Week ending 23AUG2021

Monday AM - up early which was sorta super early because of the travel to ET.  4 miles out of the hotel on an out and back as I explored the area a bit.  Slow start as typical but then opened up a bit.

Fried in the evening after a dozen on the day.  Hit the rack.

Tuesday AM - up at 5 but I didn't get my arse moving until just before six.  Sunrise is seven so for the most part it is in the dark.  70 degrees plus but plenty humid so a good sweat.  Sort of trapped between a few state highways without sidewalks so navigating around in some space that is a bit tighter.   Not bad but not some great trail network.   But I am too klutzy to chance stuff in the dark on road shoulders.   5.5 miles.  

Afternoon.  89 Ambient.  99 on the heat index with the humidity.  4.6 miles.  Indiana Fun.  

Wednesday AM - alarm went off at 5.  I looked out the window at the rain.  Reset the alarm for 6:45.  Appreciated the extra sleep but was still sorta tired.  It was nice out when I actually got up.  But then it was time to go to work.

Afternoon.  Stupid hot again.  Sorta Singapore hot.  Or Tel Aviv hot.  Not quite Dubuque hot but getting close.  Nonetheless I decided to double down on stupid and run.  And since I haven't done any quality, well, why not.  Set out to do 10 by a minute on and a minute off.  Lost count, and ended up doing a dozen.  No worries, they weren't too fast.  6.5 miles.  

Yeah, got some looks from the trucks that went by.  The short shorts may have been a bit much.  

Thursday AM - shoes are just increasingly getting soaked and not drying out.  I have wondered if I lived here if I'd run or find the conditions to be too oppressive for any sort of semblance of discipline I might have to hold.  A bit tired - 4 miles.  

PM - wow.  80 degrees ambient, and only 85 on the heat index, but without direct sun.  Felt like a cool spring day.  4 miles.  Even popped a sub seven.  

Corn and soy all this week I guess.  

Friday - AM - early start, and had to pack out of this hotel, etc so no morning run.  And then all day and a wrap up dinner with the team.  So nada.

Saturday PM - back to Colorado this AM after a bleary eyed early flight.  Hot but in a different way.  7.2 miles.  Felt stiff and heavy.  AQI was like 120 so that might have been part of it.  

Sunday AM - a couple before heading out to the airport.  
PM -Over a 100 degrees, but if there was anything that further proved to me that humidity is my Kryptonite, it was today's jog.  Yeah, it was hot, but somehow bearable with the Santa Ana winds and the drier air.  6.4 miles.  

A bit of a ugh week on the exercise front but given the travel constraints, and nothing on the competitive calendar, it was okay.  

Week ending 22AUG2021

 Another crazy work week.  

Monday afternoon - practice, hot as it has been here.  Hills over at Stonehenge helping some kids out but getting myself moving a bit too.  9 miles.

Tuesday afternoon - 5 miles in the afternoon

Wednesday afternoon - had to bike over to the Commons to catch up to practice because of work.  10 x 400 on the dirt 500 loop.  I didn't bother timing them.  Helping kids out, but again getting in a bit of work myself.  Biked back when I was done.  It was about 4 miles.  

Thursday afternoon - jogged over to school, jogged with Greg and then jogged home.  7.2 miles.  Did the open mic over at Rails in the evening.  Interestingly got the "yips" and botched some stuff but - as is typical - little did folks notice.  

Friday afternoon - 7 miles.  Banged this out before heading over to Front Range Brewing for a 3 hour solo gig.  On whole it went pretty well.  Learn a bit each time, and there were a few errors but way better than prior gigs.  Did okay on tips as well.  I ain't doing it for the tips but it is nice to get some WAM like that.

Saturday AM - kids had a meet over at Legacy so I ran around there a bit and got in some miles.  Got home post the meet and then did another handful.  9.4 on the day.

Sunday - travel.  Yeah, travel.  Off to Indiana for the week.  Pretty mixed on how I feel about it.  Doing all this stuff virtually has not been the best but I have found being home to be way better for me in a lot of ways.  I am not overly stoked about getting back on the travel bus.  Could have run in the evening outta the hotel but I skipped ... feeling a need to chill.  

