This morning I ran the Little River Trail Race. Consisting of a 10 mile and 7 km race, this event is held on in the Little River Regional Park in/near Hillsborough. Interestingly, I learned that my great-grandmother used to live just a few miles away, like 1905 (they moved to Durham... when Duke St used to be a dirt road). It was cold morning, staying in the 30s most of the day. Out in the sun, I thought it wouldn't be that bad, but it was pretty windy which made for a brisk day.
After running 30 miles last week, this was going to be a recovery week. I essentially trained as a recovery week. However, given my normal weekend long run would be 15 miles, and me being me, I felt compelled to run 5 miles before the race this morning. So I was up at 5:00am to get that in. It was a very relaxed pace, though I knew there'd probably be some detriment to the Little River. This race was also my dad's first trail run; he was doing the 7k. So I met at my parents house, and we all went up to the race.
The race itself was hard and difficult. The start of the run I could definitely feel stiffness in my legs. Also, within the first few miles, I had to stop for a pee break. Only a few strides later, I took a wicked branch to the face. It happens all the time so I thought nothing of it. But when I wiped my nose, I was startled to see bloody snot (snotty blood?), and when I spat, there was blood. That eventually stopped, but it was little peculiar. The first two miles of the race flew by, and felt I'd get by without too much suffering. But 4 miles seemed to creep by, and the middle miles slowed to a halt. I was passing many people - less as the race went on - but rolling technical hills were really taking a toll. In the end, I pulled out a 1:16:XX (don't know the seconds); within my estimations of 1:10 - 1:20, but definitely not near the faster end. My dad did GREAT for his first trail race (or trail run, period). Though he didn't have a basis for setting an hour goal, he came in at around 54 minutes.
Though I'm sure I could go right back into a build week, I'm taking another week at recovery mileage. There's not really a need to, except lines up the rest of my training pretty well.
After reading The Story of the Human Body (by Daniel Lieberman), I read The Sports Gene (by David Epstein). In this book, the author address the issues of nature vs nurture; talent vs training. I don't have as strong an opinion on this as I did Human Body. But it is a fascinating perspective. There's an interesting field of genetics called epigenetics. It's the study of how genes can be modified. This mutations are frequently causes of cancer or other maladies. And while I think the exact mechanisms for gene modifications from specific actions, I think the basic ability truly shows that nature and nurture are unavoidably linked. Your baseline influences your talents. But you can't really become great without some training that is persuaded by your talents. I think the great thing about the book is that it illustrates how different every single individual is. And really, some people get to be great by talent, some by training.
I'm not sure what I'll be reading next. I ordered two books online: So Others May Live about Coast Guard rescue swimmers, and Guns, Germs, and Steel about geographical and environmental influences on modern society.
Soundtrack:
"Listening to Freddy Mercury" by Emery
"Currently" by Keaton Simons
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Story of the Human Body
My training season has officially begun with the new year. This past weekend I began upping my long run to 25 miles; this weekend I will hit 30. This past week or so has offered some pretty spectacular challenges, namely the cold weather. My dilemma is nowhere near what people in the northeast and midwest are facing. But the temperatures are ones I have not had to tackle before, which left me both nervous and excited.
My 25 miles was WAY early in the morning; I had an EMT class at 9, so I was up at 2:15 am for a 3:00 (ended up 3:15) start so I could be done before the class began. While not as cold as today, the weather was brisk at 20 F with wind chill into the teens. Like most of these runs, the main discomfort was my hands. If you don't know, my trail name is "Mittens." Whatever the pathology is, the circulation to my hands gets pretty bad, so they get cold pretty easily. Even though I had used hand warmers under my two layers of gloves, I still had some painfully stiff and chilly hands. On a curious note: it came and went in stages, so at about 1:30 - 2:00 hours in I could hardly stand it, but half an hour later, it was no big deal. Probably the most concerning part is that the drink tube for my hydration pack froze even though I tried sipping ever mile or so. This meant a long time without water. Probably the most FUNNY part is that when I got done, the back of my jacket was FROZEN SOLID because of the sweat that had run down.
