Week ending 29MAR2020

Monday – 10.3 miles.  Started easy but got a nice roll going later in the run.

Still trying to get on a steady habit of meditation.  I have been using the Headspace app.  Frankly I suck at it.  I know, I know, you are not supposed to judge and just “be” but frankly my ability to focus just on the breath and seeing the mind wander … not great.  This buzz box on the top of my neck is a freaking rabid squirrel that has dropped acid.   I’ll keep trying though. 

 
Captured some of the stuff I have been doing on FB Live over on Youtube. 

It is a bit weird for me to be open on posting all that stuff.  I know that sounds a bit contradictory for a guy who has posted here for close to a decade and has always seemed to be quick to run to the microphone.  It is a bit different with the music.  I recognize what a hack I am there, and there is a level of permanence that comes with posting that sort of stuff. 

But it is a challenge for me.  It is challenging me musically, to be better at singing, tighter on song execution, stage presence, etc.  So it is a tool for me.  I have no designs on being a paid performer, but I enjoy performing and hopefully giving people's feed a little something different than the recent current event news. 

I had changed the permissions on this blog for a bit for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I suddenly didn't feel comfortable with the exposure of this content.  The music, the running, the family, the on-going self reflection that seems to occur without real growth or learning ... all of it.  It feels a bit narcissistic.  And honestly, it is at some point.  My larger intention may be to something else, but there is a portion of all this that is a bit of that.  I dunno.  I might change it back but for the moment, I am okay with sharing here, in the hope that folks can see something different, maybe take something that lets them know that there is extraordinary in the ordinary.

Tuesday afternoon - 10 miles with GW and SB that included 7 x 2 minutes on at 5k pace and 90 seconds off.  Of course Greg and I got a bit aggro with each other and he lit me up on number 3.  And the last couple were above 5k, but it was good.  I really did want to hit the hurt.  It felt good to feel that.  It has been a while since I have had that appetite. Strava says we hit some low five paces, and maybe even some sub 5s on occasion.  Not sure if that is right, but it was good to breathe hard.

Neighbors dropped this off.  There are good people out there.


Wednesday - long day up in Edwards, CO as TZ had ACL and meniscus repair surgery.  I got out in the AM for a run along the trails up there.  11 miles super easy.


Thursday afternoon -10.2 miles.  Tired but the legs got moving okay after a bit.

Thursday night was an online open mic night with Rails End.  That was fun.  A nice three hours of music and I contributed about 15 minutes. 

Friday - dead legged.  10 miles.  Slow.  Tired.


Saturday - felt the need to do a workout.  Initially I really didn't want to because my legs didn't feel so hot but I just went with it.  20 minutes warming up, then 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minutes at a tempo/fartlek pace on 2 minutes jog in between.  Finished it out with 5 minute jog, then 5 by 30 seconds strides on 90 seconds jog.

TZ’s first couple days back on recovery have been tough on her. I’ll spare her and the interweb the fun pics of the knee post op.  It ain’t pretty. 

Sunday – 10.4 miles, easy.  Coincidentally I ran into JZ about a mile into my run and two into his.  Yeah.  We did a handful together and then he peeled off. 

Not a bad week.  70 plus miles and two efforts a bit harder.  No long run, no real vertical, and the quality efforts were not “OMG hold the fence and vom” outings but there is time for that.  Good news was it was just all singles this week, and the average was better than 8s on the week.  It is the first time in a while that has happened.

I am sort of guessing Pikes is 50-50 to be cancelled at this point but I’ll go forth and train as if it is going to happen anyway.  And I think even if it is cancelled, I’ll train as much as I am able. 

Week ending 22MAR2020

Spring is coming.  Not yet but not far from now.

Monday mid day.  12.5.  Timed JZ at the end as he did some stuff on the track.

Tuesday AM - 6.6, most of it with Greg.  Slow to start in the morning mist but we eventually got awake enough to get moving some.


Afternoon - with JZ 4.6 miles on the Ridgeview Ditch loop.

We got KZ back from Germany.  She is a bit heartbroke but putting on a good face.

Wednesday - 10 at Teller with Braun and GW.  I needed it.

On Monday I started doing Facebook Live sessions with me playing some tunes.  It was mostly just to break it up the noise of everything else.  Whole new layer of fun and anxiety.  It was something I was thinking about and of course Sean P beat me to it.  And so I just jumped on it.  I screwed up a lot of tunes.  But it was fun.

