Monday, August 30, 2010

New Kicks

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
-Buddah

Had a great weekend.  Got over whatever I had done to my chest, though my foot, as of today (8/30 Monday), is still bothering me.  I bruised it much worse than I initially thought.

A special thanks to the GF this weekend.  A while back she had seen my trail shoes, my Brooks ASR5's, and was shocked as to how much wear and tear I've put on them.  Where my small toes have a tendency to rub, not because of poor sizing but because I spread my toes as wide as the toe-box will allow during climbs and descents, there are small holes rubbing out.  I'm on my third, maybe fourth, set of laces as they've all just fallen apart from constant relacing, which is why in the pics they look fairly new in respect to everything else.  The majority of the outsole has worn out, though there is still SOME grip on wet surfaces, rock, mud etc, but I didn't realize just how much I've lost.  Whole chunks of the outsole have been tearing away from itself since the binding holding them together has all been eaten away.  And don't even get me started about the cushioning, that's been gone for as long as I can remember.  The only saving grace about the soles being so worn is that I could feel every change of the terrain.  That was a double edged sword, though, as I felt every rock, exposed root, EVERYTHING.


Now I've honestly had these shoes for the last year and a half and just haven't given them up as I always thought of them as super comfortable and didn't plan on getting anything new until they decided to just disintegrate, I had them worn in to perfection.  The GF had told me more than once that I needed to go get me some new shoes but I just didn't have the heart to give them up yet.  Call it part sentimentality.  Mostly call it stupidity.  I knew I needed some new shoes I was just too damn stubborn.  I'm sure that my current foot problem stemmed from the piss poor state of the shoes I was wearing. 

Saturday it was agreed that I should have a day of rest since I was gunning for a long run Sunday morning.  While we were bumming around town, running errands, almost out of the blue, my GF steered us to REI.  I KNEW why we were going instantly.  Introducing my brand spankin new Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra's!  I got to break them in royally, the first time I ran in them was for 18 miles on Sunday.  I have to say, for someone who likes to say she's marginally tolerating my addiction, she sure isn't helping.

There's a LOT going on with these shoes.  I took them, as well as my oldies, to the trails Sunday morning.  I ran the first 6 miles in the Salomons, I only got about a quarter of a mile in my old Brooks' until I turned around and took them off for good, they just didn't feel the same.

I'm still getting used to the Salomons, but it's because they have all the things that I was lacking in my old shoes.  Cushion, stability, traction.  Never realized how much I missed those, hell, I forgot they really exhisted.  The shoes actually felt weird.

The lacing system seemed a bit gimmicky at first, but I never had to worry about relacing, not that I really did in my other shoes, but these stayed just as tight on the initial tie down all morning long.

The only thing that really worries me is the toe box.  It seemed a little tighter than I'm used to for my sizing.  I had tried to go a size larger than usual, but then the whole shoe was way too big.  It felt like my foot was dwarfed inside it.  Maybe it was just my imagination, but it must not have been as big an issue as I thought as I didn't walk away with any blisters on my toes.

When I got home, my GF saw the state of my new shoes.  After 18 miles, they were grey with dirt and dust from the trail, and just a bit scuffed, she took one look and exclaimed "What the hell did you do to your brand new shoes?!!?"  Sometimes she's so damn cute.  Too bad all the river crossings I run through were dry, I would have loved to see that reaction if they had been also caked in mud.  The pics are from a quick rub down with a wet cloth, I don't tend to religiously clean my shoes but I do keep them free of debris and somewhat presentable.

My run Sunday ended up lasting about 18.5 miles.  Everything seemed alright, besides the nagging pain in my right foot, it seemed to come and go throughout the morning as I was able to just forget about it from time to time, but as soon as my foot found just the right rock or root, even through the Salomon's, it came right back from out the back of my mind.  I was planning on breaking 20, but I had given a heads up as to when I'd be home and was fixing to surpass what I had said.  My pace was spot on to what I was expecting, but I still didn't hit my goal for the morning.  There's always next weekend.

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Long Road Ahead

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”
-Tom Robbins
"I just don't understand why.  It can't be good for your body, you're not getting anything out of it.  I just don't get it."  She's at least promised to be tolerant if not patient. 

It's getting harder and harder to explain to my sig other as to why I go out.  We had a brief discussion about plans for this coming weekend, and it's not that I'm revolving my entire weekend around my run, but I know I need to smartly hash out my long days in order to be properly prepared for November.  Now, I do try to get out as early as possible, waking up at 4am to get to the trails by 5 if possible, which of course is also outlandish in her eyes.  Weekends are for sleeping in.  Weekends are for rest.  Telling her that on my longer days, I'll push myself to no less than 8 hours nearly blew her mind.