This morning (Tuesday), we had temperatures in the single digits, wind chill just below zero. Oddly enough, this run went GREAT. I was bundled very nicely, but I still expected to be frigidly cold. But not really. I used some heavy duty ski gloves and hand warmers (still got cold near the end), and there wasn't much to it. What I did learn about myself is that, at least down to those 0 F, I can't go very long with something covering my mouth. I felt much more relaxed after a pulled down a gaitor I had covering my mouth and nose, and the cold air didn't bother me.
I finished the book I mentioned: The Story of the Human Body, by Daniel Lieberman. In this book, the Dr. Lieberman details a lot of the evolutionary changes that led us from apelike origins to where we are today.
What I really enjoyed about the book is that the author isn't limited to the biological changes that took place. In the book, the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution are CULTURAL changes, but very much an evolutionary step. I will say his take on the role of these last two changes is a bit ambiguous. While including them among the evolutionary heritage of humans, he clearly sees them as detrimental. Yet he acknowledges that he himself lives well within the adaptions of modern life. He very objectively lays out the facts of this double-edged sword. As a scientist, I applaud this approach, but I kind of wish there was more insight/conclusion as to whether we are the better for it. One of my predicaments, particularly in regards to fitness, health, and nutrition, is how exactly modern advances play into optimization. Trends like the Paleo diet seem to concluded that recent advances such as eating grains are malicious and unnatural. My predicament, and one I think well-described in this book, is that modern behaviors (again, grains) do have disadvantages, but that does not make those behaviors unnatural.
A recurring proposal of Dr. Lieberman's is that evolution, via natural selection, doesn't necessarily chose traits that are the healthiest. Rather they select for traits that lead to the most reproductive success. For example, humans (rather they're ancestors) were once just foragers: LOTS of fruit and fibrous plants with little to no meat. When we evolved to be hunter-gatherers, it wasn't because red meat made us live longer, but rather provided more energy (from the protein and fat in meat) which was more successful for reproduction. Similarly, the Agricultural Revolution was a NATURAL progression to more stable food source via cultivated food. This led to greater reproductive success; however it decreased nutritional diversity, leading the decreased health.
Near the end, the more interesting subjects were on what Dr. Lieberman termed "cultural buffering." That is, modern culture, which includes medicinal, social, and legal entities, buffer the effects of natural selections. The authors classic example is diabetes: In a "culture-less" environment, it is probably this easily be purged from the gene pool since poor health is undesirable. However, medication mitigates the undesirable poor health, and diabetes doesn't present until after typical reproductive cycles.
While there is a lot more cool facts in the book, I'm going to stop here. Instead, I'll just conclude that it's a fantastic read, and recommend it for those who want an understanding of how we came to be, and why some modern illnesses exist.
BUT my real final note is some speculation on our evolutionary future. Our current "cultural buffering" wasn't a deliberate intervention. But what would happen if we deliberately could STOP it? What would happen? What would it mean? Ending social welfare programs? Would a sort of caste system re-develop? [If you've seen the movie (not the book) The Time Machine] could divergent species eventually develop? It's fascinating, but also scary to think about.
But also cool to think about the evolution of animal life to human. Here's what I think: image bugs that developed camouflage to look like their surroundings. I predict that one day we'll find bugs that look like straws, or McDonald's cups, or ketchup packets. Because if they look more like our products, they're more likely to be overlooks. If they're more likely to be overlooked, they're more likely to live and reproduce, and thus propagate looking like modern products.
Ok, that's it.