Kids are beginning to lose it.  Or have been losing more than usual. 


Thursday - absolutely walloped with a big wet March snowstorm.  I was soaking from the knees down in the first 10 strides.  3.5 slow miles in the slush and snow.  Took a couple of diggers that got me nicely soaked.  Klutz.

Friday - 11.1 miles.  Snowing lightly.



Friday night I did a FB Live.  It ended up being 17 songs.


Saturday - 10.2 miles.  Tired but seemed to roll pretty good.


Sunday - 13 with more than 11 of it with GW.  Felt pretty good after about a 45 minute wake up.


71 plus on the week. A weird week ... no quality, and not a real long run, and sort of messed up with a 3.5 mile run in the middle of the week because of the spring snow.  More than that, I had a messed up head - probably like most who breathe - for a good portion of the week.  I was happy to have a solid volume week.  I fell back into some less than stellar habits (a bit too much brew), but am circling the wagons on that too.

Week ending 15MAR2020

Monday AM - in the dark in Santa Ana (or Orange County if you prefer) ... 5 miles, slow, shaking off yesterday's long run.  Long day at the plant followed by the corporate weenie dinner so no evening run.  Dinner was ridiculous - probably top 3 ever.

Tuesday AM - slight rain, in the dark.  Found a legit bike path.  Easy 7.3 miles.
Tuesday PM - 4 miles, got rolling a little towards the end.    Legs were sort of sore and tight to start.



AM - 6 miles.  A bit rough.  Super tired and slow to rise.  And it started raining.  Not bad but ya' know.  Headed down towards the San Diego Creek.


Didn't run Wednesday night.  Headed to see some of TZ's cousins who moved out here from the midwest.  Fun to hang with their kiddos for a bit.


Thursday AM - I slept poorly.  Up and then back down, and then fretting about various things (a daughter in Germany with the virus and then this travel ban back thing).   I decided not to do the early up and get some miles in but to try to capitalize on a bit of sleep in hopes for a better evening showing.

Thursday PM - 11 miles.


City 18 in Santa Ana.

Friday AM - 3 miles on the mill.  Slow.  Tired.  Pouring out and had to then travel back home.  Airports were a bit weird of course.

Saturday AM - 15 miles.  First 9 and change were with JZ and we ran in to some burros.

\

Ended up averaging 7:40 pace for this.  Not bad.  Not great but not bad.

Sunday AM - tired legs.  Got together with GW for a handful.  Totaled out at 10.

Not a great week.   Long work days, and the odd stress of the entire globe coming to a halt.  No harder running but my legs felt beat most the week.  Ended up with 60 plus on the week, and was happy to get a pseudo-long run in on Saturday.

Like nearly everything, HS track is on hold.  A lot of my work engagements have also been postponed.  Looks like I should still be able to get out a bit and get some miles at home for a bit now.  I wouldn't be surprised if that gets challenged too though.

Week ending 08MAR2020

Monday AM - 4 miles in the snow with Greg.

PM - 6 miles SLOW and heavy legged with the Eagles.  Gym work post.

Tuesday - 11.5 miles with GW before practice that included 2 at 6:30 pace, up and down Main Street.  Didn't feel great but it made for some hard breathing.

Wednesday AM - 7.4, most of it with Braun, jogging through the Commons.
PM - a couple of easy miles with the kids at practice

Wednesday night I headed down to Rickoli for a new open mic.  Sean encouraged me to do it.  Each of these mics have their own scene ... and this one was a bit more mellow and the mic was pretty hot.  I got on and did "All the Debts I Owe" and the G-string broke about half way thru the tune.  I pushed on but it was flipping my head a bit - this had never happened.  Sean lent me his guitar after that and I did "Teenage Anarchist."  I then invited Sean up and he played sax on "Green and Dumb" and I really enjoyed it.  I finished with "Americano."  I had never done that one on a mic before.


Afterwards a guy came up to me and said he enjoyed the third tune the best because that was the one my vocals were good on.  I could dismiss it, because he was a bit drunk, but there was some truth in it.  I was most relaxed and not pushing the vocals on that.  I am still trying too hard on some of the singing ... like I am trying to sing with Creed or something.  On Saturday night (later in the week), I seemed to find a relaxed voice that I felt better about.  I think I might be finally turning a corner on this.

Sean of course was amazing.