I told her that this is just something I thoroughly enjoy, and so I'll deal with the irritated attitude as it comes since the benefits seriously outweigh the negativity.  To put into words what I'm feeling as I'm running and finishing, be it in a race or just training, is impossible.  It's like explaining astro-physics in Dutch to a death-mute guinna pig.

6.12 miles
Took a different route today to mix things up.  Felt bored with the usual 4-6mile loop so I thought I should find another.  This one varies a lot more and keeps things much more interesting.  Quite a few more variations in elevation, twists, and ground cover.  Will have to start replacing my usual loop for this one on long days as it seems to be a little closer to the race's course than what I was running, it being a mid-to-advanced level mountain bike course. 

Two injuries I need to watch.  First, I landed on a rock wrong and bruised the entire bottom of my right foot where I land and push my weight off from.  I can still run on it but it's tender as hell.  Two, I tripped over some tree roots running up a hill and landed super hard against the ground chest first.  It doesn't hurt horribly bad, but breathing deep does feel slightly uncomfortable.  Hopefully running won't exacerbate either problem.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Emma's Revenge

Decided to run the XTERRA Austin Trail Run, also known as Emma's Revenge, an 18k along the trails of Lake Austin.  Schwag, beer and pizza were promised, though I admit, I didn't indulge as I just wanted to get home afterwards since getting lost along the way, my cell going out on me and my Garmin leading me to the wrong place gave me just enough time to check in all left a bad taste in my mouth.  Hats off to the early morning runners that I flagged down on the side of the road who gave me spot on directions, instead of hitting me with pepper spray.

The race started off at 0800, with the 18k runners starting AHEAD of the 5k sprinters, which was odd since the little speed demons caught up to us super quick.  Once we passed an initial straight, there was a bottleneck to get up a steep rock path.  Earlier, during the pre-race meeting, the directors had forewarned about the climb, the woman standing beside me looked over at me, her eyes huge, and asked "Do you think he's freakin serious?!"

On the climb, many of the 5k'ers quickly became uppity since they couldn't just zip by, once we were bounding up the ledges there was really no room to go around anyone so a great single-file trudge ensued.  There were still a few asshats who would try to push you faster into the person directly in front of you constantly repeating "On your left!" even though there was no room to budge.  Finally at the top, there was plenty of space along the trail to spread out, or in my case, find my pace and settle in for the haul as I watched the 5k'ers fight each other for position. 

The entire middle section was along the cliffs surrounding the lake, the glimpses I got of the view were beautiful, but since I'm not a huge fan of heights, I just concentrated on the trail and payed no mind to the drops that I was hugging.  Somewhere along the second lap, someone paid me an inspiring compliment.  "What ultras have you done?"  She seemed a little shocked when I told her I was actually in the middle of training for my first.

The tail end brought us to the descent back down to the starting area.  The down grade was just as steep as the climb, but by this point every one was spread out enough to not have to worry about falling into someone or being tripped up from behind.  From there it was just a straight shot (have I ever mentioned I'm growing to dislike straightaways) to the second lap/finishing area.

All in all the race was great.  There were some people who either don't get or just don't know trail etiquette, but they were too few and far in between to really leave a damper on anything.  After I got home, I had a few Ziegenbocks, some killer taco pizza and celebrated the day with my kiddo.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

With Sharp Pointy Fangs!

"Make friends with pain and you will never be alone"

- Ken Clouber

Not a lot to report this week.  Sticking to my routine of 5-7 miles a day during the week before I start getting mentally ready for a nice long run this weekend.  It's been raining off and on  all week so I'm expecting some mud tomorrow as well as some of that good ol' Texas humidity.  Gotta love it when you start sweating just lacing up your sneakers.

Debating on whether or not I want to take a stab at an 18k trail run that will be this coming Saturday.  I'm muling it over as I've never ridden or run the trail, have heard it's VERY challenging, to the point that one of my racing buddies has advised that I not bike the trail alone in case something were to happen (in the realm of falling off my bike and breaking my collarbone or getting mauled by a rabid bunny), and that on foot there is a lot of vertical climbing involved.  The negatives are minimum, in my mind, as I think it would be a welcome challenge since I know nothing of the trail and will just have to prepare for the absolute worst.  Plus, with all the rain that's been forcasted for the week, it would be great to slog in the mud.

At home, my son seems to think that afternoon naps have become so passe and has begun just staying up.  Imagine someone who's not much of a morning person, hasn't had their coffee, and has been asked to solve a complicated mathematical equation but then they're told the can only use an abacus.  Now imagine that same person, only a couple feet tall, unable to enunciate past simple grunts and the occasional cry, AND every time you turn your back the dog licks them in the face.  Pure crankitude.  Not a huge deal, I tend to just lay on the floor in the middle of the living room while he scoots around and climbs over-top me like some sort of mini-mountain while also fending off the small dog.  Thank god for coffee.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Slow and Steady

"Just keep pumping your legs.  Don't ever stop." - Joshua Crixell, advice given during my first 12-hour bike race.
Joshua won first place in single speed men's and overall men's. This ain't mountain biking, but I think the saying still applies.


