Wednesday 122210

It is December 22.  How’d that happen?

Anyway … dead lifts instruction video, Geoff weighs in on money in ultras, a step towards 470 continuing through to Golden, interview with Grand Master Doug Bell …

CRYSTAL BALL 2011:  who becomes the next name in the sport that we are all a’buzz about?  Actually, I consider this question on a few fronts.  I eyeball the guys who are turning 40 this year … as becoming a Masters runner can be quite a motivation for some to up their game (and possibly become injured).  Lucho becomes a Master, as does Brad P. … but beyond that, I am wondering who in the MUT space shows up and we are surprised by.  I guess we could see the extension of Siemers and Randall, or it could be new names altogether.  I can see a guy like JV really having a bust out year too.

GOALS 2011:  I really need to put a structure to this one and break this goal down a bit but it is about strength training.  I am tempted to say that I’d do something like 36000 pushups in 2011, but that is a goal that sets up for failure.  In regards to strength training, I think I need to take this goal and make it small discernable short term steps.  Like, next week I will do core, squats, etc for 10 minutes every day.  Just little stuff that I can do that I can build a habit around.  I just need to G.A.P and get on it.

I also have some goals in regards to guitar … mostly about expanding my repertoire and using a Kanban board to drive that.  More on that later, but it is mostly about getting down another dozen or so songs next year.  Maybe even writing some.

Found the files I recorded yesterday and so podcast 5 will probably be up tonight.

AM – ten miles really easy.  Really easy.  Dog jog.  Thought about getting it after this AM for a bit but will look for that tomorrow. 3989 miles and over 600 hours now so tomorrow might be 4k day.

I dig the Tony video but I don’t dig how the video file starts everytime the dang web page loads automatically. 

Monday 121310

AM - Pittsburgh or somewhere north of there. Snowing, dark and unfamiliar territory so I opted for the mill in the hotel instead. Felt particularly sluggish to start (first mile was 9:21, second was 8:26) - probably due to the time change and travel yesterday so I was just going go as slow as necessary. I opened up a bit around 2 miles and decided that I'd see what it would take for me to get to a typical MAF (150) HR and then hang out there for a bit. It took just a couple of ticks below 7 min / mile pace (okay a treadmill mind you) to trip over 150, and then I had to back it off slowly from there. Miles 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 were 7:04, 7:06, 7:06, 7:11, 7:17. 10 miles total.

GOALS 2011: Trips like these drop me right into the heart of many temptations - lots of rich food on the company, many beers. I need to keep a discipline with that stuff when I am on these trips. Kind of hard to objectify but it basically means - don't embrace the gluttony when it is there. This is sort of a broader goal in my head which really is "don't eat like a kid."

CRYSTAL BALL 2011: So is this the year? Yah, you know what I mean. Is this the year that someone takes him down? Him being the KOM, Matt Carpenter. He has dominated Pikes for so long it is expected that he wins. 17 wins at Pikes Peak. Course records. Wins in singles, doubles, fast ups, fast downs, good weather and bad. He has put such a stamp on the mountain that I don't think folks can even fathom what he has done there.

But, even by his admission, father time catches all of us - is this the year it catches him. Last year he did not win the BTMR. And he did not have the fastest Ascent of the weekend. And he admitted that he had a tough build up in his approach. Is the motivation to compete and take down guys half your age enough to overcome the physiology of aging? Is this the year that a Parker or a Mackey can keep close enough on the up that they can make a race of it on the down?

No doubt about it, I am a fan of Matt's. I hope he grabs another win so I can cut and paste this paragraph into a Crystal Ball for 2012.

Wednesday 120810

Yesterday was apparently the earliest sunset of the year.  Good.  I realize that the days get shorter (via later sun rises) through the equinox, but I am glad to be getting more light at the tail of the day.

AM – 5.5 miles, easy.

Bryon continues the post NF50 conversation over on his blog today.  Good stuff

Okay … three new things I am going to yammer about in this blog between now and the end of the year:

1.)  goals, expectations, and things I ought to do (call them resolutions) for next calendar year (GOALS 2011)
2.)  highlights from 2010 – both personal and ones I observed (HIGHLIGHTS 2010)
3.)  predictions, questions and prognostications for next calendar year. (CRYSTAL BALL 2011)

Let’s get started then shall we, and for fun … the crystal ball …

CRYSTAL BALL 2011:  Who the heck beats Roes at 100 miles in 2011?  This guy is a machine, a true freak.  I mean he has a wikipedia entry.  He has done seven hundreds and has always reached the finish line first.  Along with that he has a couple handfuls of course records, and podium finishes at shorter distances.  In an event where a slight off day can mean you are not just out of the hunt but you are done – this guy has had NONE at the big distance (Unfortunately, UTMB fell apart last year so we did not get to see how that played out).   Even at WS100, when the twitterverse thought he was done, he came roaring back to take the win.  There appears to be only a handful of guys with the pedigree and the training credentials to make it happen.  No surprises here as to who the candidates are:  Anton, Killian, and now maybe some other Europeans if they decide to toe it up.  Does that happen at WS100 this year?  Or at UTMB?   Or does Geoff continue to do his thing, race his race and just get to the finish lines faster than everyone else for distances of hundred miles or more?

PM – running into the darkness … but honestly, if I had woken up from a long sleep and you told me it was 9 PM in August versus 5 PM in December I would not have known the difference.  Shorts, t-shirt, a little cool, that epic mountain backdrop, and of course that feeling that you are moving much faster than you actually are when you run at this time of day.  6.5 miles (12 on the day).

I finally put my order in for my winning shoes from PPM, and they arrived today.

Doing a little end of the year number crunching tonight in the Sportstracks tool …

Sure, I may get 4000 miles but it is a helluva lot less vertical than many – with it probably coming in around 250k on the year for me.  Interesting to see the HR on whole drop.  Makes me think of Lucho.

Brandon’s NF race report is up.