Kept an eye over the weekend on Pikes and Leadville results.  Doesn't help keep the itch down much.  The Achilles is in a place where if I wanted I could start to train on it.  But then maybe that would just irritate it more.  The itch makes me think I want that.  But admittedly, not racing has been sorta a welcome break over the last two years.  Not in a way where I was burned out or anything but it is just one less thing I have to think about.  But I might be back to wanting to think about that.  But maybe not.

Week ending 15AUG2021

It is gonna be a full week.  I am on an engagement that is in a different time zone and it gets me going too early to jump over to the HS practice.   On Sunday night I slept like crap and so I did not roll out of my bed for an early run (before getting to work).  Lack of discipline on my part.  Got out for a short one later in the evening - 4 miles (Monday evening).

Tuesday AM = up with the sun ... 5.5 miles.  Gonna be a low mile week with everything.  Probably a low mileage month.  Would like it to be higher quality, so I will try to push that but it has seemed I am often fried when I swing around to the runs.  

Oh yeah, couple of videos from the audience of Spare Change playing at Mother Tucker's a few weeks back.

Some pix from playing at the local Farmer's Market this week.  Was joined by SP for a bit and we did some impromptu jamming with him on the sax.  Love playing with this guy.  

Probably the most memorable tip I have ever received.  

For a three hour gig ... well, I have sort of hit a new level of comfort.  It has come with the reps.  That is not to say I nailed it, but I managed it better than any of my other solo shows so far.  It has been about a 2 and 1/4 year journey to get to that.  It might have been quicker if COVID hadn't killed live gigs.  And I still have a lot to work on.  I botched at least three tunes but the audience didn't seem to notice or care.  And for 30 tunes, well the voice was good for the first 2/3rds but then I was in the hurt box a bit there.  

Wednesday - day off.  First in a bit.  I can't recall when I last had one, but it wasn't because I was seeking one.   Just dealt this one with a long day.  Could have forced it in the evening but talked myself out of it with the heat and being beat.  

Thursday AM - you'd think with the day off and the two lighter days I'd feel great this AM.  But I just feel sluggish.  And you'd think I'd not be surprised by that.  But nope and nope.  6.2 miles easy in the AM.  

Friday - slight break in the work schedule so I got the chance to do a few (4) with the HS team in the AM.

Saturday - post the kids running the time trial, I got in 8.  It was hot.  

Sunday afternoon - 7.2 miles.  Tired.  

Not a great training week with the slow start and a day off.  Managed 40 through it all but meh.  

Krupicka at Leadville next week.  Got to root for the kid I guess who no longer a kid.  I feel compelled send him some of the advice he dropped almost 10 years ago ...  (by the way navigating those posts from back then was a bit of a trip)

Week ending 08AUG12021

Monday:  AM, a couple of miles before heading out to XC camp.
PM - up on St. Vrain trail, easy running.  5.2 miles.  Rainy.  

Tuesday - up the Beaver Res Road and then out towards Coney Flats.  5.7 miles
PM - up on the new bike loop around the north side of camp.  3 miles  Really rainy.  

Wednesday AM - 5.2 miles out on the Beaver Res Road and then out a bit on the Sour Dough.  Beautiful.  

Thursday AM - 9.1 around practice.  

Friday AM - 8 miles around practice

Saturday AM  - over at the South Public Road Trailhead, some fartlek up to a minute, shifting gears down to a bit quicker for shorter 20 second segments.  Then a mile with EC as she finished her workout.  10 miles.

The air quality really went bad Saturday.  By the middle of the day there was AQI of 181.  

Sunday AM - still poor air quality (AQI of 170) but got out anyway.  Did some with GW.  9.2 miles.

A 58 mile week with some quality and the high elevation trails on the front end of the week got me thinking about ... well, let's say the itch was coming back a bit.  Need to needle on that a bit tho.

A few "luke warm" takes on the Olympics ...

