Archive for October, 2006

The Taper

Monday, October 23rd, 2006

After last weeks stupid little trail run that left me really sore (at least I enjoyed every single step while I was doing it!), I have been laying low. I ran 6 on Tuesday, took two days off, and went 9 on Friday. I intended to run again today (Tuesday) but I have been sleeping so hard and feeling pretty tired still so I layed off completely. I will take tomorrow off and then run on Tuesday with my running group. Gotta play it cool becausr the kids have a cold and it would be disastrous to cath that dang thing now. Knock on wood, but I had been illness free the entire training period for MCM. That is pretty amazing for me. The one caveat though is that I haven’t lost any weight either. However, I think I have all the different parts of the equation figured out well enough now that I will be able to bring the puzzle together after MCM for a nice period of solid weight loss.

Chris

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Holy Cow Pies!

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

I guess I didn’t realize how long it had been since I did any trail running. Considering I have been taking two easy weeks in between long runs, it’s been more than a month. And my muscles are letting me know that today. Major unanticipated soreness. Tomorrow will be seriously slow.

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Flat Light

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

I woke up this morning before sunrise and headed over to Cronan Ranch. I got to the parking lot right at 7am and I think sunrise was about 7:05am. There was already a small truck there so I touched the hood to see if it was warm and it was. Whoever was in it had just gotten there before me. As I took off on the trail, the sun came up and I was disappointed to see that the sky was overcast. The ridgetops were shrouded much like you would see at the coast. The light was very flat.

I checked out some new trails and had the erie feeling that a mountain lion could be dang close by so I sang really loud! At one point, I came around a corner right by the river and found about five deer grazing on the greens growing by the river. All appeared to be females except for one very young spike, probably born this past spring. I wondered if it was good to see the deer or bad, as far as personal safety from a mountin lion. I thought it might be good that there were so many deer because that would indicate plenty of other prey besides me! But it might also be bad to see the deer ‘cuz they could be getting stalked, and since I am slower, maybe a lazy lion might take the easy one!

As I was nearly done, I was running through a draw back to the car when I saw movement in the grass uphill and too my left. Nothing scary, I immediately thought it was human and figured it might be whoever was in the car that got there before me. When the trails converged, I found that I was right. It was two guys with shoulder-slung deer rifles wearing full camo walking back to the parking lot. I told them I hadn’t seen anything worth the trouble and they agreed. They said they watched a fmaily of deer eat greens by the river and then wade into the river to pee in it. They said it looked like the deer were intentionally going into the river to pee. Rather interesting. I wonder if the deer were trying to be tactical with their scent? It also indicates I may have been between those rifles and those deer without realizing it was hunting season.

Chris

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Soccer Dad

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

I usually run long on Saturday mornings, and this year with two kids playing soccer, that has caused me to miss a couple soccer games. Actually, it hasn’t all been the fault of running. The kids sometimes have games spread far apart, and Erin has not wanted CJ to go to the field at 8am and start playing soccer with other kids when we get there, when he doesn’t have a game until 1pm! So I have stayed home with CJ while Erin takes Colin. Consequently, I hadn’t seen even one of Colin’s games this year until today. I post-poned the “long run” (it will only be ten miles) until tomorrow and went to both games.

In between games, CJ and I watched an older-kids game while Erin and Colin went to the store and got lunch. It was great. CJ has not switched on this year at all. Last year he was the older side of the age bracket. This year, he is the younger side of the age bracket. And it is really showing. Last year we had to take him out after he got four or five goals in a game. Last year he got a goal on the first kick off of the season. This year, he is intimidated by the older kids. He runs along side the opponents without ever aggressively trying to take the ball. Oh well, he has a blast. And, if nothing else, I can focus on the fact that the older kids aren’t out-running him.

Erin is coaching his team, and all the kids on the team are six year olds playing in the under-8 age bracket. Only one seven year old on the whole team. So they had not won a game until today. I am glad I was there. It was a great game, both team were evenly matched. Cj’s team won 2-1. And a lot of credit goes to their little six year old female goalie. She is going to be the only one from the team to go to All Stars. In the process of watching all that soccer, I got scorched with sunburn…. gotta love California. Absolutely fried on October 14th.

