Check out new Blackfoot Gypsies video. Like Butters on a wet seal.
Author: Scott (Page 32 of 80)
Yesterday I had one of my least favorite types of run…The Bonk. Does anyone enjoy a bonk? Adding insult to injury, it was short-distance bonk–only four miles. I should be able to negative split that every day.
But not yesterday.
With about 1.25 miles to go, that ol’ familiar feeling crept in. I knew I was not only going to have trouble knocking a minute off my current pace in the last mile, I was going to have trouble holding my current pace. It happens to everybody, and it’s part of running. When this happens to me, I try to make the best of it. I try to occupy my mind with thinking about all the ways this run is going to help me on race day. I have a little conversation with myself. It’s a very repetitive conversation, because I’m basically repeating the same thing over and over:
“Yes, this hurts. Ok, we’ve established that. Isn’t this what you expect to feel like on race day? Isn’t this the exact position you want to put yourself into with a mile to go? The only difference is that you want to be going faster. That’s the only factor that makes this situation different than race day. This is an opportunity to practice, and you can’t create this opportunity when you choose. You have to seize these rare opportunities when they come along.”
At the wall, but winning the Clydesdale division and setting a PR. This is what I trained for. I bonked a 10 miler the day before this race. September 11 Memorial 5k, 2003.
It makes sense, right? You run intervals to get your body used to the feeling of running fast. You run a lot of miles to get your body used to running tired. Why not also practice running bonked to get your mind trained to force your body to fight through The Wall? I do my best to pretend that I am running fast, and that’s the source of the pain.
It’s not a very easy thing to do though. You’re slowing down with every quarter mile, so it’s hard to keep from getting mentally discouraged. Sometimes, it’s hard just to not stop and walk. No one is watching. It’s not a race. This can just be a 3 mile run instead of 4. Right?
Then the conversations starts again:
“Are you going to make that a part of your race plan? Unscheduled walking? Do you feel good about the fact that you took unscheduled walks in your last race? Are you happy with the fact that these unscheduled walks cost you a PR by only 15 seconds? If you still want to walk, go ahead. But know that you are teaching yourself that it’s ok to give up. You’re training yourself to miss another PR by 15 seconds.”
Quitting eats peas.
Running through The Wall like a big fat Kool-Aid man rocks.
Here’s the “more with less” personified. Or wait, maybe this is less with more considering the production quality. Either way, if you’d like to play along with Fred Eaglesmith’s “Spookin The Horses”, here’s a play along video. I will do more of these by request if the demand is there. As Ol’ Roadhog once said, “I got a lot of requests for this one, but we’re gonna do it anyway.”
About 2 years ago I had a really strange numbness in the top of my right foot around the third and fourth toes. I could “activate” the numbness by rubbing a little spot just below my ankle. There wasn’t any pain involved, so I didn’t think much of it, but I asked my doctor about it when I went for my regular checkup. He ordered an MRI, and called me up to let me know this was the result of a stress fracture and that I should stop running (and cycling and swimming) and wear shoes until I had a chance to get in with a podiatrist.
After three days of wearing shoes (I usually go barefoot), the pain showed up. It wasn’t anything unbearable, but when I got to the podiatrist, he prescribed total rest for a couple of months. I rested it, but didn’t have any improvement, so when I went back he concluded that it wasn’t a stress fracture after all and that it was probably just a neuroma and could be taken care of with a shot or two of cortisone. Man, was I happy I’d spent those months doing absolutely no cardio and losing all that fitness for nothing!
Since then I’ve been dealing with minor flare ups here and there, but I did notice that after my 70.3 race in May there wasn’t any pain at all, which was surprising. Yesterday evening I was about halfway through an 8 miler I noticed a really sever crown in the road. I mean, it all of a sudden seemed like I was running on the side of a mountain. I moved over to the middle of the street and instantly felt relief in my right foot and calf. I’m realizing now that this crown in the road has probably been the root cause of my issue.
I have really high arches and supinate naturally, so I think running on the left side of the road against traffic on our neighborhood roads has exaggerated that. I don’t really run any other places (yet), but I’m going to try out some different routes on sidewalks to see if it makes a difference. I usually avoid sidewalks because the concrete is so much harder than the asphalt on the roads, but I think it may be worth a shot to see if that remedies the issue.
