Hang Nine

I had the privilege of attending the State XC meet today with my family.  Short of it, Broomfield HS girls won 5A (in a tight race with Cherry Creek and Fairview, scores ending up being 112-120-125)  boys were 9th.  Jake Mitchell was “that close” to winning the 5A title outright but came up 4/10ths short in a helluva finish.  No id in the top ten brought themselves to their limit as much as he did.  If you saw him after the race, you know what I mean.

I love this sport.  I love seeing the kids improve, the camaraderie, kids learning from tough finishes, kids enjoying great finishes, the coaches motivating the kids in different ways, the pure guts of this entire thing.  Few sports have you standing at the start of the event thinking that what you are going to do is just gonna freaking hurt for the next 15-20 minutes and that you want to do that.  I even love watching crowds at XC – how they all hit a spot to watch a part of a race and then all race to another part of the course to do more of the same.  My voice is shot.  KZ made fun of me a couple of times when she looked at me and asked if I was crying.  No, I was not but watching the joy of the kids win the State meet may have made my eyes a touch wet.  So stoked for the kids and their coaches.

I’d say no running for me today but that would be a touch of a lie as I did run around at the course some.  The calf sort of held up but it still is on the mend.  October finishes around 200 miles but spiraling down quickly.  2961 on the year.  Hard not to run today because I was so amped off of watching the races today.

Man I wanted to run today.  It was a cool gray day.  Beautiful.  And the calf felt a little better.  But as I have essentially grounded myself from the 21st XC race at this point I felt a little more free to NOT run.  I just need the damn time off.  But I really really wanted to run.  It was one of those days where it would have been so much fun to breathe the cool air and float along.  But if I had it would have been like that for 3 stupid minutes and then I’d be pissed about the calf.  So I didn’t run damn it.

I got an email today.  “On my run today my knee hurt.  What causes that?”  My response was basically that getting old and fat causes that but it could be running shoes too.  Check with your doctor to see if getting old is happening to you.  Side effects may include gray hair, interrupted sleep, rants about kids getting off your lawn, decreased aerobic capacity, pattern recognition, disgust about much current music, loss of hair, growth of hair where it did not otherwise previously grow, lack of flexibility, paranoid feelings about complex covert government plots while at the same time stating the government is completely inept at basic functions and brief spells of clarity of thought.

Or sumthin’ like that …

The universe is telling me something.  Last Friday I was in a meeting where this video was shared. 

Then he was the keynote speaker at the conference I was at last week.  And then AJW is posting about him this AM.  Must be time to order one of his books.  Actually I spoke to Daniel after the keynote, and said I’d buy his book when he got home as I did not want to carry it back and he pushed the soft copy.  I am still a bit preferential to hard backs.  In any case, off to Amazon to pick up a copy of Drive. 

New times … kids get Chromebooks from school.

The species creation thing of all this is pretty cool.

Down to CoS tomorrow with the family to watch the State XC meet.  I am stoked.

A minor setback in determining who historic Triple Crown winners are.

It is getting a fair amount of press in the running world … XC guys going to fists. 

I got out in the evening after a fairly frustrating day back in CO.  I had hoped the calf would feel significantly better but it did not.  But my heart was light as I got to jog with the boy.  The days are burning up quickly that I can beat this kid at anything less than a half marathon.

The calf started okay but it suddenly clutched at 1.4 miles.  I am fairly convinced that any shot of doing the XC race later this month is kaput.  Scratch out Pancake runs and the like.  Turkey Day 5k could be a maybe with the kids and TZ.  The reality of it is that I started to come back to soon after LT, because I like to run.  And now I have an injury of sorts.  Nuthin like a stress fracture that would knock me down for a couple months, but something that will probably kick me to the curb for a week.

I woke up and the calf felt a little better but still aggravated.  But when I eyeballed the windy rainy dark morning outside the hotel room, my resolve to run cracked.  I did an expense report instead, and rationalized that perhaps I would run when I got back to Colorado in the evening (while realizing that was probably both unlikely and also increasing the odds of getting a flight delay).