... mixed feelings on settling for a tie in the high jump.  I'll admit it is heart warming to watch the competitors and training mates share that moment, but at the same time, I feel some desire to see what it takes for a win.  

... the mixed 4x400 team blew it in the prelims and should not have been granted an exemption into the finals.  Blaming that line up on the official just ain't the right call when you are a professional at the Olympics.

... Kipchoge ran a 14:28 5k from 30-35k in the marathon in 80 degree heat with 70 percent plus humidity.  And he is 37.  That is ridiculous.  Almost as ridiculous as two guys breaking the world record in the 400 hurdles, but one of them breaking 46 is mind boggling.  A 46 400 is so fast.  Doing it over 10 barriers?  Unbelievable.

... Mental health was clearly a significant theme of these Olympics, but it - like health in general - is a complicated topic.  I'd only suggest here that singular takes, or ones that are absolutely in nature, are rarely absolutely true.  Increasingly I find that multiple positions, sometimes even seemingly contradictory to each other, can simultaneously hold merit.  

... it might be arguable to achieve excellence at the "tippy end of the spear" in any endeavor means the sacrifice of what we might deem as healthy.  I have heard this more and more in the ultra and long triathlon world - fitness for those events does not equate to being healthy.  I'd not find it to be anymore unusual to expect the same in expertise at the Olympic level in almost any of the sports there.  Or even outside of athletics ... in academia or the arts or business, etc.

... generally I enjoy the "objective" sports from a competitive perspective more than the "subjective" sports.  I still enjoy a watch of diving or skateboarding or gymnastics, but I find it easier for me to embrace a sport like canoeing or archery ... probably the runner background in me.  Or that I grew up watching the Olympics when there were East German judges.

... I have been toying with the idea that if your sport has an event that is bigger than the Olympics, maybe your sport ought not be in the Olympics.  It seems to me that golf in the Olympics is more of the junior varsity flavor of it versus say the Masters.  If I extend on this though, I might have to concede the Olympic marathon to London or Berlin, but I could argue that there is such a legacy of the marathon in the Olympics it could be an exception.  I get the World Series ain't really a world event, and a US v. Japan game has a lot of potential - so the team events might be an example there too.  But golf, tennis ... I think we can drop those.

... it does seem like every four years there is an attempt to work in some sport or game that is a stretch.  I'll call out the 3x3 half court basketball this go-around as that unnecessary stretch.  

Week ending 01AUG2021

Monday - didn't get out in the AM (work).  In the afternoon, jogged over to HD to get some weed whacker line.  Saw this guy.

6 miles.  It was pretty hot.  
Flyer I made up for this weekend's show.

Tuesday - AM practice.  8 x 1 minute at 3k pace.  5.5 miles.
PM - 3.7 on the ditch.  One of those days that just pitched out that I was moving well and somewhat under 7:30 pace on average.  Not many of those anymore.

Impressed still by the burro racers up at Fairplay this weekend.  Really not impressed with the unnecessary posturing and attitude by the race director.  I am not sure if I will ever be put together or fit enough to do Fairplay ever again but, as long as the current RD is in place, even if I got back to being able to do it ... I'd think a bit more than twice because of him.  

Wednesday AM - 8.9 miles easy around practice.  

Thursday - 8.5 miles around practice.  Tired legs.
Fun in the evening getting ready for the Saturday gig.

Friday AM - 8.5 miles around practice.  3 x 5 minutes at Stonehenge at threshold.   

Saturday - 10 miles at Bobolink.  Got in an easy 3 before the team got there and then another 7 with EC on the path.  She had a threshold run so I joined her for some of that.  The early pace had been close to 9 minute pace, but with the threshold and then cool down stuff I under up well under 8.  Been a while since I did that.  

Sunday PM - long day ... gigged at Mother Tucker's last night and then prep out most of the day for this upcoming week's XC camp.  Just an easy five with KZ in the evening.  

Just over 56 on the week.  Some actual quality in there too.  Oh yeah, picked up some new shoes this week.