Last night we went to an open track meet hosted by the Holy Trinity track team and The Running Zone. What a blast, and a great idea for a fundraiser for a track program or running club. There were all sorts of ages and abilities there, and lots of events.
The cool thing is that all the little kids run too. They have heats at the shorter distances for them (it’s so cool to see a 7 year old PR the 800 by 1 second). They also get to high jump, long jump, put, and everything else. Our kids had a blast just running around the track and drinking Gatorade, aka “shiny yellow”.
Now for the nitty-gritty…
My original plan was to only run the 5000 meters, but I was the only one who registered for it, so it got cut. I ended up running the 1600 and 800 and scratching the 3200 because it was the last event and my quads felt like car batteries at that point–very heavy and full of acid.
The 1600 sucks. I have no idea how to judge my pace for that distance because, you know, when do you ever run that fast when you’re training for distance running? Sure, you may do some 1 mile repeats, but those are run knowing that you have more of them to run and that you need to be able to run that pace multiple times (hence the word “repeat”). The 1600 is a one-shot distance–how fast can you get it done. I knew ~6:00 is the best I’ve ever run it, but I wasn’t expecting to be able to run that. Unfortunately, I didn’t really know where I’d be.
6:15? 6:20? 6:30?
Imagine what went through my head when I finished my first painful lap at 1:27.
Great. I’m hurting really bad and I’m running way too fast.
I quickly came to two conclusions:
- I’m about to slow down whether I want to or not.
- The pain isn’t going anywhere.
I ended up at 6:28. Ugh…way off anything close to negative splits, and going out fast probably cost me at least 5-7 seconds. I just didn’t know how to pace that first lap, and I’d probably make the exact same mistake if I ran it again tomorrow. I’m not sure how many of these I’d have to run to get it right, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to run that many of them. 🙂
The 800 was a little better. Still DFL’d my heat it by one second at 2:59, but at least I got a 4 second negative split and had some kick at the finish.
Pocket Chainsaw – Genius! Please develop a pocket band saw and forklift as well please.
A Marathon of Measurements – I’m glad someone wants to do this. Wish there were more of these guys.
2:16 Marathoner Says He Can Break 2:00 – If he didn’t have to work. I could do it too…if I didn’t weight 200 lbs, had a coach and dietitian, and more flexibility in my hips. Oh yeah, I’d like a shoe sponsor as well. Geesh.
Custom themes in Gmail – Add photos to your gmail theme…cool!
The Libraries, Studies, and Writing Rooms of 15 Famous Men – Counting down the days to the time when I will take the room I want for my office!
Choose, Lace, and Replace Your Running Shoes Based on How You Run – Hopefully this will make a bigger difference than the podiatrist did.
Twitter moves toward the news system of the future – Or, as it is known in many circles, Google+
Better With Age – This is comforting
Thinking of going this route – FIRST marathon training plan
Never-before-seen photos from 100 years ago tell vivid story of gritty New York City – Awsum.
A Simple, Responsive, Mobile First Navigation
Google Semantic Search: Bad for SEO, Good for You – Make your SEO money now!
People seem to get a lot of things that are similar confused and are unable to differentiate between them. I’ve noticed what ends up happening is that there’s a lot of confusion, faulty political identification, and grammar errors as a result. In no particular order, here are some things I’m aware of that aren’t the same:
- congruent and equal
- there, their, and they’re
- momentum and force
- libertarianism and objectivism
- your and you’re (I won’t even bother to include “ur”)
- profit and profit margin
- country and western
- learning and taking a course
- VAT and Fair Tax
- Java and Javascript
- rugby and Aussie Rules Football
- Hitler and anybody else you can think of
- rich and wealthy
- deduction and rebate
- parenting and having kids
- revenue and income
- needs and wants
- scotch and bourbon
- it’s and its
- solutions and fixes
Feel free to add your own or correct any I’ve listed here in the comments.