Okay so it took me a bit to circle back on it but Robert posted a great set of comments back on my Oct 15 post.   In one talk Millet speaks to what he asserts are the two limiters for performance in 100s- ability to fuel and resistance to muscle damage. Both of which you indicated were issues for your LT100 race. However, Millet and Maccora, and Hutchinson (who is actually a journalist and not a researcher in this field) all speak at great length as to the very strong component that psychobiological processes have in performance in endurance events. We all seem to know this but perhaps we do not place enough emphasis on it. I have been a proponent of the importance of training the mind for the challenges that an endurance event will present- not to the detriment of the physiological training but in addition to the necessary physical training. I have also seen, time and again, a lack of mental focus during competition leading to ultimate limitations for otherwise very physiologically superior athletes who compete (erratically) at the national and international levels (my experience is mainly in road cycling, MTB, and cross country skiing). This is why I like what Mills has written about his experiences in ultrarunning, including his RFE model. He answers your question about what is "going out too fast" as being a function of how much mental energy are you using to maintain that pace at that point in the race. If 8:30 pace is mentally "easy" or "sustainable" at that point in the race then it is not too fast, if is not then it is too fast. As the research shows, everyone who is racing slows down during a 100 mile race- the factors that seem to be performance limiters are:
can you fuel throughout
can you keep muscle damage at a sustainable level
do you have the mental energy to push your pace through the end
Of course, nothing is so simplistic but I think these things are fundamental.
Mills also argues that a big part of the mental training is much of what you have proposed- accumulating familiarity with the course, being comfortable with night running, acclimatization, visualization and other details important in particular events. He claims that about 60% of his training is focused on these things and the other 40% on the physiological side.
Here are the links to the talks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAjvCqdZUVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsZWPpIZY-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_j-9YMnWM

Old man strength versus fragility.

Is Kawauchi the Lucho of Japan?  At night, he'll strength-train in his room with homemade equipment, using an old bike tube as an exercise band and a 33-pound weight bar from which he hangs his retired running shoes.

So Marathon & Beyond is done.  Not surprising really in the age of internet media. 

The head has to be in the race:  Research has shown that when athletes feel worse than expected during a race, they tend to develop a bad attitude about their discomfort and as a result they slow down even more than they need to.

I picked a bad week to quit smoking.

And I was too frazzled to run with I got home.  Eh.  Probably should rest the calf anyway.

I questioned if I ought to run today.  My left calf was obviously still not feeling great.  But it was nominally better.  That, and the desire to explore at least the immediate area drove me to lace them up – even if for a ridiculously slow and short run – that would further aggravate the calf.  Reason lost again.  6 miles. 

The bay area is probably one of the prettiest I have seen around a major city – or at least most effectively planned.  But offsetting the elegance of city planning on the water is the clearly large presence of police.  Police are everywhere.  On foot, bike, cars … everywhere.  I have seen more police in Baltimore in the last 24 hours than I have seen in Broomstock in the last year.

The desire to get out and look around overtook reason this morning.  I have never been to downtown Baltimore.  The calf felt a little better, but I should not have been hobbling on it.  Nonetheless, I got out for a slow gimpy three miles looking around the Camden Yards baseball field and the football stadium (they are right next to each other), and looking at the statues of Ray Lewis, Johnny Unitas and Cal Ripken.

It was a good work week.  Very busy, very productive, tiring.   I have been asked at times how I keep running, family, work and everything else in balance.  The truth is I don’t think it is EVER in balance.  If you look at it any point in time, it seems dramatically unbalanced.  I seem to be overly focused on running at times.  If you looked at a day in my life at points this summer it seemed I was always on vacation.  This past week, the unbalance was heavily tilted towards work.  Like a big running week, this is both necessary and good and of course fruits come from that labor.  Nonetheless, I can feel how it was spinning a bit out of control and I was burning up at the edges.  Up early, on point in front of dozens of people all day, and then back often into hours later than I am used to.  Folks tell me that I seem to be tireless and abundant with energy, but I know better.   This past week was getting to me with too little sleep, too much food, too much beer, and too little time outside.  It could see how this life style could be enticing to some, but also crushing in other regards.  Thankfully I don’t do this 52 weeks a year.

