Mid day ... jogging ... felt like it. 1 hour. 8 miles easy.
Later in the afternoon ... more jogging. 39 minutes. Five miles. All easy. In road flats because they seem to bother my big toe the least (which is getting better). Hot out today.
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Thinking ... in no particular order ... what's next? ... road marathon, 50 miler, PPM sub 4:15, Imogene?, sub 35 10K again .. 100 mile weeks, balance in running with life as father and husband, next bunch of weeks are base building with more volume, increase core work, not care about races and just go run adventures like R2R2R...
I don't feel tapped or done - I feel as if I am still coming back from a spring of very little running. I feel that I was still rising through my fitness and almost as if I ran through this event. I appreciate what I did, the kudos for what I did and I am proud of it ... but I don't feel finished or accomplished. I can do more. Faster. I need to be careful ... I often very motivated post races, good or bad and I need to think bigger picture rather than what I want in the moment.
I have been thinking (probably too much) about transformation. How can I transform myself into the mountain runner I want to be and at what cost? When I think about transformation, I often think about this guy in the pix below. These two pix are about 11 months apart. It is kind of hard to believe it is the same guy ... only 11 months after the first picture he runs a 2:18 in the Ascent, and takes second.
A transformation, be it physical, emotional, mental or spiritual is a series of choices. Choices made daily, weekly, monthly, over a life and from moment to moment. Some choices are dramatic, but most change occurs via the sum of millions of small choices. In running, it is how we train, how much we train, what we do outside of training. Millions of little choices to achieve a goal or to go from the guy in picture one to the guy in picture two.
Looks like Metzler is letting his AT record attempt go and turning this year, a very wet year, into a recon mission.
My daughter's teacher has a website with an RSS feed. Awesome.
Dude, you're speaking my language but of course you're a little further on down the road (up the proverbial mountain) than I.
ReplyDeleteThe treadmill looks dope.
A package was delivered today; I RAN to the door, but it was just a box of avocados from Harry and David. I wasn't completely bummed.
Who's the guy in the pics?
I have yet to ship. School starting this week has made life a bit more hectic than usual. This weekend.
ReplyDeleteTHe guy in the pic has won the PPA 8 times. So that is a hint.
so...what's next? i know you want to be a mountain man, but you could always come run the vegas marathon with me and lucho! and james promises a serious after party!
ReplyDeletejust a thought. december 7th...
Disappointing for Karl. It's got to be tough for those guys when they go on a huge media frenzy leading up to their run and it doesn't work out. Sam Thompson also failed in his Colo Trail record attempt. He gave a very good recap of the thoughts and emotions of his DNF (http://www.seesamrun.com/blog). Likewise, Karl seems to be very professional with some of the negative comments he's getting online. I know it's at a whole different level and they don't have the benefit of time as they're interviewed immediately after their race, but some of these Olympians could benefit a bit from talking to these guys and learning how to handle and speak about failure.
ReplyDeleteBeth - while I'd love to meet you and JW out there, I am about 100 percent certain that I'd not go to Vegas. Not my kind of town and I'd have a hard time justifying that trip to myself or my family. The Grand Canyon however ... maybe.
ReplyDeleteJM - hey man, how are your feet? I hear you on poise in front of the media. Jeremy nearly came unravelled in front of the media when asked about his coach. I imagine it is hard because the media is right in their face RIGHT after the event. But you are right - Karl has done really well in the face of a tough set of circumstances.
Still bandaging the feet, but the skin is returning and I’m planning to run this weekend for first time since Sunday. Legs were unbelievably sore first two days post-race. Got a cold now too though. Ease back into it over the next few weeks. Was surprised you were running twice/day already then.
ReplyDeleteThe other bad Oly interview was Wallace Spearmon’s after learning of his DQ. Didn’t say anything bad really, but just had a terrible tone. Tyson Gay on the other hand, barely keeping from breaking up in tears, but got through it after both the 100M and the relay.
Yeah ... I am sort of surprised as to how I have bounced back too. It sort of confirms something that I have suspected but I have a tough time articulating: my physical strength (ability to endure) is farther along than my ability to tap into it. In other words, I think I can keep going longer than I have but I have lost a lot of speed or ability to kill myself. Hence some of my goal / thoughts in getting geared into a 10K.
ReplyDeleteI ran the down as hard as I could but I could tell I did not have the next gear to really drill it. Last year running 1:40 down wasted me. This year it did not. I know I can get it to 1:30 but it will be work.
Jacked ... I know. Just need to get into shape. Try that beer yet?
Spearmon was a mess too. "PROTEST." Whatever.