We had a pretty rainy weekend here with Debby sitting out in the Gulf. No storms, just a slow rain. Maybe not the optimal weather to go out and run in, but at least it wasn’t hot…right?
I did 8 miles in the rainiest part of the day yesterday and took it pretty easy up until the last mile. I’m hoping to test out with an 8:3x 10k in a couple of weeks, so I was happy to get that last mile in at 7:35 after having run 7 already in squishy wet shoes. I used to run in squishy shoes all the time and it didn’t seem to bother me, but I’m not liking it so much lately. The upside is that I only have one pair of runners right now, so they’re too squishy to go do anything today other than swim, bike, stretch, or do yoga. So I don’t feel any pressure to work out at all.
Here’s Jesco.
When I first started running just after the turn of the century (haha) I sought out some experts and tried to leverage their knowledge as best I could. That meant using the Hal Higdon (awesome running coach) Novice Marathon program, reading message boards that focus on training, and finding some locals who gave me good advice based on years of experience (“If we’re running so fast we can’t talk, we’re running too fast.”)
Around the same time, some guys at Furman University were starting to do some research on running based on science. I know…the horror! At FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training), what they learned flew in the face of the observed conventional wisdom coaches had been passing along for years. The result was a program featuring only three days of running a week.
Ah…there’s something worth noting there. It’s not a three days of exercise program. It’s a three days of running program. The program has at least two other days of cross-training. And the three days of running are all difficult–intervals one day, tempo runs another, and a long-distance day that doesn’t let you go as slow as you want. It’s slower for sure, but still challenging.
No easy running days.
Personally, I’m not short changing the conventional wisdom at all. I followed the Higdon programs for many distances and was very happy with my results. These programs will get you where you want to be, for sure. My only real complaints with them are the number of days I have to spend running , which really takes its toll on my knees, and the fact that there are a lot of slow/easy miles involved, which is against my natural tendency is to try to race every day. Granted, it takes some restraint on my part to run these miles without going hard, and there are some valuable lessons to be learned there about patience and restraint that can really help on race day. I haven’t learned those lessons as well as I’d like, but I know the lessons are there.
But this weekend I grabbed a copy of Run Less, Run Faster
I was a little disappointed that the marathon programs in the book start with a 13 mile run on week one and feature five 20 mile runs. That’s probably a great program if you’re coming into the training in marathon shape, but I was looking for a beginners/not-quite-ready-for-marathon version. A web search turned up this schedule, which seems like it was part of the FIRST program…I’m just not sure why it’s not in the book.
Right now I’m working on getting ready for a 10k test in mid-July to determine what my predicted marathon pace will be and hopefully squeeze every second I can out of my finish time. This is so I can go into my next 70.3 with the best running base possible and fix what’s ailing me there. This, so I can (hopefully) convince myself I’m ready to tackle the 140.6 distance. Lots of miles ahead of me.
Here’s some great news!
There are over 1,000 new titles available, with support for pop-up text and highlighting the artwork in individual panels.
Ana and I were just talking at lunch today about how to keep one kid occupied while another is having one-on-one school time, and one of our main options is to use a tablet and some apps for some self-directed educational endeavors. Now Kindle with children’s books is a great option!
I loved my Kindle Touch
We may have to get another device now! The Kindle Fire
One of the downsides to telecommuting is that it’s very easy to become withdrawn, especially if you are a natural introvert like me. I find myself going days on end without leaving the house unless it’s for a quick trip to the gym,and I’m usually under water for most of the time I’m there. I do make it off of our street quite often to go out running and riding, but that hardly counts as “going out”.
The upside is that training solo makes racing solo a little easier. The downside is that you don’t get that little extra push on the tough days when you’re training alone, and you don’t get little nuggets of wisdom and information from other athletes. I was really lucky to find out about an open water swim/run brick group that meets close to the house, and I was able to actually go out last night and participate, which was awesome!
The Running Zone sponsors this workout every Wednesday night at Pineapple Park near the Eau Gallie causeway. There are a couple of swim options, and all kinds of athletes swimming a variety of paces show up. Lots of people do a quick 0.4 mile out and back swim, but there’s also the opportunity to get a full 0.8 mile (~1400 yards) swim without doing two laps of the .4 course.