Soundtrack:
"Ambulance" by Eisley
"Pressure" by Paramore
My 25 miles was WAY early in the morning; I had an EMT class at 9, so I was up at 2:15 am for a 3:00 (ended up 3:15) start so I could be done before the class began. While not as cold as today, the weather was brisk at 20 F with wind chill into the teens. Like most of these runs, the main discomfort was my hands. If you don't know, my trail name is "Mittens." Whatever the pathology is, the circulation to my hands gets pretty bad, so they get cold pretty easily. Even though I had used hand warmers under my two layers of gloves, I still had some painfully stiff and chilly hands. On a curious note: it came and went in stages, so at about 1:30 - 2:00 hours in I could hardly stand it, but half an hour later, it was no big deal. Probably the most concerning part is that the drink tube for my hydration pack froze even though I tried sipping ever mile or so. This meant a long time without water. Probably the most FUNNY part is that when I got done, the back of my jacket was FROZEN SOLID because of the sweat that had run down.
This morning (Tuesday), we had temperatures in the single digits, wind chill just below zero. Oddly enough, this run went GREAT. I was bundled very nicely, but I still expected to be frigidly cold. But not really. I used some heavy duty ski gloves and hand warmers (still got cold near the end), and there wasn't much to it. What I did learn about myself is that, at least down to those 0 F, I can't go very long with something covering my mouth. I felt much more relaxed after a pulled down a gaitor I had covering my mouth and nose, and the cold air didn't bother me.
I finished the book I mentioned: The Story of the Human Body, by Daniel Lieberman. In this book, the Dr. Lieberman details a lot of the evolutionary changes that led us from apelike origins to where we are today.
What I really enjoyed about the book is that the author isn't limited to the biological changes that took place. In the book, the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution are CULTURAL changes, but very much an evolutionary step. I will say his take on the role of these last two changes is a bit ambiguous. While including them among the evolutionary heritage of humans, he clearly sees them as detrimental. Yet he acknowledges that he himself lives well within the adaptions of modern life. He very objectively lays out the facts of this double-edged sword. As a scientist, I applaud this approach, but I kind of wish there was more insight/conclusion as to whether we are the better for it. One of my predicaments, particularly in regards to fitness, health, and nutrition, is how exactly modern advances play into optimization. Trends like the Paleo diet seem to concluded that recent advances such as eating grains are malicious and unnatural. My predicament, and one I think well-described in this book, is that modern behaviors (again, grains) do have disadvantages, but that does not make those behaviors unnatural.
A recurring proposal of Dr. Lieberman's is that evolution, via natural selection, doesn't necessarily chose traits that are the healthiest. Rather they select for traits that lead to the most reproductive success. For example, humans (rather they're ancestors) were once just foragers: LOTS of fruit and fibrous plants with little to no meat. When we evolved to be hunter-gatherers, it wasn't because red meat made us live longer, but rather provided more energy (from the protein and fat in meat) which was more successful for reproduction. Similarly, the Agricultural Revolution was a NATURAL progression to more stable food source via cultivated food. This led to greater reproductive success; however it decreased nutritional diversity, leading the decreased health.
Near the end, the more interesting subjects were on what Dr. Lieberman termed "cultural buffering." That is, modern culture, which includes medicinal, social, and legal entities, buffer the effects of natural selections. The authors classic example is diabetes: In a "culture-less" environment, it is probably this easily be purged from the gene pool since poor health is undesirable. However, medication mitigates the undesirable poor health, and diabetes doesn't present until after typical reproductive cycles.
While there is a lot more cool facts in the book, I'm going to stop here. Instead, I'll just conclude that it's a fantastic read, and recommend it for those who want an understanding of how we came to be, and why some modern illnesses exist.
BUT my real final note is some speculation on our evolutionary future. Our current "cultural buffering" wasn't a deliberate intervention. But what would happen if we deliberately could STOP it? What would happen? What would it mean? Ending social welfare programs? Would a sort of caste system re-develop? [If you've seen the movie (not the book) The Time Machine] could divergent species eventually develop? It's fascinating, but also scary to think about.
But also cool to think about the evolution of animal life to human. Here's what I think: image bugs that developed camouflage to look like their surroundings. I predict that one day we'll find bugs that look like straws, or McDonald's cups, or ketchup packets. Because if they look more like our products, they're more likely to be overlooks. If they're more likely to be overlooked, they're more likely to live and reproduce, and thus propagate looking like modern products.
