Wednesday 092414

Got this for some fall reading.

I run for a variety of reasons, and no doubt - ego is one of them.  I see my ego step up when I get a notice from Strava about some obscure FKT somewhere.  I feel my ego do some mental calculus when considering if I would be beaten or if I could beat the kids I see race HS XC.  I look at race results and even though I did not run the race, I mentally slip myself into some place based on people I think I would beat to the line versus those who would get there before me.  My ego wanted my name on the board at Fairplay when racing with Jack.  And my ego wants that badge of saying “yeah, I did Pikes so many times, Leadville, etc.” 

There seems to be a tendency to look at ego like it is some sort of bad thing.  Sure.  It can be.  But generally I see it as a good thing.  It drives you to want to be something more than what you are.  Run or live long enough and you probably get vision into how putting too much stock in this with running may not be particularly healthy or smart.  But the opposite probably is worse.

Got this in the mail today. 

So my ego does want to do that again next year.

Looked to take advantage of Bob again this week by getting him to run in the hottest part of the day, in the least treed location I could find.  I figured this would put me at the advantage but I could tell even in the first mile of the warm up that my legs were still working through the load over the last couple of days.  We hit the climb over on Lac Amora.  I thought we’d manage five but it was one of those days where I was ready to be done after one.  No legs from the get go.  I managed to fake it through 2 with a bit of a push at the end, and then on the third, I just jumped on it from the get go, figuring I’d pop somewhere in there anyway. 

Bob had a good quip:  “you need to stop muscling up that hill and just dance up it.”  As I was rigging on the third, it was clear that I was just fighting myself with a longer less efficient gait versus rolling up the hill on a shorter quicker stride. 

I shuffled through a fourth.  4:11, 4:08, 4:07, 4:21 for these near kilometer sections (averaging 4% grade, but with a lot of flat in there)  but the Strava segments are all like 20 seconds faster as they start and finish shorter than what we ran.  10.2 miles on the day and I was tired. 

Sort of good that I am managing some of this stuff with the load but at some point if I want to maximize these days, I will need to manage the day(s) before a bit more effectively.  Or something like this.

Working on getting the band together for an AM run…

Trying to find a 100 that makes sense in the winter, sprint that won’t interfere with USATF XC or be too late … not sure if I will find one that fits that I am willing to travel to.  Might need to do a 100k instead.  Could be a trip to Collegiate Peaks again and maybe I will see if I can stay on the course this time.