Didn't make it out for my long run yesterday as I slept in, when I set the alarm clock I set it for 5:15 PM and not AM so it was a bit of a shock when I woke up at 9:30.  Someting about cussing up a storm, "You were all "GD Mother-F'n-A"", or at least that's how it was told to me by my sig other. 

16.58 miles in 3h:51m:27s Burned 2765kcal
Today, I did make it out to the usual spot and hit the usual loop.  I only intended to run for about 3 hours but found my first wall right at that point (12 maybe 13 miles), rather than fold it up I kept going, I only had intended to run about 3 hours in the first place.  It took about another twenty minutes to pass through the haze.  Those twenty minutes were filled with a lot of stumbling, I seemed to find every root, every rock, every dip on the trail.

Blood and Thunder - Mastodon  Talk about lighting a fire under my ass.  Around the time I hit the wall, this popped up on my playlist, sweeeetness.

I really wish I could have shot for 20 miles, but I was low on water and was out of food, unless I had a decent stock of either, I don't know how much farther I would have made it.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Annoying Butt Cheek of Aching

And God said unto them, "Let them run with the deer, and bunnies, and the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and other assorted furry woodland creatures."

I'm sure that's in the bible somewhere, or at least for some reason I remember it being in there.

Was sick all week, with exactly what I'm not sure, but it was very flu-ish (side note: it might as well have been "The Black Death").  In short, I didn't run this week.  I did go Monday morning thinking that I could sweat out, and eventually, hack out the heavy lump of mucus that was developing in my chest, but no such luck, it got progressively worse as the day went on and became a full-blown kick-you-in-the-jubblies illness.

Today was the first time to be back on the trail.  I took it short and easy as tomorrow I'll go for a long run, per my very loose schedule.  If I wanted to be honest, which I don't really want to be, I'd say that I went extra easy on myself to shake out some of the gathered cobwebs.

I went to the usual spot, Walnut Creek Park, and hit the usual loop.  Only 4 miles, but there was a LOT of dust to shake out of my system.  Near the end of the run, I had to take a few more walk breaks than I'm used to for such a short run and I felt some soreness in my left butt cheek(was a pain in the ass, I'M HERE ALL NIGHT PEOPLE) and a twinge in my right knee.  Why?  Don't really know.  I have had a prior injury to my knee, but as far as my ass, I mean, left butt-cheek, who knows.

Tomorrow it's back to Long-Day Saturday, but as to where I'll trod, it's still up in the air.  Hopefully it'll be a day devoid of muscle and joint pains.

Friday, August 6, 2010

On the 14th day God said, "Let that fatass run!"

Not once in the time that I had known her had I ever seen Michelle nervous or shy.  She's the kind of person who wears her opinions and feelings loudly on her sleeves.  She's the kind of girl that will walk up to an overdressed woman at a bar and tell her "Girl, your tata's are amazing, let those girls breathe a little!"  That night I remember how she struggled to keep eye contact.

We were at work, lounging in the Intensive Care Unit with the usual nursing staff when she approached me.

"There's this thing I want to try out," her eyes kept darting around at the other three or four people in the small breakroom but me, "I can find someone else but was wondering if you'd be interested.  I want to try a half-marathon with this fund-raising group.  They meet in a couple weeks for newbies"

At that point, I wasn't into running.  Let me rephrase that, I despised it.  I was pushing 245-250, loved food, played a lot of video games, and would rather have been belly up to a bar with a cold drink in my hand chatting with anyone that was near.  I slept in every weekend and used the excuse that I worked long nights to keep from going out on during the week.

In short, I dismissed the idea.  "'Chelle, if you can't find anyone in two weeks, I'll do it."

I figured with her personality, she'd find someone who was way more athletic than me.  There were plenty of people who worked at our hospital that were marathoners, triathletes, health nuts.

Two weeks passed.  I had never given the question so much as a fart in the dark let alone any thought whatsoever.

That Tuesday night, 'Chelle approached me a second time. 

"Mannie, the meeting is this Thursday."

Shit.

Being a person of my word, I went.

The group was Team In Training.  The plan was you helped raise funds for the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, in turn, a portion of those funds went to your entry fees, hotel accommodations, training with their group, and advice from their vast well of experience in the sports, be it a half or full marathon, bike race, or even a triathlon.  The locations they had their events at were all over the country, from Florida to Hawaii, there was a sport somewhere for anyone and all distances.