Ok, that's it.
Soundtrack:
"Ambulance" by Eisley
"Pressure" by Paramore
Sunday, December 29, 2013
New Year
I had a great Christmas with the family. We did a lot of low key stuff, and since it's been a few weeks since the last post, instead of nitpicking some details, I just won't give any.
I'm kind of in one of those possible-pivotal periods. It seems poignant with the New Year just around the corner. There's a lot that is going amazingly well, but a lot that I want to change to help make my life simpler and happier. At some point I may drop some of the online social networking sites. I see too much that makes me just go "why the fuck do I care?" And then, even when I put stuff on there, I go "why the fuck would anyone else care?" It's a great way to communicate with others.
I'm just not sure what I prefer: less person-to-person interactions, or more person-to-person albeit via a virtual, shallow medium. I guess it depends on whether it's an actual trade off. My goal and method depend on the assumption that decreasing your online presence increases your real life presence. I'm not convinced this is the case. Real life takes real effort. But perhaps it can free up the energy and drive to pursue that real life presence. The same may go for this blog. Either it will go away, or I'll need to find a more specific purpose and focus, probably by weaning away the personal blogging and just focus, say, on the running.
If it does get some focus, or just simply stays as-is, I really want to talk about this book I got for Christmas called "The Story of the Human Body." However, I rather do it comprehensively once I'm done reading it.
Soundtrack:
"Telescope Eyes" by Eisley
"Congratulations" by Eisley
I'm kind of in one of those possible-pivotal periods. It seems poignant with the New Year just around the corner. There's a lot that is going amazingly well, but a lot that I want to change to help make my life simpler and happier. At some point I may drop some of the online social networking sites. I see too much that makes me just go "why the fuck do I care?" And then, even when I put stuff on there, I go "why the fuck would anyone else care?" It's a great way to communicate with others.
I'm just not sure what I prefer: less person-to-person interactions, or more person-to-person albeit via a virtual, shallow medium. I guess it depends on whether it's an actual trade off. My goal and method depend on the assumption that decreasing your online presence increases your real life presence. I'm not convinced this is the case. Real life takes real effort. But perhaps it can free up the energy and drive to pursue that real life presence. The same may go for this blog. Either it will go away, or I'll need to find a more specific purpose and focus, probably by weaning away the personal blogging and just focus, say, on the running.
If it does get some focus, or just simply stays as-is, I really want to talk about this book I got for Christmas called "The Story of the Human Body." However, I rather do it comprehensively once I'm done reading it.
Soundtrack:
"Telescope Eyes" by Eisley
"Congratulations" by Eisley
Saturday, December 14, 2013
It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like...
It seemed like Thanksgiving was only yesterday. It REALLY wasn't too long ago. I remember hearing some news about retailers complaining. Want us to push Christmas back a few days?
It's been a cold, wet few days. Last Saturday's run was wet and so was this one's. I don't mind. It's worse at work. Early in the week was in the 40s but wet and raining and it was not fun. I felt better later in the week when the day started in the 20s, but at least the sun was out.
I SO stalling on writing out my training plan. As I think about it, I don't think I need to make differences to my typical mileage patterns/weekly cycles. I may still keep either the Build-Build-Quality-Recover or Build-Build-Recover. However, I think this time I need to get more particular in the individual weekday workouts and through in some focused workouts. iRunFar.com has a good blog series about the types of workouts ultra runners can focus on: from their endurance long runs, to speed and sprint work. While I enjoy a relax, no stress training schedule, I think incorporating these can be valuable to chasing a PR at Umstead. In order to use them, I need to make sure to do more than just write in "speed work" or "sprint work" but specifically etch out the intervals, repeats, rest, etc.. I think doing so will take some stress of later down the road. And honestly, if the workout is good and hard, the anticipation will actually lead to a better workout.
