Ugh...

Adrienne and I ordered the UFC fight this weekend and it was awesome. We love the fighting! I would love to train for and fight in MMA. It is not going to happen, but I know that I would just love it.

Sometimes the miles gang up and basically ground and pound you! I feel so little motivation right now, and I assume I am just tired. I took an easy week and am back on it this week. Sticking with the analogy, I guess it is time to get to my feet and fight back, bloodied and all. Perseverance is the key to training! Perseverance through the tough times begets consistency, and it is consistency that begets great results. This is why running and training is such a great builder of character. You must not give up during the tough times. You must not answer when death comes knocking on the door. You must be resilient, hardened by the miles, the thoughts that fill your mind out on those long runs, the love of the sport, the disgust in failing. This hardening build character, and this character is shown under a bright light when the racing starts.

So, although I feel it would be more fun to go home and have a couple beers while watching the Lakers hopefully win game 4 tonight, I will run instead. After the run, of course, I will have a couple beers and watch the Lakers win. I think a couple flat runs will start the week off well, and then it is back to the hills so I can go and race up in Vail on June 8. I hear the race is quite difficult, so that should be a fun one. I don't mind suffering. I do think that is what brought me back to running. The suffering! The quiet pain that builds throughout the race, that turns into a scream, and a roar by the end. The silencing of it after a good race, and the haunting of it after a poor race. That might be all the motivation I need!

I guess sometimes you just need to write thoughts down to remind yourself of what you love the most about what you do. For me it is suffering. For you?

So, when you find yourself in that pergatorious place, jot down a few thoughts, stir hope and rejuvenation, and get back on that horse. I think the nice part is that everyone goes through it over and over again, it is just a thing that we like to go through alone. I don't know why!?

Santa Barbara

I love Santa Barbara! I think that Adrienne and I will end up there eventually. Hopefully sooner than later, but that will depend on what we can get together financially over the next bunch of years. Well, I was there for a wedding, which is not too conducive to racing great, but I think I did alright. We drove out and arrived on Wednesday after 10 hours from Green River, UT. We arrived at about 5:30 and I knew there was a race series down along the beach. We drove in, parked, and I registered for the Nite Moves 5k. Warmed up for a bit and was off. The first half of the race is uphill and I went out hard. The incline varies from about 3%-5% and I have been running my fair share of hills. Hit the mile in 5:00 and then finished up to the turn-around at 7:22. I decided to take it easy from then on. I came down nice and easy, thinking about Saturday's 10k, and ended up running right around 16:00. I will have to look up the exact time, but was happy to win.

Next up, after the bachelor's party and a nice rehearsal lunch, came the 10k. Nice warm-up and I was off. Took off and separated from the other guys. I was hoping to run around 30ish, but I did not have the speed for it. I have not done anything faster than 5:00/mi, and it showed up today. The race itself was not too difficult, but I found that I could not turn over any faster than I was. I ran even the whole race and that was a nice thing. I ran 33:28, which was a bit disappointing, but happy again to win. There have been some pretty good runners on this course before that ran around 33 and change, so that was encouraging. I am sure with speed work the time would have been dramatically faster, but I had to remind myself that I am not focusing on flat fast races. I ran fast uphill in the 5k and that is what I have been training for, UPHILL! So, a good week of racing and a great way to start the season. 33:23 off base is not great, but not bad. I am looking forward to racing the hills and seeing what I can hold out there.

Adrienne ran great as well. Her hamstring has been hurting her a bit (she tore it back in her soccer days), and it was really sore on race day. She ran awesome for her FIRST ever road race!!! 23:32! I was very proud of her. She got her first taste of the suffering that settles in toward the end of a race and I think she liked it (after it was over):) I thought it would be great if she ran under 23, and I am sure she would have if her hamstring was feeling better. She lost about 30sec on the way back. So, a great start to the season for her, and off no speed work. Very nice!

I will post some pics soon.

Jersey Pics.

I was drawing these pics today and thought they might be awesome on the front and back of my jersey for the season. Nothing says mountain running better than a mt. goat.

