Week ending 23FEB2020

Monday AM - Eagles had the day off today because of King Day but we still had practice.  10.2 miles all told.  Got in some miles with Ian, Greg, Braun and Marissa.

KZ headed to Germany for a semester abroad.


Tuesday AM - 4.2 slow wake up miles.  I start the liquid diet and the "bowel prep" today.


Tuesday afternoon - 6.8 miles with 8x70" hills on Main.  Good work for me.  Flying with the Eagles.

Wednesday AM - 3.8 with Greg.  I was pretty tired from the workout yesterday and also not having had solid food for a day.  But good enough for easy stuff.
Wednesday PM - a bit sluggish post the colonoscopy so I kept it light.  4.4 miles.

Colonoscopy was a non issue as far as the prep and the procedure.  In a weird way, if you can get past the entire thing of not eating solid food for 25 hours and that you'll empty out on the toilet with a fair amount of frequency ... well, you actually feel pretty good.  The procedure itself was fine.  I was knocked out pretty quick and woke up without issue (no pain, bleeding, etc).  It turned out I had an 8mm polyp.  That was easily removed and sent off to pathology for analysis.  I should know if it means anything in a week.

Thursday AM - 5 degrees.  5.5 with Greg

Thursday afternoon  - a super easy 5.3 miles.

Friday - 10 miles.  About 20 minutes tempo.  Ticked over 500 miles on the year.

Saturday - 15.1 miles with Greg.  Did the first half with him and Braun and the second half as a part of Eagle practice.  Averaged 7:40 pace.  Not bad.  I screwed up by not eating anything ahead of time and was regretting it as I could smell breakfasts wafting up from places we ran by.


Sunday - traveled to Melbourne FL.  Nice little shift to 79 degrees and some humidity.  Got a total of 8 vertical feet over a 10 mile run.  Easy aerobically but legs were a bit tired.

75 plus on the week, with a fair long run and the workout earlier in the week.  Not bad given the medical fun I had mid week.  72 runs on the year so far over 528.8 miles (meaning the average run is 7 and a third miles).  It is my fourth week of seventy or better in a row - something I don't think I did in 2019 at all.  I have the Okpik snow cave course this weekend and so I think the travel week and that will bring that streak to an end.

Thursday night I played the mic at Rails.  I ended up going on much later than I thought I would and this got in my head a bit.  Lessons from the mic still.  New band name might have to be the bad haircuts.

I played "Preacher's Daughter" by RCPM, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell, "Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me! and "Banditos" also by RCPM.  A guy played drums on Preacher and that sort of messed me up a bit too because I wasn't expecting that.  Earlier in the night, a guy named Pete - who I had never met - asked me to play on his set.  It was basic blues tunes but it was pretty cool to do a few tunes with him.  As the place shut down, Brent had me play his Gibson Les Paul goldtop and as we screwed around I did "Midnight Train To Memphis" with Aaron and Brent, "Better Now" and then "Copperhead Road".



So a weird night ... you just don't know what you are going to get pitched ... you have to roll with it.  Like I see with people racing - you expect a certain something, get pitched something different and if you are tied to expectations, you can get all mucked up.  I got a bit mucked up.  And that is just not necessary.


From Melbourne ... City 17.

Week ending 16FEB2020

Travel delays ...



Monday AM - Dallas in the dark - 7.1 miles ... slow.
PM - it was pouring out so and I really didn't bring gear for that so I hit the hotel treadmill before meeting back up for work. 3 miles playing with the buttons.  The treadmill is no longer a real preferred option for me ... I just get stupid with it.  And it is so unrealistic for me anyway.
Tues AM - significantly cooler.  7.2 slow wake up miles through the nearby cemetery.
Tuesday PM - 3.5 easy on the hotel mill while listening to a call recording playback to catch up.  Pouring rain out again.
Wednesday - headed over to Huntsville AL.  Got out for an afternoon run on a mid 50s not rainy but otherwise very wet (almost foggy) run.  10 miles with a fartlek of 10 by 2 minutes on, 1 minute off.  Wet, wet, wet.

Thursday AM-  7.6 AM slow.  Yesterday I ran the Indian Creek Greenway.   I couldn't do that today as the rains last night flooded out the river.  I was definitely a bit tired and feeling the effort of yesterday.




Thursday evening - did 3 miles on the hotel mill.
Friday - back to CO.  Lots of snow down and around but it was sunny enough that I had the shirt off for a bit.  10.8.  Dragging a bit on this one.


Saturday - back with the Eagles for morning practice.  9.8 miles with GW.  Easy plus.

Took JZ and KZ over to Inmotion to pick them up some kicks.  JZ couldn't resist checking out the illegal gear out from Nike.


Sunday - started the AM with an easy half an hour with TZ.  It was a nice little wake up.  Around 9, I  joined up with Greg for a long run.  JZ joined us too - which was great.  Gabby and Eryn also joined in.  We moved a lot quicker than I expected and I ended up with 14.3 at 7:24 pace, including the climb over Davidson.


78.6 on the week, with a fartlek session in the middle of the week.  Still hacking a bit from the pneumonia but I think I am coming around.

I kept to my recent "policy" of not drinking alcohol while on a work engagement.  That was a little different given the group I was with went to a brewery on Wednesday night.  Folks seem to have more of an issue with it than I do - which oddly makes me a bit more comfortable with it (perhaps I enjoy that it throws them off balance more than it does me).

Music project from Dallas.  This was city 15.