I will declare myself official recovered. The past two weeks I've had some really good runs. I haven't done much building work. Long lingering fatigue isn't really there. My rest days (er... when I just erg for a 10k) actually make me feel restful the next day. When I go out for my runs, I feel fresh and can really hit some good paces that don't feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
The key is not to abuse this rest just yet. I'll cut back on my mileage next week. And without a Fat Ass 50k or Holiday Lake to think about, there's no need to rush into the 30 or 35 milers I was doing as early as January.
BTW. Trader Joe's around the holiday is terrible for trying to eat right. Alas... Pfeffernusse cookies, Candy Cane Joe Joe's, or Gingerbread is too good to pass up.
Soundtrack:
"Pompeii" by Bastille
"Everything" by The Classic Crime
It's been a cold, wet few days. Last Saturday's run was wet and so was this one's. I don't mind. It's worse at work. Early in the week was in the 40s but wet and raining and it was not fun. I felt better later in the week when the day started in the 20s, but at least the sun was out.
I SO stalling on writing out my training plan. As I think about it, I don't think I need to make differences to my typical mileage patterns/weekly cycles. I may still keep either the Build-Build-Quality-Recover or Build-Build-Recover. However, I think this time I need to get more particular in the individual weekday workouts and through in some focused workouts. iRunFar.com has a good blog series about the types of workouts ultra runners can focus on: from their endurance long runs, to speed and sprint work. While I enjoy a relax, no stress training schedule, I think incorporating these can be valuable to chasing a PR at Umstead. In order to use them, I need to make sure to do more than just write in "speed work" or "sprint work" but specifically etch out the intervals, repeats, rest, etc.. I think doing so will take some stress of later down the road. And honestly, if the workout is good and hard, the anticipation will actually lead to a better workout.
I will declare myself official recovered. The past two weeks I've had some really good runs. I haven't done much building work. Long lingering fatigue isn't really there. My rest days (er... when I just erg for a 10k) actually make me feel restful the next day. When I go out for my runs, I feel fresh and can really hit some good paces that don't feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
The key is not to abuse this rest just yet. I'll cut back on my mileage next week. And without a Fat Ass 50k or Holiday Lake to think about, there's no need to rush into the 30 or 35 milers I was doing as early as January.
BTW. Trader Joe's around the holiday is terrible for trying to eat right. Alas... Pfeffernusse cookies, Candy Cane Joe Joe's, or Gingerbread is too good to pass up.
Soundtrack:
"Pompeii" by Bastille
"Everything" by The Classic Crime
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Leo and Cary
I had a great trip in San Jose with my family. The flight from Raleigh to San Jose (via Denver) was meh. I felt bad most of the trip and we didn't change plans in Denver so there was little scenery change for near eight hours. Adjusting to West Coast time was iffy that first day. But Lura took David and I to a Mexican grocery store where ate some tacos. Most of that first evening was pretty laid back, with Lida and her boyfriend arriving and then eating some really good pizza.
Thanksgiving I took an easy run with my sister's beautiful dog, Raleigh. A very good running partner. Most of the day was spent getting the diner ready, with a bird that took a bit longer than usual. By the time everything was ready, we were ALL ready too. Turkey, sweet potato casserole, kale, pumpkin pie, pecan chocolate bars. YUM.
Friday was a relaxed day in San Francisco. My dad wanted to run across of the Golden Gate Bridge and I had no problem with that! We were looking forward to going to this beautiful park called Muir Woods. But it's so popular, there was a shuttle bus to get there, and that had probably a 45 min line. We were all starving, so we found a seafood place in nearby Sausalito. Good, but nothing out-of-this-world.
Saturday and Sunday were mainly uneventful, those I got to run in Almadean Quicksilver Park. Loads of fun for me of course. San Jose is in the valley, so my runs til then were pancake flat. However, getting out of the valley and on to these mountains was fantastic. A mining community in a previous life, there were lots of steep, rolling hills. The trails were pretty well-groomed. Overall I would compare the technicality to Crabtree MTB trails, and the steepness to Uwharrie. Whereas I had planned 3 hrs, figuring about 20 miles, I only got in ~15. Sunday, the whole family went, with some hiking, and me running again. That in of itself was unique: going later in the day at ~11:00, which was almost 2:00 for me.