Coffee: Nectar of the Gods and Suffering

I just had a short exchanged with Judy (Guinness's Grandma/Breeder) about coffee. Man, I love the stuff. It got me thinking that I do not really write much about the stuff that I think about on my runs. I do think that one of my favorite things about running is the time you get to go out there and just contemplate. I could go 20miles and never run out of things to think about. Coffee is always a topic to ponder (especially on those days that my mouth is completely dry and gummy beacause I downed a pot or more of coffee prior to the run). The benefits, the drawbacks... I focus mostly on the benefits because it makes for a faster run:)

I guess I think more about philosophy, religion, politics, music, math (mostly calculus and lately accounting), and the vises of man. By the vises of man, I guess I mean the things that get in the way of living life to the fullest. Some would find that to be money, technology, work, etc., but I do not find that those things get in my way as much. I like to work, live comfortably, and follow the new innovations. To me, I think it is more of a mindset - the way I approach the world. I don't have to like everyone, agree with them, or fake that I do. I think that it is okay to disagree, not want to be around, or flat-out dislike some people and things. I think that the stress comes in when we try to fight this and think that the problem is within us. With all that said, I still believe that I would rather suffer than a person I dislike suffer. So, if I were on a run with a person that I dislike and a bear came to attack us, I would rather be the one getting swatted by his enormous paws than to see the person I dislike have to endure that pain and suffering. Likewise with situations more realistic (emotional suffering, physical suffering, etc.) The only suffering I would rather a person go through more than me is the kind you have to deal with in a race. Now, that is the beauty of running. Most runners like to suffer, but more than the love to suffer is the desire to make others feel that same pain in a greater amount. This is the refining pain. The kind we have all dealt with in a race that makes you realize what you are made of and what you can handle. The kind that makes the lesser things in life all but disappear. The kind that somehow finds the essense of who we are and refines it, race by race. Now, that's the kind of suffering I love. And, I would say, that is probably what I think about most often on long runs. It makes me smile:)

I will try and post my favorite topic of the week that ran through my head while running. Now that I am thinking about it, I think less when I am running uphill. It just hurts too much. Probably just thinking about suffering...

Where am I?

On Monday I thought I would go for a trail run. Why? I don't know. I was tired and hurting a bit from the Saturday morning run and a nice flat run along the creek would have been pretty good for the legs. Instead, I drive myself out to APEX and head on up. The nice thing about the run is that I took it easy and ran a bit under 29min up the Enchanted Forest, which I know is slow, but it was easy. Since it was easy, I decided to go against my better judgement and head on up to Lookout Mountain. I kept looking at maps and saying, well it will only be 9 miles or so. Once I got to the top of Lookout Mountain, I decided to go down to Chimney Gulch trail instead of turning around. Now, this is where the rationalizing should have ended, and turning around should have started. Nope! Down to the bottom of Lookout and now I am practically in Golden. I did not figure it being a pretty long way (how long, I do not know) back to APEX trail. My knee was completely locked up now from the downhill and my left achilles was killing me. I decided to B-Line it toward APEX, so I cut across the bottom of Lookout, through some back yards, across a couple gullies, onto a path, and voila, there was APEX and my beloved car! I think I was out 1:55, but only ran 1:25-1:30 of it. That is not a fun experience. I never seem to learn from them though.

The rest of the week has been a bit of rest and recovery. The knee was pretty inflamed and there is something up with my calf/achilles that I cannot find. I think that I will have to call up Andrea and see if she can find it. I am way over due for a massage anyway. I feel much better today and the kneee is finally coming back to normal. I was also due for a true easy week. So, I will keep myself from going too long this weekend, and get ready to race next weekend! I will get in a short tempo early in the week and that will do the trick. I have run nothing near 4:50 pace, but I think that is the goal for the day. I would not be disappointed at 5:00, but that is probably not where I will take it out. Until then, resting and getting the legs ready for a season that looks to be rather long...

