Tuesday night I played my fourth open mic of the season and it was rough. I tried an original number, "Stardust Lullabye" but it was a bust for me - just ended up not going the way I had rehearsed it. Weird. Just in the wrong space mentally with it.
Wednesday - first day off of the year and it was dealt to me. Long work day, and then band practice in the evening.
Thursday - mid day, legs feeling a bit better with the day off and rolled of a 4.3 averaging 7:40. High end aerobic so not hard at all. Later in the afternoon I got another 4.8 with GW and RT
Friday - got 8 on a cold morning around practice
Saturday - snow really flying. Got out with GW in a slop for 8.5 but super slow. Saturday night was a Spare Change gig at Rails -
Sunday - warm enough that I could do the short sleeves. I felt sort of beat - as I often do post gigs - but then I moved pretty well anyway. 8 and another 1.1 with TZ.
Ended the week with 52 and change - not bad for a day off in the mix. Had a couple of decent moving runs, and the turn over on the track with the kids mid week. Some progress was made.
Thursday - afternoon and with the kids, out to the 36 bike path and back. 8 miles. Felt pretty decent actually.
Second open mic of the year, first at Rails and did this one with Steve G and Rob B. We did "What Have I Done to Help," "Stuck in the Middle," "Overkill," and "Nada."
I mostly worked the board in prep for a Spare Change show coming up. It was good to learn that and the back line. Mostly figured out that amped guitars up there don't need a mic even if folks think they do,
Friday - did hills with the kids. 50' up, back down, 25' back down, repeat. 5 Sets. Did these on Main, getting my butt kicked by the varsity girls. 8.8 miles
Saturday - easy with GW and RT with the Eagles. 8.7 miles.
Poking back to a bit more miles on the daily again after a bit of a lull in the snap of cold days. About 161 on the year as of today. Will need to start to get to some longer runs as things warm up.
The cold snap finally broke, but some wind came with it. I headed out towards Interlocken as that was mostly plowed. On the way back I did 8x90' on a minute jog, and then I did four 30' surges on 2 minute jog. 7 miles.
Ended the week in PHX, driving back on Saturday. Did that round on the interstate route to avoid some of the mountain snow - just around 14 hours (we were under 13:30 on the way down).
Six days of running (missing on the travel day), some fartlek stuff, and even some gym work on my retirement community card (no really).
Sunday was back in Colorado and got in 8 and change with Greg in the snow soup. 42 something miles on the week. 1882 on the year.
Friday - 7 miles. HAF. Easily 95 this entire late afternoon run over at the Commons during the Legacy meet. Slow.
Saturday = 8.4 miles. Ran up Straight Creek road (which then becomes a path) for a bit. I just had not explored up there. Not bad but not wonderful (it parallels I70).
Sunday - decided I'd give Buffalo Mountain, the big one that overlooks Dillon a shot. I knew it was 3000 feet, but I couldn't remember exactly how long it was to get up it. That answer was 3 miles, meaning it was in excess of 15% grade on average, but the first mile hardly counts in any of that climb. It was a great little day of hiking hard versus running (not sure anybody really runs the boulder talus there anyway).
Anyway, I added 2 and some changes miles back down to the car pickup after getting back down for an 8 plus run ... was sort of happy that I could make those less than 8 minute miles. Nice to have a day above 12k feet.
Monday - back down to Broomstock. 8 miles easy as the kids did some work. A bit sore to start but this helped.
The week was just over 53, with 7400 plus of vert. So, a good one after the 30 feet I got in Mississippi.
Of course, the news in the music world over the weekend was the passing of Jimmy Buffet.
Thursday - AM, 5.0 miles early. Afternoon 3.1 along the ditch
Friday - up in Dillon. Decided I needed some quality so after a 30 minute warmup dropping onto the Blue River Trail, flipped and 10 of minute on and minute off. Only the last one was on the climb back up to the dam. I knew is was a good workout. Not so much from a pace perspective, just a good workout in terms of where I am at. I could feel it later through the night as I was pretty worked over.
We headed to the Amphitheatre and caught Jenny and Mexicats. Great show.
Saturday - an easy 5 in Dillon on the dam. Ran into Gabby up there who had just run 21 around the lake as part of her training prepping up for Imogene. Headed back down to the Front Range for a great show at Mother Tuckers.
4th of July was a 10k jog, just working off the late night from the gig. Even though I was dry entirely last night, I was still spent from the gig. I didn't get home until 12:30, and got there at 2:30. We played from 5:30 to about 11 with a half hour break in there.