Music project from Huntsville.  This was city 16.

Here is a little video of "Sweet Home Alabama" with Amber Cole from last week.

I heard a podcast with Scott Fauble recently and he mentioned an app he uses to meditate.  It is called Headspace.  I decided to give it a trial.  It has been a good little way to try to get more into this thing I have dabbled on and mostly off with over the years.  The guided 10 minute meditations have been helpful for me establishing some start to a practice.  We'll see if it sticks.

Test drove a 330 and 335 at Wildwood this weekend. 

Week ending 09FEB2020

Yeah ... I made the blog private last week.  There are a handful of reasons for that, probably best described as just trying to reestablish some focus on certain things.


Monday - nice 50 plus degree drop in temps and snow blew in.  7 miles in the afternoon.
Tuesday AM - got GW out for 4.3 before having to get to work.

Tuesday PM - 5.8 miles as a part of practice.  Weight room afterwards.
Wednesday AM - a beautiful 3 degrees to start.  5.1 miles easy.

Wednesday PM - 6.8 with the Eagles.
Thursday afternoon - 10 solo.  Actually rolled fairly well once I got warmed up.
Did the Eagle weight room afterwards - such a privilege to get access to that.  After a workout in there of 25 minutes I am to a point where I am not sure I will even be able to lift a pen or a fork.


FridayAM- walloped with more snow.  I had agreed to meet MJK over at Teller.  I probably had not seen him in years so we were not about to just mail it in.  Wonderful to connect again.  5.4 in the white stuff.
Friday PM - sloshing around in the snow.  4.8 miles.  Practice cancelled.
Saturday AM - 16 miles with Shad and Eric L (Eric did the Nolans 14 a handful of years back).  Started carefully (8:20 pace) but then got in a good groove just under 8s as we got up to Boulder (started at Costco, headed out on Marshall).  I had only intended for 2 hours and when we got to 1:45 I wanted to be sure we'd hit sub 8 average so pushed a bit.  Last mile was 6:36 (coming back down into Louisville).  Good run for me these days (ave. 7:50).



Sunday - hit the airport to head to Dallas.  Was scheduled to get an early flight but got to the airport to hear of a 7 hour delay.  Not much love for such luck.  Got to Dallas and it was misty raining but got out for 10.  I figured I had to get something in before a possible forced off day got dealt to me later in the week.  Felt pretty good at the half and decided to fartlek on 3 minutes on, 2 off at a threshold pace for the return but then it started to really rain so it just turned into a mid range tempo.  Good work though and nice training weekend.

Ended up with 75 plus on the week and a pretty training week given the snow and Sunday travel.  10 runs this week.  I seem to be averaging about an hour a day, with 7.3 change miles.

Wednesday night I played a new mic over at the Glenn in Northglenn.  I headed over with Aaron and Sean (who have been incredible ambassadors for bringing me into this game) and checked it out.  I got in four tunes over 15 minutes, made the typical mistakes but had a blast taking in the vibe, the local musicians and just enjoying the community.  I'll head back.

I actually played a song as a part of another unexpected thing at a piano bar on Saturday night.  Video forthcoming. 

Week ending 02FEB2020

Monday AM - DC in the dark.  Slow, dragging a bit.






Hoped to get out in the evening but work day dragged out.
Tuesday AM - 10.7 miles around DC, eventually around the Mall a bit.
Wed mid day - we wrapped up on the engagement and so I got out for a mid day 10.  Always move a bit better in the middle of the day vs. crack of dawn.
Thursday - late afternoon.  10.1 miles, with 6 x 3 minutes up tempo on 2 minutes recovery around the Mall.  6:20-6:30 pace on the up stuff.
Friday - travel back to CO.  In the afternoon a slow tired 10.

Ended January with 277 miles.  My quality was challenged with the illness and the travel.  The travel was higher than my target (no more than 10 days in a month - it was 14).  The miles came over 38 runs - as I seem to generally get in 9 runs a week.

Saturday - AM 7 miles with GW as part of Eagle flying.
Afternoon - with JZ, 5.3 miles.  Really wonderful conversation with him.
Sunday - 10.2 miles with fartlek thrown in there ... and some of it the fastest running I have done in a bit.  It was a ridiculously beautiful weather day ... and like many I tried to take advantage before a bunch of snow comes in the front end of this week.

Apparently Pikes Marathon has filled its entries.  The Ascent is reported to be 80% full.

As December came to a close, I decided to take a break from alcohol.  It was not, at the time, to align with a "dry January effort.  I later learned that such a thing was indeed a thing.  For me, it was simply just a check to see if I would feel any better not drinking, and exercising some discipline over myself.  After all, I said all the time I could just quit if I wanted to, and it felt like it was time to do that.   I did it and really had no issues with it.  I can't say I felt better or worse or that my sleep was any better.  It was good just to be able to see that I could do it if I wanted to.  Several times during the month I thought, "dang this is silly, I have already demonstrated I can quit - maybe I can just have one."  But that was a fleeting thought and I just didn't have any.  The biggest issue - if there was any issue - was how people reacted to this.  It was almost as if they felt they were also not obliged to drink or that I'd be offended if they drink or perhaps that I'd lose my ability to choose if they had a beer in front of me.  I always encouraged them to do whatever it was that they wanted to do:  have a beer if you want - don't let me sway you with my little project."

Spent a better part of Sunday afternoon mashing my fingers to hamburger playing over at Rails with some of the regulars over there.  It was awesome.