Snotrockets, schedules and social media...

Well as noted in the last post I picked up a cold, from where who knows, probably something that was brought home from kindergarten, out youngest turned into a 3’ ball of snot, my wife had a killer sore throat and had the good old fashioned aches, shivers and a decline in the pitch of my voice which has me sounding like Orson Wells! Strangely it totally missed our eldest The cold is on it’s way out now which is good, clearly a side benefit of all this training is a pretty healthy immune system and an energetic army of white blood cells that descend on anything resembling something nasty and beat it into submission within a few days, I only took two days off both of which had me in bed by 9:30pm!

The end result was everything got switched round; I snotrocketed my way along the beach path for an hour Friday night, then I rode my bike Saturday for 21 miles, and managed to shave 4 and bit minutes off my usual double loop time resulting in just over 1:15 on the bike, then in the spirit of multitasking I decided to run to the local garage who had had our SUV in for some work to pick it up and drive it home. My transition needs some work, but whatev’, and I was back out on the road about 3-4 minutes later. I felt like I was running through treacle, with no pace and running in cycling shorts while not being as bad I thought it would be was not comfortable, the garage was only 2 miles away and when I got there I found car locked, they were supposed to leave the keys under the seat, I about faced and ran back. I walked the last 300 yards or so to cool off.

Despite feeling like I was running with my shoes laces tied together I still managed to cover the 3.8 miles in 30 minutes, my average pace, 7:55, was a huge surprise to me! I realize this is nothing really for all you triathletes out there but I was left with a huge smile on my face as the last three months have really only been about the long, longer and longest runs.

And so that bring us to today I have a 12 miler scheduled for tonight which shouldn’t be too much of an issue. This coming week, if I can keep it all together, my longest run is a 9 miler and I have some cycling and yoga as well, the following week is even less and then Friday morning I fly to Portland.

In other news I have a crew member and a pacer for 100 in the Hood! A Nike+ buddy and a Twitter buddy are going to crew me for the race and pace me for the last 25 miles. I am grateful beyond measure and just blown away by the generosity of people who I know online through forums, blogs, Facebook and Twitter but have never met in person! Once again social media to the rescue!

Finally and following the social media theme I had the privilege of being interviewed last week for the Runner’s Lounge website/blog so if you still have unanswered questions about little old moi you may find an answer here.

Powerful words!

There are certain quotes sayings and mantras that populate the running world, in fact Runners’ World emails a daily quote every day if so wish and often as not you’ll see a well worn phase or quote taken from a famous runner; Steve Prefontaine, Haile Gebrselassie, Alberto Salazar and the like. Now these runners are far more eloquent than I, have a deeper rooted understanding of the sport and can, with the a semi casual comment stir a deep, motivational and primeval lust to simply lace up your shoes and go run, far and fast.

But there are other less widely known and used quotes that have an equal effect. This weeks TIaRT from Runner Lounge asks what is your favorite quote. Until I recently changed my masthead my favorite quote was listed under the name of this blog:

“There is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does not send us heralds. She is too wise or too cruel for that” Oscar Wilde

For me this quote goes way beyond the norm. In these twenty three words is the simple notion that there is no predisposition, no salute, no assumption. Not knowing what lies ahead can be a scary thing but embrace that feeling, turn it to your advantage, use it to power you along on your journey. What these words tell me is that I can do what I set out to achieve; in the context of running, for me this is ultimately a 100 mile race, but for you that could be a 5k, a half marathon, or an Ultra.

I know I will need to push myself, yes it will be hard, yes it will hurt but if I really truly want it I can make it mine. And so can you.

Seven Lessons...

This week’s Runner’s Lounge TIART is Life Lessons I have learned from running. Here’s seven; one for each day of the week:

1. Races are like vacations; always have short, medium and long term ones booked, paid for and looked forward to.

2. You have to know the lows to enjoy the highs; injuries, bad runs and crap weather are all somewhere in you future, let the downs highlight the ups: great, injury free runs on perfect days.

3. Enjoy the journey as well as the destination; you’ll cover a lot of miles as a runner so sometimes just stop and smell the roses.

4. Be flexible: metaphorically and physically; learn to be adaptable – life happens and don’t forget to stretch.

5. A change is as good as a rest; do you always go out the door and turn left, mix it up and turn right for something different.

6. You get good at what you do; be it running, playing the violin or hoping on one foot, practice makes perfect, be tenacious and stick with it.

7. Be like the horizon; you’ll be faster than some and slower than others, just keep moving.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I pondered hard(ish) about this week’s TIART from Runner Lounge, while I read many running blogs, I have over 80 in my Newsgator reader; ranging from novices to semi-pros, 5kms to 100 miles (or more!), I wanted to share a few of those that you may not have read, and so in no particular order here they are:

DCRainmaker: triathlete, chef and gadget whiz are but a few of his talents, he recently completed IronMan Canada (his first) and has his sights firmly set on his upcoming marathon. Oh yes and ladies, he's single!

RunningShorts: she fills her full-time by being a part-time student, intern, triathlete and Tri team manager; she lives in a time zone where there are 28 hours in a day! Currently on the road to recovery following a horrendous bike crash.