I slept Friday AM in versus breaking up at the o’ dark whatever for a jog.  After a day in the office, traveled back to CO. 

We were up early Saturday to get JZ down to the HS competition in the BEST Robotic competition.  That was pretty cool.  JZ and the other kids in the HS engineering club had to build a robot over the last six weeks from a set of predefined materials that would work its way through a field of obstacles collect various items (that had different values), or perform other tasks to get points.  In the first round their robot went to collect “coal” but then they got high centered on the coal and their robot was stuck for a bit.  They worked through it but they lost a lot of time and hence the opportunity to get some points.  I thought they would be disappointed, and while there was some degree of that, they actually seemed more focused on the true concern:  “how do we fix the robot so that does not happen in future rounds?  Did you see how that other team’s robot navigated that?”  I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE POSITIVE COMING OUT OF THE FAILURE. 

I have read a few things recently of how blogs, FB and social media is all rainbows and unicorns.  In other words we never post anything negative.  It is all how wonderful life is and not reflecting on issues or challenges or the problems we have the day.  There is of course some truth in this, but I have a bit of a different perspective on it.  And in the own selfish FB-blog way, the topic got me wondering why I still do this blog thing nearly every day after seven years.

I generally think most of the problems we have are generally bullshit anyway.  I mean, don’t get me wrong – I have days that are what I would call a bad day but I realize that I am not living in some third world country looking for water.  So yeah – were my kids screaming at each other at 6:30 Saturday AM over who gets in the shower first and who is going to use all the hot water?  Yeah.  Not really what I was looking forward to first thing in the morning and it was a problem.  I guess though I will probably miss that morning fight someday.  Not this AM, but probably someday.

And yeah, was I absolutely ape shit pissed when the garage door stopped just shy of completely opening so I could not see it when I was backing the car out and I ended up hitting the goddamn thing meaning I had to suddenly deal with a repair of that (actually it is gonna be a replacement)?  A little.  Maybe more than a little.

And when KZ headed up to Longmont Saturday AM to take the ACT and she completely botched where she ended up needing to go and called us up emotionally distraught as she was missing the test– was that great?  No.  (“I can see them in there now.  They are taking the test!  I am locked out.”)  Of course there are lessons in all of these things (like maybe you should look up on a map where you are going before you go there for the first time or maybe you should look to see if the garage door is really open or maybe you can shower the night before) but nobody really wants to hear that or post that on Facebook when that crap is happening. 

My life woes ain’t so woefully but I often act as if they are in that moment.  A friend of mine used to say we all go to MSU.  MSU is not Metro State University.  It is “Make Shit Up.”  We all go there.

Because on the same day where I hit the garage door, KZ missed taking a test she wanted to take, and the kids argued over the shower I had a garage door to hit, KZ had a test to take and we had hot water to argue over.  And then we got to go to a robot competition (JZ later informed me that they figured out some ways to alter the robot and recovered in later rounds.  No podium finish but in the upper half of the field.  And they learned and they had fun).  And I get texts like this:

And my daughter  received letters like this.

Beth (a blog I have been reading for what seems not so long time but apparently has been a long time) mentioned why she blogged in her recent post regarding IM race from Kona.  She made a note on if her post was for her for other people.  I am pretty sure my posts are for me. And while I see the two sides of the coin (me versus everyone else), it is pretty much my own narcissist activity.    Yes, it is a look at me activity in some regard.  But it is because I want to look at me because I want to be reminded of what I am, what I want to be and how good I have it. 

People ask me if I have seen such and such television show – and most times I have not because I feel that I am more interested making my own.  Go make your own movie, be the rock star of your own album, be the guy who climbs that mountain so many times that people think you are one of them  crazies  Be one of them by being one of you.

I post in part to help me aspire to be a better version of myself.  This blog started to help accomplish that.  I wanted to post my training so that I could be accountable to myself and an audience to be a better runner.

I have been racing most of my life.  I have had a lot of races where I felt I came up short.  But I have had some good ones.  And for me, some great ones.  Such outcomes are elusive, but that feeling that you get from those days where you float along in the absence of oxygen is unsurpassed.  But most races are not like that.  Instead they kick me in the gut, turn me inside out, reveal my weakness, lack of preparedness and how unfit I actually am.    Every race I line up, I want it to be that perfect race.  They rarely come, but the pursuit of it – or the journey – is addictive to me.  And when I get it on occasion – I want to do it again, and again and again.