Overall I loved. A lot of times I'm less than excited to be engrossed in family time; I love them, but I just like to be doing my own thing. But, I always end up glad, and grateful to be with them. As an epilogue, my older sister's two Manchester Terriers are now residing with my brother and I. They'll be with us for about two more weeks, and then may be again later in 2014.
I still haven't planned out my training for Umstead in April. Both the Carrboro Fat Ass 50k and the Holiday Lake 50k are on Saturdays when my EMT class meets. So at the moment I don't have any longer tune-up races planned. And I just don't know what I'm wanting; definitely low key; not sure about the distance. I did sign up for a short trail race in January; the Little River Trail Run at 10 miles. Last year I skipped it because I wanted to stay focused on Umstead. But I'm thinking I can tack on some earlier miles, and use the race to work on some speed: something I may need, even for a 100.
Not much running to talk about here until I get some plan written down. Though I'm running like it's a build week, I'm not too anal about hitting speeds or distances.
Soundtrack:
"All of the Memories" by The Classic Crime
"Pompeii" by Bastille
Thanksgiving I took an easy run with my sister's beautiful dog, Raleigh. A very good running partner. Most of the day was spent getting the diner ready, with a bird that took a bit longer than usual. By the time everything was ready, we were ALL ready too. Turkey, sweet potato casserole, kale, pumpkin pie, pecan chocolate bars. YUM.
Friday was a relaxed day in San Francisco. My dad wanted to run across of the Golden Gate Bridge and I had no problem with that! We were looking forward to going to this beautiful park called Muir Woods. But it's so popular, there was a shuttle bus to get there, and that had probably a 45 min line. We were all starving, so we found a seafood place in nearby Sausalito. Good, but nothing out-of-this-world.
Saturday and Sunday were mainly uneventful, those I got to run in Almadean Quicksilver Park. Loads of fun for me of course. San Jose is in the valley, so my runs til then were pancake flat. However, getting out of the valley and on to these mountains was fantastic. A mining community in a previous life, there were lots of steep, rolling hills. The trails were pretty well-groomed. Overall I would compare the technicality to Crabtree MTB trails, and the steepness to Uwharrie. Whereas I had planned 3 hrs, figuring about 20 miles, I only got in ~15. Sunday, the whole family went, with some hiking, and me running again. That in of itself was unique: going later in the day at ~11:00, which was almost 2:00 for me.
Overall I loved. A lot of times I'm less than excited to be engrossed in family time; I love them, but I just like to be doing my own thing. But, I always end up glad, and grateful to be with them. As an epilogue, my older sister's two Manchester Terriers are now residing with my brother and I. They'll be with us for about two more weeks, and then may be again later in 2014.
I still haven't planned out my training for Umstead in April. Both the Carrboro Fat Ass 50k and the Holiday Lake 50k are on Saturdays when my EMT class meets. So at the moment I don't have any longer tune-up races planned. And I just don't know what I'm wanting; definitely low key; not sure about the distance. I did sign up for a short trail race in January; the Little River Trail Run at 10 miles. Last year I skipped it because I wanted to stay focused on Umstead. But I'm thinking I can tack on some earlier miles, and use the race to work on some speed: something I may need, even for a 100.
Not much running to talk about here until I get some plan written down. Though I'm running like it's a build week, I'm not too anal about hitting speeds or distances.
Soundtrack:
"All of the Memories" by The Classic Crime
"Pompeii" by Bastille
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving
A preemptive Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you have a great holiday with your family and friends. My gang is gathering in San Jose, at my sister's house. I'm excited for all of us to get together. It's also only my second time across the country, and the Bay Area is suppose to have some really neat outdoor activities. Our family plans on doing some hiking/exploring in Muir Woods. And I may be going out for a good run with a friend of mine who lives out there. My dad also wants to run across the Golden Gate Bridge! I think that sounds cool as well.
