock Creek Trail.  I didn’t feel so hot, and then it started to get hot so I began to falter a bit in the second half, but even when I pop on these runs like that, I tend to still hold the sub 8 pace.  I guess that is a good sign of the last 15 weeks of getting regular stuff in. 

Another 70 week (in six days of running), but hardly anything beyond regular aerobic runs.  No need to revisit how that is a problem as I have already covered that here. 

On Saturday I spent the day up at the Boulder County Championships up in Longmont.  We had some kids perform well, and some kids come up short of expectations.  JZ was one of them.  He looked flat, and while he was able to manage that a fairly well in a 4 x 8 leg, he got walloped pretty good in the 3200 later in the day.

One of the things that I think makes a person an expert in their field is pattern recognition.  Be they are a doctor, or a software programmer or a military strategist, they can “see the future” before it happens because they recognize patterns of success or failure before those things actually happen.   I could see that JZ was going to have a tough 3200 in the first lap of his race.  His arm swing was off in a way that happens when he is struggling, and you could see he was flailing a bit.    You can see something like this with all the kids when they are a little off, and you start to recognize that pattern.

Another pattern I have been recognizing is the “the last 1 percent.”  If an athlete does not take care of that last 1 percent, it can have a pretty profound effect on their performances.  High school kids recognize this to different degrees, and for some it is a long lesson for them to learn.   Recognizing what they eat, what they do to manage their sleep, how long they sit in  the sun before their races, and their mental state … it probably actually all adds up to a lot more than 1 percent … but those things are game changers for a high performing athlete.  That is ridiculously obvious – right?  But not necessarily to the a 15-18 year old kids.  This is not only true for their races and competitions, but how they approach practice.  If they approach practice on top of that last percent, they are going to have a better practice and thus ultimately perform better.  And if they come under that percent, they are going to have a poorer practice and thus are likely to perform more poorly. 

Take a 2 minute 800 meter kid … that is a 120 second effort.  In the 5A ranks in Colorado, a 2 minute 800 does not get you into the state meet.  But if you perform 1 percent better … or 1.2 seconds faster, you are now a 1:58.8 kid, and you are right at that number 18 spot that gets you in.

I think JZ is figuring some of these things out.  Maybe not.  It is not easy always for us to recognize what we do outside of a race or a practice has an impact even hours, days or weeks later.  It probably holds true that his old man is still trying to figure out these sort of things for himself despite being 3 decades his senior. 

But the pattern I recognized in myself that was the loudest over the weekend was seeing the satisfaction I had when a kid was able to meet their expectations (or say PR) versus the disappointment when they came up short.  And really how much of that disappointment was on me.  It felt like I had come up short for the athlete in preparing them … a logical part of me knows that is not completely true of course.  I recognize I am not articulating this part well here, but that reflects the mix of feelings, thoughts, and responses that in my head and heart on this topic.  When a kid I coach does not do well, I can see patterns where I think I did not do something to prepare that kid to do their best, but at the same time I recognize there are things they are doing that also impact that.  It also holds true when they do well – I can see where they have risen to be something better than what they were before in terms of athletic performance, and being a little part of the team that helped them get there is hugely satisfying. 

All of that … I love the process this represents on so many levels … dedicating yourself to a craft for hours on a week for an effort that will take you only minutes, learning from your successes and failures, trying to be a better person physically, mentally than what you were the day before …

Thursday 13APR2017

Mid day – 6 miles between meetings.  Sort of progressed on this run.  My legs didn’t feel great to start but they sort of woke up over the length of the run.  44 minutes.

6.1 in the afternoon.  Started slow, feeling a bit sluggish but some of the kids from practice rolled me up on their easy run.  I ran with them for a bit and it woke me up a bit.  47 minutes.

Wednesday 12APR2017

So Alan Culpepper (if you have no idea who he is you need to go look that up) called me out.  Well, not explicitly but he might as well had.  And its the internet anyway … it is all about me, right? 

I enjoy Skurka’s stuff on his blog.  He completely geeks out and while I brush through some of that, you can really feel his passion for what he is doing in what he writes.  His posts on his run up to Boston and what he will do there potentially are good reads.  Got to swing for the fences Andrew. 

I wrote a little Linkedin article regarding some experience of my daughter in her college search over there.

10.3 miles today with 10 100 strides in there.  Never felt great.  Got practice going for the varsity kids and then headed over to Centaurus for the JV meet.

Tuesday 11APR2017

Oddly sore, not overly so but dealing with something … maybe even a little fever?  8.6 miles before practice and then another 2.6 with the coaches before the kids got back from their jog.

Monday 10APR2017

7 miles before heading over to practice, and then another 3.4 with the coaches before the kids did their workout.

Weekend 08-10APR2017

Friday –basic soreness from yesterday’s workout escalated a bit to slight strains in my left calf and hamstring.  Slow and easy 10.6 miles.  I was actually jogging pretty well for the first seven but then I really mailed it in over the last 3 and change.

In the evening, I ended up being glued to the video stream out of California to watch one of our kids race in one of the 3200 races at Arcadia.  She did great – running 10:55 for the distance.

Saturday – I was at the Thornton meet most of the day, but between jogging there and then afterwards I got in ten and change.  In the evening we went over to the HS for the musical “Legally Blonde.”  Admittedly I was not expecting much, but it ended up being great:  good music, acting, singing, choreography, sets … honestly often the weak link in HS shows are the male singers but those guys nailed it too.  It was probably the best HS production I have seen yet.

I did have to step out at 9:10 to watch another one of the BrHS kids step on the track for the invitational mile.  It was amazing:  she ran the race like a pro, sitting perfectly in the group for 3 laps, slipping out of the box in the straight leading to the bell lap and then dropping a 66 to outkick a 2:01 800 meter kid and to post a 4:47 for the mile.

