Tuesday 102814

News: 
-Looks like GoLite is done.  Bummer.
-PAC12 break down

Great sunrises and sets the last couple of days.
Afternoon – I have been wanting to get in a longer run for a few days, but it is not lining up with either how I feel or how I am letting the day get away.  I thought I’d get it today, but I lost about an hour I thought I had.  14.1 which started easy but progressed up a bit to steady.  One of those runs where I felt like I was trying to snot rocket out a Saturn V but I was only getting Sputnik satellites out.

25 who are more influential … it should also be no surprise that I would put Lucho on my list.  Here is one of the more pretty shots I have of him.

Before you think I am talking about Lucho because he is a friend of mine, consider the broader impact that he has had.  Like others, you can look at his athletic results – like being former Leadman CR holder (and sub 20 in the 100 there), or being the top amateur at Kona -- or his training logs from when he was going for it, pounding out 40 hour training weeks with 100 miles of running, 500 of biking and a dozen of swimming. 

That is part of why he is influential.  The larger reason why is that he is REAL and the people can see that.  He was one of the first bloggers in the mid 2000s bringing posts about training, goals, Canova, low intensity training, and mixing it with being a Dad who like to fish, deals with insomnia, finding the right place to live and raise his family.  People can relate to him because he is not just the Fakebook guy that only brings good news, but instead nudges you (and sometimes shoves you) to consider your choices both in athletics and life.  Can’t get to a weight room?  Build a sandbag out of a bike tire.  Or lift a log in your back yard. 

I’d make a case that the term MAF would probably have been generally forgotten, but it has been reinvigorated into the ultra running culture because of Lucho (who brought it from a tri world that is often ridiculously distance from the running world) who blogged about it extensively.  The game was upped in 2011 when he and Tawnee P started the “Ask the Ultrarunner, Ask the Coaches” series on Endurance Planet.  Hundreds of episodes later, they still get questions from people wanting to know how to approach training.  He has coached hundreds of athletes over the years, both in CO and elsewhere for multisport and ultras. His “finger prints” are everywhere.   True story – I was on an other continent recently and got together with someone I had never met because they were coached by Lucho, and I happened to know him.  I think part of why he is influential is because the people he interacts with feel his passion for them to succeed – and people naturally are attracted to that.  I am lucky to have the guy as a friend, but even if I didn’t his influence would be significant on running in CO.