My recovery is going OK, but I'm still feeling that lingering fatigue. I'm also having a hard time listening to that fatigue: it's that weird stage where I misinterpret exertional fatigue for that lingering fatigue. That is, I think I'm going to natural run slower because I feel tired or I think I am already running slower because I feel so tired. And in actuality I'm feeling so tired because I'm running too damn hard. Hmmm. I'm paying too much attention to the cardiovascular system; I don't feel my heart racing so I think I can't be running too hard. But really I'm putting a lot of stress on my legs.
Work is going well and so is the EMT class. We had a "provider night" which was really like a mini- job fair. They were all EMS services/programs. But oddly, after speaking to one guy, I got to thinking about rescue specialist jobs. This is normally handled through fire departments, and I really don't know anything about it. But thinking about the extrication and water rescue type stuff.
Once we get back from San Jose, my brother and I will be taking care of my sister's two little terriers. I'm excited and apprehensive. I hope I don't kill 'em. Or get annoyed with 'em. Or forget about 'em.... Oh boy.
At some point I want to make some changes to this blog. Not a whole lot, but maybe more information aka pages with informational type stuff. We'll see.
Soundtrack:
"Pressure" by Paramore
"The Best Day of My Life" by American Authors
My recovery is going OK, but I'm still feeling that lingering fatigue. I'm also having a hard time listening to that fatigue: it's that weird stage where I misinterpret exertional fatigue for that lingering fatigue. That is, I think I'm going to natural run slower because I feel tired or I think I am already running slower because I feel so tired. And in actuality I'm feeling so tired because I'm running too damn hard. Hmmm. I'm paying too much attention to the cardiovascular system; I don't feel my heart racing so I think I can't be running too hard. But really I'm putting a lot of stress on my legs.
Work is going well and so is the EMT class. We had a "provider night" which was really like a mini- job fair. They were all EMS services/programs. But oddly, after speaking to one guy, I got to thinking about rescue specialist jobs. This is normally handled through fire departments, and I really don't know anything about it. But thinking about the extrication and water rescue type stuff.
Once we get back from San Jose, my brother and I will be taking care of my sister's two little terriers. I'm excited and apprehensive. I hope I don't kill 'em. Or get annoyed with 'em. Or forget about 'em.... Oh boy.
At some point I want to make some changes to this blog. Not a whole lot, but maybe more information aka pages with informational type stuff. We'll see.
Soundtrack:
"Pressure" by Paramore
"The Best Day of My Life" by American Authors
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Bucket listing
Note to self: don't ever plan on writing a blog post at the end of a long day at work. You don't want to, and those creative juices are BLAH.... I actually started this on Wednesday but I don't think I'll finish it until Saturday.
I'm the typical groove of post-race. I'm anxious to get to another one. I'm scouring the web, looking up races that I've never heard of, in cool places. I'm catching up on all the ultra-forums I know of, reading about training theories, opinions, new/old races. It's an exciting time. I also think part of it is gearing up for a new training season. As I get ready to lay out a training plan, I tend to go back to the websites I've used before. I want to look for new information, as well as reaffirm the training concepts I've held to before.
I also have to be careful. Last year I was spot on to avoid getting into "training." I was running again by this point, but made a point not to get into a training mindset. When I'm training, I'll try to look over little tweaks and aggravations in the legs, resting only if it gets worse or doesn't start to get better. So when I'm not training, I'll still run but if something's not right, I take time off. So when I do start training I'm at 100%. However, with my goals for Umstead, I'm already feeling self-pressured to put in quality time on my feet.
But the past few weeks I've had fun looking up other races. Local, national, and global I love reading about cool and tough races. A couple of good resources for my discovery are ultrarunning.com and ultramarathonrunning.com. Of course, I couldn't help but read up on Western States (WSER). And they're list of qualifying 100 mi and 100K races really narrows in on the tougher and more spectacular courses.