See how close that is to the 1500 meters you’d swim in a Oly? See how easy it would be to do the 0.8 + 0.4 for a total of 1.2, which just happens to be the exact distance you swim in a 70.3?
Dang. I wish I’d known about this when I was training for the Haines City 70.3. I did one short single solitary open water swim before that race, and I really paid for it.
The great thing about swimming here is that when you’re done you are in the perfect spot to get a run that includes the causeway. That’s the closest thing we have to a hill here. It’s not very steep and not very long, but it’s the the best we have, and it has a very nice pedestrian walkway that is safely protected from traffic by a bike lane and concrete dividers, so it’s very safe.
Now for the best part…all the added information you get by going to where people are and actually talking to them. I met a couple of good dudes last night who gave me all kinds of information on local and semi-local races. Better than that, I got information on even more organized open-water swims and group runs. There are all kinds of opportunities for long runs with Gatorade/water support and social runs throughout the week. I’m going to make it out Sunday for the group long run, and this Wednesday night swim is going to be a staple of my weekly schedule!
At our house, “school” starts at birth…at least that’s the way we look at it. But things are shifting a little these days because “real school” will be starting soon. That means paperwork has to be filled out to declare that we’re officially home schooling. But there’s more…
Curricula must be chosen.
We may have a different approach than others, but here’s what we talked about and decided on for kindergarten/first grade history.
In our estimation, reading is the key to everything. The most important thing we can teach our children are the skills to read and comprehend, and (most importantly) to love it. A love of reading opens up every other subject. We’re easing the kids into this with the stories we read to them at bedtime. Pea (the 5 yo) has moved past the Dr. Seuss type books for bedtime stories since she’s able to read them herself now, so we have been increasing the density of what we read to her, continuing to model good reading habits and challenging her with tougher content and vocabulary.
Her current favorite is the Magic Tree House series, and it’s been great for introducing a little information about the histories of different parts f the world, although it’s fictional, and getting her to ask questions and wonder about different time periods and places. Admittedly, Bug (the 3yo) says that “Jack and Annie awe boawing!” There aren’t crazy pictures to look at, and they don’t do silly things like grow daisies out of their heads. That’s ok…she still listens to the stories, and she still gets her turn to pick books that are more appropriate for her.
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What we’ve decided to do to introduce history more formally is use the Story of the World books. All the reviews we’ve read lead us to believe this is the right choice for our family because it will let us introduce history as a story. What kid wouldn’t love that? We also have friends with older children who rave about these books and the results they’ve seen with their own kids. We’re hoping we can begin reading this book simply as a series of bedtime stories and letting Pea work through the accompanying activity books during the day. She loves when things “magically happen” during the day that she’s been learning about someplace else. That really helps her learn to make her own connections between what she reads and things that happen in her own life.
Feel free to share your own experiences with these books, especially if there are unseen pitfalls we need to look out for!
Check out this feature WATE ran on my buddy Pierre’s company (local to Knoxville) Legend Fitness.
Pierre and his wife Carlene (a professional bodybuilder) live and breathe fitness…it’s not just a business for them. But as business people, they have a really strong sense of responsibility to the community.
Two class people who I’m glad to call friends!
Ok, hope that got your attention…
My buddy Munch is in need of a heart transplant, and right now he’s in desperate need of assistance paying for the drugs to help him survive until a new heart comes through.
His condition was caused by a virus, not lifestyle–definitely not the kind of guy who got here because he wasn’t taking care of himself if that’s what you are wondering. He’s a rugby player, surfer, and sometimes professional fisherman who was still showing up for training wearing a pacemaker when I met him. He just made sure we knew he wasn’t available for tackling. Plus, the guy already gave ass cancer a beat down, so you know he’s a real fighter.
I know many people who land on this site appreciate their own health and live active lifestyles. Let’s show our appreciation by helping a guy like us get back to doing what he loves!
Disney reported they are banning junk food ads on all programming directed at children, but…
All junk food marketing within theme parks will remain at the eye-level of a 4 year old.
<3 capitalism.