*Oh yeah. I am thinking about entering in the Nine Trails race in Santa Barbara. 35miles, 10,500' gain. Right up my alley:)

Long Runs Can Be Long

Well, McGurk and I met up at Mt. Falcon parking lot at 8:30 Saturday morning. I had just run a 33:08 10k the afternoon before and was feeling it pretty bad. It was only a tempo, but at altitude, and not doing anything of the sort for a long time, my calves and quads were feeling a bit soggy. Luckily, McGurk was feeling a bit under the weather from a long week at work. We headed out, starting up Mt. Falcon and hit the pavilion at around 30min. Nice and easy, but feeling the legs much more than I did when I ran it in 25min. We just continued on to the parking lot (4 miles) where I used the bathroom and dispensed of the fatty BBQ and uncountable margaritas I had the previous night. Alright, now I can run:) We continued on and headed toward Parmalee Gulch Rd. where we started on the Lair O the Bear trail. 6.5miles along the tail and we were down to the parking lot. We were both feeling the legs a bit, but I was finally feeling a bit looser from the previous day's effort, and I knew it was mostly downhill now. I don't know why that sounds like a good thing. I hate, HATE! downhill. There is no better way to ruin a run than to add a long downhill. Down 5 or so miles, and then the final climb up to the parking lot at Mt. Falcon. I think the run is somewhere in the 19-20mile range. I will attempt to map it and put it under the post. I think the run would have been great in reverse, but it was a bit too much pounding for my liking. We were both hurtin' a bit after the run, but some stretching and a Chipotle burrito later, I was feeling alright. All in all, not too bad, but that hill down to Morrison made for a long day. Somewhere around 2:30...

Sunday was great! Adrienne and I woke up, made a German pancake, a cappuccino, cut up some strawberries, and sat out in the sun and enjoyed breakfast together. After that, we decided to go out for a run together. Adrienne had run 13 on Saturday (which was her longest run ever)!!!! and she was great. Up Waterton Canyon (up out, down back) to the dam. She averaged 9min pace for 13, which was amazing considering that she was running 10min pace for 4miles just six or so weeks ago!!! So, she was tired, and I was hurting a bit in the knee and right achilles due to the pounding from yesterday. We headed to Bear Creek with the thought that we would get in 5.5 along the creek. When we got the the turnaround, I told her that we should do 7 and do the 3 creek crossings:) She was all for it and we started trudging along the creek. Re ran 7 at about 9min pace and she did great. With soggy shoes and socks, we got our little puppy, Guinness, and iced in the creek. The legs were feeling much better after that, and we enjoyed a great day together.

This week will be pretty good. Some hard hills and maybe one tempo run. I have a race in two weeks, and I would like to have some speed for it, but I am resisting the urge to do repeats. The season is young, and being injury free is much better than the alternative. Miles and hard hills should do the trick. Finally, some beautiful days in Denver!

Just add 6.5 for the Lair O the Bear Trail. Yikes...

Snow...In May...Brrrr

Geeze! The heck with this. Talk about challenging the motivation. Snow on the first day of May, and worse yet, freezing. I might sound like I am complaining, and that is because I am! 80 degrees Wednesday, 40 Thursday? I came from where it was 75 every day! I do like the weather and the challenge of training all winter here, and the ability to snowshoe, 4x4, snowboard, and the such, but May should be a barrier. Heck, March should be the end of it all. I was amazed to see that College Triathlon Nationals has already come and gone, and people can't even swim outside here yet. I never thought about that before! At least you can run all year long, and I do love the snow. I just don't love it after an 80 degree day:)

This week has been pretty light, and that has been nice. 34:30 10k earlier in the week at a very reasonable effort! That is a great sign. Hopefully at sea level, I can push under 30min. I will have a big weekend and get some distance in the legs. One hard hill day and then probably one long easy hill day. Adrienne got through a good quarter mile workout at 7min pace! That was a good start to the speed, and she has a lot of potential to really run well this year.

So, enough complaining, I guess... I just have to hope for warmer weather, and no more freezes:) I'm too skinny for this weather.

Finch