Weather cooled of dramatically overnight. Wednesday was an easy 7 miles with GW with the Eagles.
Tuesday - kick ass work day. 6.2 in the evening, feeling good.
Wednesday - 6 miles easy.
Thursday - 8 miles. Considered quitting running.
Friday - 8 miles. Felt pretty good.
Saturday - 7.1 miles of running but the watch had another 9 miles for me ... I guess that is the walking around at the all day track meet (the Shootout).
Sunday - 7 miles easy.
Another 50 something week. Ankle, other parts not feeling great.
Wednesday - moving pretty well, which means averaging sub 8 these days. 7.3 miles before the crap blew in.
Thursday - 6.1 miles. Some fun action at the Rails open mic in the evening.
Friday - a short run - 4 miles before heading over to play a St Paddy's Day gig at the Flats. It was pretty chilly.
Saturday - 5.1 miles in the AM around practice. 4 in the afternoon with JZ.
Sunday - 11.2 miles. Running for the watch to get to 50.
More spinning to maintain. The right foot ankle is slowly getting better (or I am getting use to it). No speed this week, just trying to keep some base level of fitness.
Monday - 7.3 miles in the afternoon Tuesday PM - 6.1 miles. Snow came in the evening Wednesday - a good amount of the whites stuff and still coming. 5.3 miles Thursday - 8.3 miles in the afternoon
Open mic in the evening.
Friday - 8.1 miles Saturday - 9.2 miles, mostly with GW. Sunday - 9.2 miles, slipping around a bit between the snow and the ice with GW. Some new kicks.
A 53 high something week, but pretty slow given the slop.
Monday afternoon - 6.3 miles Tuesday afternoon - 3 miles. Ugh. Wednesday AM - 5 miles. PM - 5 miles Thursday - snowing - 9.4 miles Friday - post snow, cold. 4 miles before the AZ road trip Saturday - we hit AZ about 3AM. It was early to then bolt over to NXR on the other side of PHX but it was worth it. Watched the kiddos race, etc. Got in about 4 and a half there in the races, etc. Later in the afternoon, explored in Surprise a bit for another 5 and 3/4s. Beautiful conditions this time of year. Sunday - 7.2 miles with JZ around Surprise.
Week ended up at just over 50. Nothing zippy this week but the runs in AZ were better than usual (nice temps and altitude difference for sure).
Thursday night was Rails Open Mic. It was pretty fun. SG and I had planned to do some tunes together and when we got there Rob offered to sit in on drums. Why the hell not? It was a blast.
Later Sean and Andrew melted the whole effin' place as a two piece.
Rolled through 2200 miles at some point this week.
Tuesday AM - 8.2 miles. Nudged into some tempo on the last half dozen.
Wednesday AM - jogging around the track while kids did a workout. 4.2 miles. PM - 3.7 on the ditch
Picked up this today.
Been eyeballing this style of guitar (Thinline Telecaster) for a bit. Been drawn to the design with the F hole and I like the tone of the humbuckers v. single coils that are traditional for Teles. Found a local one on Reverb after looking for a the better part of a year. Some stats are the bottom of this post/
Thursday AM 4.1 miles on the ditch with GW PM - 4 miles on the ditch
Friday AM - cold. Well, not really but I am not used to the low 20s yet. Did the loop with LF and caught up a bit. 8 miles.
Saturday AM - 10.3 miles. A bunch of little runs that were around the practice the kids had.
Saturday night of course was RCPM, Hit Moe's BBQ ahead of it, and there was a band in there. It was LOUD. Dude was crushing on the Marshall Peavy combo on that slick Les Paul.
Then it was over to the Gothic. No Nick S on bass (not sure why) but they boys put on a clinic as usual.
Sunday - hurtin a bit but got in 8.4 to sweat out some of the revelry from last night. Ended with 60 on the week.
wait. It is two weeks until Burro Days. Damn. Not ready for that on a variety of fronts.
Monday mid day. Was up until 3 with the Asia gig. It was good but I was tootin' fuzzy by the end of the work day. Still was up at 8 after some fitful sleep. Got out mid day and it was already 98 at the start. Apparently it was 101 at the end. 3.8 on the ditch. Tired from the work and tired from the weekend running, so just self care jogging in the sauna.
I contemplated a second short run in the afternoon before starting the work grind but opted for the nap instead. I probably ought not wake up and just start recording stuff.