I was in the very back hall of the high school where we meet the kids every day for practice.  No one was there and I was audibly yelling at my phone, cheering for the kid.  I must have looked ridiculous.  Seconds after the race ended, Greg – who was at the meet – was calling me and we couldn’t even understand each other because we both yelling in excitement.  Really proud of what this young lady has worked for and accomplished. 

Sunday – the silly winds were back and pushing pretty hard out of the west in the afternoon.  I headed west for the first half of the run so that I could enjoy the kite ride on the way back.  As I hit the upper stretches of the mesa near the Coalton Trail I was reduced to 9 plus pace in the “breeze.”  16 miles.  The calf and the hammy were not super happy but better than the last two days.

I ended up with 70.5 on the week, with a fair long run (Sunday), some turnover work on Thursday (although poorly structured), and tempo work on Monday (again, poorly structured).   On paper it was not a bad week, but my head was less than appropriately focused on my training this week.  It was focused elsewhere (work, coaching the kids) which is fine of course.  In considering it though, I can see how my pitch for a faster mile might be a higher bar than I expected, and could be out of reach with my current life set choices.  I ain’t ready to outright put up the flag on that yet, but I am not going to ignore outright reality either.

Thursday 06APR2017

7.2 miles, with some crap efforts on the track.  4 100s (18 high and then cutting down),  then 4 400s (76 for the first three and then 77) and then 8 200s (36 high down to 34 high).  I tried to do this during the kids regular practice but it was fairly interrupted in helping out the team. 

Wednesday 05APR2017

10.1 miles in the mid day.  Later afternoon I was in heaven at the track meet.

JZ eeked out a PR at 5:10, and actually ran his first negative split race (2:37, 2:33)

So a crap storm of sorts hit the interwebs when Dave M called out Avery Collins on getting a Western States golden ticket for his placing at the Georgia Death Race while Avery is sponsored by some companies that sell/market cannabis products.  I had some thoughts on this, but the comments in those threads are more than enough of those.

Tuesday 04APR2017.

So anyone who reads this site is likely already familiar with the Barkley Marathon and the insanity that was captured in the Gary Robbins finish yesterday.  The videos capturing the moments are pretty powerful.  Certainly Gary’s finish is amazing but I found the palatable reaction of the crowd around the finish to be even more interesting.  I am assuming the woman who is comforting him at the finish is his wife, and her hopeful look to Laz is moving. 

But that whole thing … it is just nuts on so many fronts.

I started reading “Through the Valley:  My Captivity in Vietnam” this week.

I am also watching “One Punch Man” on Netflix.  Japanese super hero comic parody.  Hilarious. 

Pack Burro Racing legend Tom Sobal is getting a spot in the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.

10 miles, a few at tempo.  Snowing here.

Monday 03APR2017

Read this one this AM.

Getting old isn't so bad. Running as a "sport" isn't the worst thing you can do with yourself either, given the range of ways to be a worthless screw-up in your life. But running races when you're getting old has to be among the most futile things I can think of. I have no idea how anyone who was ever remotely fast can enjoy competing once the chances of coming within even 10 percent of your best performances drops to zero. I'm actually in admiration of those who can do it, even as the AARP literature starts to dominate their mailboxes, because racing for me hasn't been about beating people since I left high school, it's been about reaching certain times.

This is the challenge a lot of masters folks face and it is well articulated in Kevin’s latest post.  I know a lot of guys who are like this.  I can see this challenge as I try to hold the pace for a mile race that I used to hold for 10k.  There is definitely a point where you have to not give a crap because if you care too much about what you were and compare to what you are now, you are going to end up disappointed.  And then probably quit. 

Some recent shots … JZ getting the “benefactor’s signature” at the church where he did his Eagle project (he built a gaga pit). 

KZ in Europe.

Announcing track last week


Two shots from the bedroom I was in via AirBnB last week.  It was close to the Ballston Metro and I saved over a 100 bucks a night versus local hotels.  It was a basement room lock off (walked through the main entry of the house, through the living room), was clean, quiet and private.  For me, only needing a place to lay my head, shower, hang and iron my clothes it was fine.  But I could see for some folks it would not be to their liking. 

(notice the paint can holding up the shower curtain rod).

6.3 miles in the afternoon with strides. 

Weekend 01-02APR2017

I woke up on Saturday and was unable to deny that I was sick.  I blew a nice sized block out of my head that confirmed it.  I chalked it up to the business travel, lack of sleep and then spending most of Friday in a chilled state as we dealt with less than great weather at the local track meet.

Mid morning I got out for an easy run – 7.6 miles in an hour and it honestly had me feeling a bit better than I had when I started.  But apparently I was still beat because when I told TZ I was going to take a 20 minute nap, I zonked for a good 90 minutes instead.  That felt really good.  I got in another 45 minutes for another 5.6 miles before dinner.

The boys started to put up the smoke signals for a Sunday run on Saturday night.  We got out for a nice mid day jaunt.  As usual, a bit quicker than if I were doing this on my own.

16.4 for me (longer for Bob and Shad who started earlier).  I have run longer this year, but I have not done it at 730 pace (or in other words I have gone longer but not have kept it as honest).

Not a well structured training week for me, partly because of travel, partly because of the sickness and weather, and partly because of a lack of good ole discipline but I managed to eek out another 70 plus mile week (72 over 9.3 hours, with 2715 feet) -- which given Friday was a 1 mile day, I’m happy I was able to rally to it..  There was a good tempo in DC on Thursday night but none of the quicker efforts this week.