Thursday AM - 7.3 miles with Bob on the Coal Creek Trail.  Good to catch up with him.
Thursday PM - 4 miles, jogging with Greg as a part of practice

Friday mid day - 4.1 miles along the ditch.  Sun out gun out sort of day.

Friday practice - 6.1 miles, most of it with Greg.  Gym work, including 3 x 10 pull ups.

Saturday - 3.2 miles as a jog around with the coaches before the kids did their mile time trial (kick off of spring track competition)
Later in the afternoon - another 6.8 miles, easy but fell into sub 8s.



Sunday - met up with Greg and got in 15 (he did a bit more, I was a bit schedule constrained).  I opened jogging over there with an 8:51 but then fell into sub 7:30s, even clicking a few 7:10s and a sub 7 occasionally.  Good longer run for me.

77.5 on the week - but a lot of runs - an outcome of practice, a busy at home work week.  On whole a solid week for me ... expecting the travel to CA next week to be a bit of a blip but will see what we can grind out of it.

Week ending 01MAR2020

Monday AM - in Melbourne.  Flat as a pancake.  I got a whole 8 feet over the 10 miles yesterday.  Same thing today - 7.7 miles slow to start and in the dark.  Tired legs for sure.


Monday evening - 3.6 easy but quicker than the morning.


Tuesday AM - 8 miles with 10 x 2 minutes on, 1 minute off.


Wednesday AM - slow to rise this AM and fairly dead legged.  8 miles easy.

Wednesday PM - 3 miles.  Felt a bit better but still worked.

Thursday - tired and slow to get up.  4.1 miles and that was it for the day before a full day at the office and traveling back to Colorado.


Friday - 5.3 with Greg in the AM
In the afternoon - 5.2, feeling pretty good.  Headed off to Tahosa for the afternoon Okpik.

Okpik weekend is a bit of a no run weekend for me.  It is such a butt kicker with the snow, the cold, the work, the altitude ...






So no miles on Saturday, the day to finish February (which was 296.7 miles, 39.83 hours, a very low 8600 plus feet (travel hit that hard), with 9 days of business travel, 1 day off from running - the previously mentioned Okpik).

Sunday - 10.1 miles.  Not pretty but felt good mentally to get it done.


On the year - 573.7 miles, 77.97 hours and 18964 feet - all over 81 runs, 2 run days off.  On whole I feel a good start to the year in prep for a Pikes run ... need to keep at the longer day every week or two and start to nudge up the vertical more.  Not surprisingly, I feel fresher in a weird way when I run more - to some end.  If I back the long day and a quality day, I tend to feel that way more over the next four or five days than if they are even spaced apart by an extra day.  And I feel better on whole than I do with a down week (like this week - 55 miles).

Oh yeah, word came back that the polyp removed in the colonoscopy was benign. 

Week ending 23FEB2020

Monday AM - Eagles had the day off today because of King Day but we still had practice.  10.2 miles all told.  Got in some miles with Ian, Greg, Braun and Marissa.

KZ headed to Germany for a semester abroad.


Tuesday AM - 4.2 slow wake up miles.  I start the liquid diet and the "bowel prep" today.


Tuesday afternoon - 6.8 miles with 8x70" hills on Main.  Good work for me.  Flying with the Eagles.

Wednesday AM - 3.8 with Greg.  I was pretty tired from the workout yesterday and also not having had solid food for a day.  But good enough for easy stuff.
Wednesday PM - a bit sluggish post the colonoscopy so I kept it light.  4.4 miles.

Colonoscopy was a non issue as far as the prep and the procedure.  In a weird way, if you can get past the entire thing of not eating solid food for 25 hours and that you'll empty out on the toilet with a fair amount of frequency ... well, you actually feel pretty good.  The procedure itself was fine.  I was knocked out pretty quick and woke up without issue (no pain, bleeding, etc).  It turned out I had an 8mm polyp.  That was easily removed and sent off to pathology for analysis.  I should know if it means anything in a week.

Thursday AM - 5 degrees.  5.5 with Greg

Thursday afternoon  - a super easy 5.3 miles.

Friday - 10 miles.  About 20 minutes tempo.  Ticked over 500 miles on the year.

Saturday - 15.1 miles with Greg.  Did the first half with him and Braun and the second half as a part of Eagle practice.  Averaged 7:40 pace.  Not bad.  I screwed up by not eating anything ahead of time and was regretting it as I could smell breakfasts wafting up from places we ran by.