My problem is I always end up defaulting to local races. At my age and financial situation, it's hard to justify destination races across the country or internationally (there is a WSER qualifier in Scotland I thought was cool). Furthermore, there's SO many within a few hours drive, it could take years to make the rounds around those.
A poorly organized list of "global" races are: Western States 100, Hardrock 100, West Highland Way (Scotland, 95 mi), Pine to Palm 100 (Oregon), Patagonia Run (Argentina, 100 mi), Cascade Crest 100 (Washington), Tahoe 200 (YES! 200 miles!)
And poorly organized locally: Uwharrie 40, Grindstone 100, The BEAST Series, Thunder Rock (NEW race in 2014, Chattanooga, TN), RockCreek Stage Race. Leatherwood 50 (Ferguson, NC)
There's really just too many.
Loving my return to running. I'm still feeling a little sluggish, but always enjoy pounding my feet. I still need to narrow down what type of tune up races I want to do after the new year. I really want to iron out some of the nutrition quirks I've expereienced, and a race will be the best place to do that. The key will be not to race too often, or too far. I have high aims for Umstead, and I CANNOT go into it fatigued.
Soundtrack:
"Coming Back to Life" by Blindside; title says it all about how I feel about getting back to running
"The Smile, The Face" by Emery, this lyric "But though my heart [I say body] is breaking open, know that I will not be broken"
I'm the typical groove of post-race. I'm anxious to get to another one. I'm scouring the web, looking up races that I've never heard of, in cool places. I'm catching up on all the ultra-forums I know of, reading about training theories, opinions, new/old races. It's an exciting time. I also think part of it is gearing up for a new training season. As I get ready to lay out a training plan, I tend to go back to the websites I've used before. I want to look for new information, as well as reaffirm the training concepts I've held to before.
I also have to be careful. Last year I was spot on to avoid getting into "training." I was running again by this point, but made a point not to get into a training mindset. When I'm training, I'll try to look over little tweaks and aggravations in the legs, resting only if it gets worse or doesn't start to get better. So when I'm not training, I'll still run but if something's not right, I take time off. So when I do start training I'm at 100%. However, with my goals for Umstead, I'm already feeling self-pressured to put in quality time on my feet.
But the past few weeks I've had fun looking up other races. Local, national, and global I love reading about cool and tough races. A couple of good resources for my discovery are ultrarunning.com and ultramarathonrunning.com. Of course, I couldn't help but read up on Western States (WSER). And they're list of qualifying 100 mi and 100K races really narrows in on the tougher and more spectacular courses.
My problem is I always end up defaulting to local races. At my age and financial situation, it's hard to justify destination races across the country or internationally (there is a WSER qualifier in Scotland I thought was cool). Furthermore, there's SO many within a few hours drive, it could take years to make the rounds around those.
A poorly organized list of "global" races are: Western States 100, Hardrock 100, West Highland Way (Scotland, 95 mi), Pine to Palm 100 (Oregon), Patagonia Run (Argentina, 100 mi), Cascade Crest 100 (Washington), Tahoe 200 (YES! 200 miles!)
And poorly organized locally: Uwharrie 40, Grindstone 100, The BEAST Series, Thunder Rock (NEW race in 2014, Chattanooga, TN), RockCreek Stage Race. Leatherwood 50 (Ferguson, NC)
There's really just too many.
Loving my return to running. I'm still feeling a little sluggish, but always enjoy pounding my feet. I still need to narrow down what type of tune up races I want to do after the new year. I really want to iron out some of the nutrition quirks I've expereienced, and a race will be the best place to do that. The key will be not to race too often, or too far. I have high aims for Umstead, and I CANNOT go into it fatigued.
Soundtrack:
"Coming Back to Life" by Blindside; title says it all about how I feel about getting back to running
"The Smile, The Face" by Emery, this lyric "But though my heart [I say body] is breaking open, know that I will not be broken"
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