I also seek that as a father, a husband, a friend, a co-worker, a community member, in my speech, in my actions, in what I am.  

I don’t blog or facebook to inspire others.  Or to get others to look at me, at least not as the primary reason.  I do it so I can look at me and continue to strive to be that elusive person.  I screw up a lot.  But I have so much going for me, that I want to capture that and be inspired by that.  I want to wake up and toe the line to have the perfect run, live the perfect day as a family member, and to make a difference in my work and in my community. 

The blog has sometimes been an attempt at sharing running news.  Some times training articles as to how to best accomplish your goals.  Sometimes just a training blog.  But I think it really is a journey of my fumbling through my running, my travels, and my family.  The back drop has always been the same – putting it out there to put it out there so that I am held accountable to me. 

Back to running … Saturday afternoon – 10 miles – started great, but then my right calf got pissed pretty bad at six miles.  Gimped it in.  I woke up Sunday morning and it was messed up enough that I was limping in my walk.  Damn … I just started to feel like I was shedding the Leadville fatigue and I realized I would be down a few days with this strain.    I probably would not care but the crosshairs of XC in three weeks are getting close.

Sunday AM – off to Baltimore and annoyingly I had to be there early but then the flight was delayed a few hours.  It was one of those gigs where they string you along in 15 minute increments to repair something non-descriptive that they claim is not particularly important supposedly you can fly without but then you are sitting on the concourse with a hundred other irked folks.

38 miles on the week.

Tuesday Am – 4.2 miles in the dark.  Super easy.  I find it tough to get going first thing in the morning in the dark on these sort of jogs.

Big day in the office.  I am hosting a week long internal conference of about 40 or so folks that represent the thought leaders in the space that I work in.  There are aspects of it that are simple – as it is just facilitating a group of people through an agenda, but it is a bit consuming as well.

From home, my kids are freaking out a bit:

Wednesday evening – 10 miles, along the Big Creek Greenway for parts.  Folks went out to dinner but I passed.  I needed the mental quiet.  That meant disappearing for a bit and letting the buzz and bustle go and some doing some hunting.

Do you see the centaur?

The Running Professor does great break downs of races in the masters ranks – and here is one from the USATF Masters Marathon from recent.  Nice overall win by Wells, and I am gonna have to bust Pliska’s chops because I thought that guy was done done.

Basic word is out. 

Holy belt buckle …

Some coworkers got me this as they thought I look like this guy.  I have never heard of him but I got the gist about him being a bald middle aged dude with a goatee who happens to make meth.

Thursday AM – sort of sore, slow under the dark.  4.2 miles. 

Had this email waiting for me this AM.

AM – the sun does not rise here until 7:30!  I got out in the dark for a slow 5.2.  My right knee felt a touch gimpy but once I got moving (at 8:50 pace), it was not too bad.

Then off to corporate weenie-ville.

Evening – before heading off to dinner – 5 miles, and actually started to get a fairly good roll on – at least for how I feel these days. 

A few more pix from the meet on Friday.

Saturday including working with JZ and his Scout crew on redoing a dozen plus benches in the Community Park. 

When that was over, we wandered over to the Broomstock Audit and caught KZ performing.  This was the song she sang for HS All State – but as I understand it we won’t know the results of that for a few weeks.  But in the interim, more wet eyes.

I was gearing up for an evening run on Saturday, but TZ and I went out instead.  We had reason to celebrate as something came to a positive close.  I probably celebrated a few pints too many and I felt it when I woke on Sunday.

Impressive performances by CU distance over the weekend.

Sunday was the travel to Atlanta.  I got a jog in when I got there, heading out to Willis Park.

Probably my best run in weeks … I got in about 20 of tempo work, not fast but I was not freaking out either.  It probably helps to be a bit lower in elevation as well.  And taking two days off.  But being hungover, not so much.

This was at DIA.

Low week – 40 something and change with 3 days off.  Just over 2900 on the year.