Tuesday AM - finished earlier last night - 1AM - so I was able to manage some git up and go to grit through practice. Figured that was better rather than fighting the heat later. 6.6 miles with some hill strides. The lack of sleep had me feeling like I was running with a hangover. Hot again - in the 90s by the middle of practice.
PM - took a mid morning nap, did some work and then got on the ditch. 96 degrees. 3.7 miles. Then back to work. Ordered a GPS watch today. I don't think I have had one in 3 years and have just used the phone.
Wednesday AM - just felt horrible/ 5.7 miles at practice. Tight in the chest.
PM - Ditch. Still feeling like ass. 3.7 miles.
Thursday and afterwards… woke and I knew I wasn’t gonna run. I had deep pain in my right side. It subsided a bit as I moved around but it got way worse Thursday night. But breathing at anything close to volume created a stabbing sensation. Woke up Friday am and it started to subside but decided to enter into the care system towards the end of the work day.
Fast forward 12 hours (well, that is its own story of observing process management in the healthcare setting, the variety of tests I went under to figure what was going on, seeing customer service in action, etc - but that ain't for this blog) and I was diagnosed with a few pulmonary embolisms. Low risk given my overall health, but I am now on a regiment of blood thinners for a bit.
Puts Burro Days in question for sure. The doc cleared me for travel and said I could do Burro Days but there are risks (a kick that bruises would be a bad thing). I think it is more a question if I CAN run - because right now I can't. I want to but if I can't breathe, fighting 13k feet with a donkey for 8 hours is more than I am willing to take on.
More to come on this I guess - they are not sure what caused it. Genetic disposition is a possibility (that is unknown to me) but it could also be a left over symptom of COVID (I have never tested positive but I could have had an asymptomatic run of it). This is sorta of a different kind of injury for me. I am hoping the pain will subside enough by the weekend that I am good to go. Will see how that plays out and how I respond to the meds.
Monday - evening, took a bit of exploring and some state highway crossing but I found some decent paths to hit. 8.1 miles with a broken threshold. It started as 5 x 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off but on the last one I sorta kept rolling. Good run.
Tuesday - evening. 8 miles. Started at a local trail head and did an out and back over the Des Plaines river, and came up through a controlled burn. That was sorta surreal.
Wednesday AM - 4 miles. Navigated the State Highway shoulder - which was sorta dumb - but navigated to the open space again
Wednesday night - pouring rain and windy, and I just don't have the gear for that so I relegated myself to the treadmill. 5 miles.
Thursday - 3 miles. Yeah. That sucked. Stupid winds out (like 60mph) so I stayed on the mill. Left shoulder is angry about something today too - guessing I did something on it in my sleep.
Friday - told myself I'd run when I got home as I failed to overcome the gravitational pull of the hotel bed in the AM. Yeah, I was getting where I could see a bit of the three weeks of travel picking at my brain in a way I didn't care for.
Some recent music forays from the palace of my hotel room.
I have been finding that I am needing to be a bit more attentive to pushing myself to do my own stuff and then to stay with it. There are a few levels to that ... including practicing a tune after I actually get one down, and then moving its production past just a three chord hack.
Saturday - 7.7 miles on the BoCo break and there and back. Played over at Luki with Spare Change.
Sunday 10.5 miles. Tired. Windy.
Another 50 something week. Made it through three weeks of travel somewhat unscathed/
Tuesday afternoon (... is gone...) ... 7.1 miles. A lot better than yesterday but I'd have be running with 1 leg for it to be worse than yesterday
Wednesday afternoon - stuck with afternoons all this week because of an east coast engagement. 7.1 miles.
It has been a bit of mental struggle to get on the jam as of late. I am glad when I do my runs but it is a bit of work to get out the door and get it done. It is often just forcing each little step ... GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS.
But if I am gonna register for Pikes this year (which six hours seems like a stretch at this point), I'll need to get my shit together.
Thursday - early evening gig at Rails so I didn't get out. But I played over 3 hours at Rails. I was a bit unprepared given music focus has been at the band v. solo stuff, and my voice was shit as I have been using it to teach this week.
Still, it felt like a pretty solid go, reflecting the reps over the past two years more than anything else.
Friday - AM: practice. 5 miles. PM - a snow storm came in, but that made for a nice pressure free light jog in the winter wonderland. Three and change.
Saturday AM - post good snow. Out with GW in the AM and teen temperatures. 8.5 miles.
Sunday - 11.4 miles. Slow. About a half dozen with GW. Nice weather melting everything off. Sort of pushed the miles a bit to make something of a respectable week out of it (49 and change). Will look to get north of 50 again next week.