GottaRun: mother, wife, and ultrarunner; went from zero to 50k in 18 months, threw down a Half IronMan for fun, shes tried to break the 50 mile mark twice before and is now fast approaching her third 50 miler, which I know she’ll crush! Third times a charm!

Zanne Runs & Rides: another hardcore mother, (literally with 2??? kids) a former marathoner she was lured to cycling and has just finished her first road race season and will be racing cyclocross this winter!

Run 50 miles: actually a misnomer it should be Run 100 miles as that’s what he did last weekend, his first and I am sure not his last. He's a proponent of Crossfit and recently became an instructor.

LARunner: my first fellow blogger meet up and the catalyst for me joining the TRC, recently ran the San Fran Marathon and will be running the California International Marathon; he has a BQ in his sights.

As mentioned these are just a few, (if I can get the Blogger tool to work I’ll add them all) of the folks I follow, check them out and tell them I sent you!

Time Flies!

I hadn’t planned on writing anything for this week’s Runner’s Lounge Take it and Run Thursday until I had a conversation with my wife last night. She asked how my run had gone earlier in the day and I responded that it was ok but my fitness level has dropped right off and that that was not surprising given I have only put in 20 miles a week for the last 3 or so months. She responded that I would need to focus, it was going to be tough to get ramped up for a 50 miles race in December, work and commuting notwithstanding life places its own demands.

So this is my addition to this week topic which is the middle miles; getting over the hump.

I delayed my second training cycle due to a new job, looking back that was 3 months ago, in fact had I stuck with the original plan I would have completed my target race 10 days ago! Now I am about to start again with my target race in December. Now think about that for a second; December; hmm that’s Christmas time, now doesn’t that make it sound a long way off, now if I tell you there are just under 17 weeks till Christmas, less than 120 days: 120 daily newspaper, approximately 50 blog posts, 34 tanks of gas, 17 Saturday nights. Now does that sound a bit closer than Christmas! To me that means that there are only 15 weeks till my race; 105 days.

So what does this have to do with the hump, the middle, the doldrums, well my point that I am arriving at a torturously, circuitous pace is that they come and go faster than you think. Keeping one eye focused on what is approaching from the horizon keeps that eye on the prize, keeps you focused and helps you get through the middle miles. That’s not to say that you need to take your other eye off the present and where you are and what you are doing this week, today, right now, be it good or as per the theme of this post be they bad; but know that it will pass, quickly!

Tom & Amy are you stalking me?

After posting a picture of my little pigies complete with wonky toe and distinct lack of subungual hematoma, black toe to you and me, last week and having recently received a new copy of John Vonhof’s book Fixing you Feet the order of which was prompted after listening to an interview with him on Endurance Planet, it seems quite fitting and a little spooky that Runner’s Lounge Take it and Run Thursday this week is all about feet and their care. Tom, Amy are you stalking me?

Now while I am not going to repeat what is in John’s book or on his website; I am not for one really qualified and for two I have been pretty fortunate with my feet, note that I did not call them my pretty feet. I have as mentioned broken a toe, (my only broken bone!) and have a mild case of Morton’s toe (the second one in from the largest being slightly longer than the largest itself). I have my parents to thank for forcing me to wear sensible (read ugly) shoes as a kid growing up and this allowed my feet to develop normally, and while I pronate, use custom orthotics; a result of ITB issues from last year and get the occasional blister on a bad day my feet have held up over the miles; not just running but also a stint in the military reserves wearing boots over many a mile.

So this post addresses the equipment side of the footwear equation; shoes, socks and gaiters (for the trails). It’s actually more of an aggregate of posts that I hope you’ll find useful and with a bit tacked on the end. I posted a 100 mile review of my road shoe the Asics Gel Kayano 14s last month and earlier this year wrote about my search for new trail shoes which resulted in the discovery of my Salomon XT Wings which will have a 100 mile review coming up next week. I also put fingers to keys with the gripping, on the edge of the seat, account of my quest and discovery of trail socks, the appropriately names: DarnTough’s and their comparison to Injinjis! I haven’t been forced to write about my road socks as they are the ubiquitous white Coolmax variety, however if I run out of ideas I may have to resort to this!

The final piece of the puzzle, specifically from a trail perspective, which is where most of my running is these days, is the Gaiter. Functionally designed to create a seal between the outside world and your feet. Anyone who has found themselves with some crud floating around in their shoe will know how much this aggravation this can give you, ranging from a quick thump of your toe/shoe on a rock or tree to move it around or the need to stop remove your shoes and tip it out; so the reality here can range from a minor nuisance that my manifest itself into a blister down the road or the need to stop and fiddle with you shoes, thereby loosing valuable time and momentum!

There is a great quote in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that is along the lines of

…"if you enjoy what you’re doing you can endure no end of discomfort”…

How true this is until it involves some crud in your shoe. Now while I have joked about my quiet and reserved nature and the color of the products that I choose based on that fact this is a crucial piece of kit. There are several manufacturers and resellers of gaiters from the multi million dollar industry that is North Face to the cottage industry that is DirtGirlGaiters, my preference in case you haven’t gathered is for the latter. From a consumer point of view; they’re well made, Xy Weiss makes each one individually, robust; wear-wash-wear; a bargain; c’mon at $13 inc s&h - they've got to be the cheapest thing you're wearing, fashionable; they will match anything you own and they’re fun; but hey, that’s why we’re here right!