We chose the White Rock marathon in Dallas as it was one of the events that called for the least amount of funds to be raised since it was so close to home.  She chose to walk, I chose to run.

Why did I choose running?  Looking back, it equated to equal parts stupidity, machismo, and 'Chelle was cute. If I could use this as an angle to get to know her a little better then what the hell.

The next few months we trained with the group every Saturday.  We went to any meetings we could to hear speakers tell of their experiences racing trying to get as much knowledge about what we were going to undertake.

I never met my fundraising goal and because I had blindly hoped to make the funds somehow, it never occurred to me to register for the race on my own.  'Chelle almost made hers, but past injuries were beginning to catch up with her and were keeping her from recovering quick enough after long training days.  The race came and went.

By this point I had built myself up to running 7-8 miles every morning after work, and having a long run every Saturday for 3 hours, hitting almost 13 miles.  I had lost weight, I was in better health, and had kept the running habit going as it seemed that 'Chelle was living vicariously through me.  At work, she'd ask how far I was planning on running that day, where in town I was going to go.  "If I see you when I'm driving I'll honk and cheer you along from my car."

I turned to running on trails and stayed off roads the day I almost got hit by a car.  I remember turning down a side street near the campus early one Sunday morning.  There wasn't much traffic in the area, just the few students, who weren't hungover, running errands.  I was paying so close attention to the ground that the car seemed to materialize out of nowhere.  They came so close I could feel the drivers-side rear view mirror brush my elbow and the rush of the air as the car sped off.  The ass had the nerve to flip me off as they kept on.

Once on the trails, it became a natural progression to run for longer periods of time.  The pavement had always been brutal on my knees and back to the point that after long mornings there were times when my knees and ankles would be so swollen I would spend the rest of the afternoon lounging on my couch.  That never happened on the dirt.

With 'Chelles eager persuading, I began to go out farther and longer.  The farthest I had ever run was 32 miles in about 6-7 hours.  That's about the time I heard about the events known as Ultra Marathons and have carried the carrot on my back ever since.

Whenever it comes up, I openly blame Michelle.  I joke with her that she started me down this long road of addiction.  Before the conversation ends, though, I thank her.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Found It!

Bull Creek Greenbelt has been officially located.  I realized last night that I had turned down the wrong street in my search yesterday morning.

The trail was great, even though I made a wrong turn ON THE FLIPPIN TRAIL.  The reported length is supposedly about 12 1/2 miles, but thanks to my amazing sense of direction, I made a wrong turn and so instead of a 10 mile out-and-back I only hit 2.6 out.  Just means that I have to go back out there tomorrow and hit it again.

The trail, what I ran of it, was pretty flat, not too many changes in elevation.  As far as technicality goes, not much to write home about, but there were some rocky sections that slowed me down to a walk.  Stomache problems plagued me at the very start, the first mile was not as fun as it could have been, but a beer goes to the trail planner who decided public bathrooms were a good idea.
It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.
                                     -Garrison Keillor

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

"These aren't the trails your're looking for."


I'm currently trying to find some new areas to tear up some trail.


Now there's nothing wrong with Walnut Creek Park (where I usually run), I mean there are PLENTY of side-trails and combinations of them to make every day something a little different, I just think it's time to find some new scenery so as to avoid burn-out in the up-and-coming months.


The trail I found was supposed to be a 12-14 mile single track with plenty of elevation changes and terrain types to keep me sated for a quite some time, and on top of that, only about five minutes from where I work.

Of course the directions to the trail head were craptacular, there is no address to speak of, just an unmarked parking lot within walking distance of the trail. I did end up finding an unmarked parking lot within walking distance of a trail, though not THE trail.


Along the first circuit, a few things made me start to wonder if I was in the wrong place. Firstly, all the left-hand turn-offs that should have fed the flow along the main loop were dead-ends, according to the map of the trail I found online right-hand turns were all cut-backs to get back to the trail-head quicker. At least every dead-end was somewhat scenic. Most of the trail followed along a riverbed that ran alongside a vertical rock wall. With how high the wall reached, the sound of the water, and the coolness and near claustrophobia of the surrounding foilage, it felt was if I wasn't anywhere near the heart of the city.

About a mile into the run, I found my pace and was feeling like I could run all morning, I actually thought maybe I had read the map wrong and was running the trail backwards when I saw the first "Out -->" sign.

"There's no way this spits me back out near the trail-head, it's barely been a mile and a half..."

Exactly 1.7miles in, and there I was, back where I started.

No use in bitching/moaning about being in the wrong place, I ended up kicking out almost six miles. The trail's elevation changed about 100-150 feet, so it ended up being a good run either way.

If I can't find the actual trials I'm looking for, at least this will end up being another good stand-by.