Sunday - traveled to Melbourne FL.  Nice little shift to 79 degrees and some humidity.  Got a total of 8 vertical feet over a 10 mile run.  Easy aerobically but legs were a bit tired.

75 plus on the week, with a fair long run and the workout earlier in the week.  Not bad given the medical fun I had mid week.  72 runs on the year so far over 528.8 miles (meaning the average run is 7 and a third miles).  It is my fourth week of seventy or better in a row - something I don't think I did in 2019 at all.  I have the Okpik snow cave course this weekend and so I think the travel week and that will bring that streak to an end.

Thursday night I played the mic at Rails.  I ended up going on much later than I thought I would and this got in my head a bit.  Lessons from the mic still.  New band name might have to be the bad haircuts.

I played "Preacher's Daughter" by RCPM, "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell, "Teenage Anarchist" by Against Me! and "Banditos" also by RCPM.  A guy played drums on Preacher and that sort of messed me up a bit too because I wasn't expecting that.  Earlier in the night, a guy named Pete - who I had never met - asked me to play on his set.  It was basic blues tunes but it was pretty cool to do a few tunes with him.  As the place shut down, Brent had me play his Gibson Les Paul goldtop and as we screwed around I did "Midnight Train To Memphis" with Aaron and Brent, "Better Now" and then "Copperhead Road".



So a weird night ... you just don't know what you are going to get pitched ... you have to roll with it.  Like I see with people racing - you expect a certain something, get pitched something different and if you are tied to expectations, you can get all mucked up.  I got a bit mucked up.  And that is just not necessary.


From Melbourne ... City 17.

Week ending 16FEB2020

Travel delays ...



Monday AM - Dallas in the dark - 7.1 miles ... slow.
PM - it was pouring out so and I really didn't bring gear for that so I hit the hotel treadmill before meeting back up for work. 3 miles playing with the buttons.  The treadmill is no longer a real preferred option for me ... I just get stupid with it.  And it is so unrealistic for me anyway.
Tues AM - significantly cooler.  7.2 slow wake up miles through the nearby cemetery.
Tuesday PM - 3.5 easy on the hotel mill while listening to a call recording playback to catch up.  Pouring rain out again.
Wednesday - headed over to Huntsville AL.  Got out for an afternoon run on a mid 50s not rainy but otherwise very wet (almost foggy) run.  10 miles with a fartlek of 10 by 2 minutes on, 1 minute off.  Wet, wet, wet.

Thursday AM-  7.6 AM slow.  Yesterday I ran the Indian Creek Greenway.   I couldn't do that today as the rains last night flooded out the river.  I was definitely a bit tired and feeling the effort of yesterday.




Thursday evening - did 3 miles on the hotel mill.
Friday - back to CO.  Lots of snow down and around but it was sunny enough that I had the shirt off for a bit.  10.8.  Dragging a bit on this one.


Saturday - back with the Eagles for morning practice.  9.8 miles with GW.  Easy plus.

Took JZ and KZ over to Inmotion to pick them up some kicks.  JZ couldn't resist checking out the illegal gear out from Nike.


Sunday - started the AM with an easy half an hour with TZ.  It was a nice little wake up.  Around 9, I  joined up with Greg for a long run.  JZ joined us too - which was great.  Gabby and Eryn also joined in.  We moved a lot quicker than I expected and I ended up with 14.3 at 7:24 pace, including the climb over Davidson.


78.6 on the week, with a fartlek session in the middle of the week.  Still hacking a bit from the pneumonia but I think I am coming around.

I kept to my recent "policy" of not drinking alcohol while on a work engagement.  That was a little different given the group I was with went to a brewery on Wednesday night.  Folks seem to have more of an issue with it than I do - which oddly makes me a bit more comfortable with it (perhaps I enjoy that it throws them off balance more than it does me).

Music project from Dallas.  This was city 15.

Music project from Huntsville.  This was city 16.

Here is a little video of "Sweet Home Alabama" with Amber Cole from last week.

I heard a podcast with Scott Fauble recently and he mentioned an app he uses to meditate.  It is called Headspace.  I decided to give it a trial.  It has been a good little way to try to get more into this thing I have dabbled on and mostly off with over the years.  The guided 10 minute meditations have been helpful for me establishing some start to a practice.  We'll see if it sticks.

Test drove a 330 and 335 at Wildwood this weekend.