More great news… Sears has bought K-Mart and now all the K-Mart stores are getting loaded up with Craftsman tools! This is excitement when you live in timbuktu! The K-Mart in Placerville is a nice store, much better than the Wall Mart in our opinion, because Wal Mart is filled with dirtbags. There is a Sears outlet, which means, until now, you had to order your Craftsman tools from the Sears catalog and go to the outlet in Placerville to pick up your tools. So a K-Mart full of Craftsman tools is Exciting News.  :-)

Going 10 miles on Cronan Ranch tomorrow at sunrise.

Run long and taper.

Chris

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Memorobilia

Saturday, October 14th, 2006

Recon PatchHere is a small copy of the patches I got for the Marine Corps Marathon. It is the patch from the unit Steve and I were in up in Reno, Nevada.

Chris

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You heard it here first….

Saturday, October 14th, 2006

A couple weeks ago I posted about running on Cronan Ranch, and how I thought it might be the most beautiful place in the world. In the course of that post, I said that I thought if Hollywood ever found out about Cronan Ranch, they would be all over it. Too late I guess. Last night I found out from a guy who is on the El Dorado County Trails Commission that Oprah Winfrey is going to use it for a movie set. He didn’t say when, and he didn’t know the name of the movie…. stay tuned. 

Chris

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Trust your training…

Friday, October 13th, 2006

I know you boyz have your plans laid out.  I just figured I would mention a warning that you only have 2 weeks to your main event.  Now is not the time to cram in any extra workouts.  Nothing should be more than half distance and take plenty of rest in between.

Keep in mind how long it took for you to feel totally recovered after your first 13-18 mile run.  (About 8-10 days for me.)  This week will really help the training soak in and make you feel strong next week.  At the main event you’ll be saying “It couldn’t have been any Mo-Better”.

Curt

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“Killer” Heart Rate…

Thursday, October 12th, 2006

I woke up this morning to the lowest resting heart rate that I have ever recorded on myself: 53 beats per minute. My normal “good” resting heart rate is 56. I use a monitor so I believe it is reliable. This is really great considering how hammered I felt after Saturday’s run. Perhaps improved fitness is part of it. But as I was running this morning, I was thinking about it and I realized an additional potential cause. About ten days ago, I bought a book at fleet feet about nutrition. (I have many books about nutrition, but it never hurts to refocus on the basics.) Since I started reading it, I think I have been pretty good about reducing the amount of fat I eat everyday and increasing the amount of fiber, fruits and vegetables…. I wonder if this might not be playing a solid role in my recovery and my lower HR this morning.

Chris

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My Scooter

Thursday, October 12th, 2006

Across the street from where is work is a trade school for arts.  I have no idea what they are teaching these kids as I am not sure how much training it takes to be a starving artist.  But, to be a successful starving artist may take more work than I can imagine. On the street between the two buildings is the air handler exhaust from the building I work in.  So, it is a bit windy there but generally warm/cool, depending on the season.  Many of the students hang out there to smoke and practice that pinched look while pretending to starve.

I normally ride a motorcycle to work as it gets superior gas mileage and I can park 50 feet from the door.  Unfortunately, the motorcycle parking is on the street between the two buildings.  These kids (16-20 for the most part) hanging out there always makes me a little nervous.  It is just too easy to damage or vandalize the bike with some many unemployed ‘artists’ about.  To my good fortune this has not happened yet and I hope this run of luck continues.  One of my little pet peeves has always been when someone just plops themselves down on my bike with out asking first.  Honestly, would you just jump in someone convertible ‘to see what it feels like’ and expect the owner to understand?

A few weeks ago a friend of mine at work caught me at the coffee bar. He said he just saw the most amazing site.  It was very hot that day and the students were out loitering when he got to work.  When he pulled up he saw several young ladies from the school posing with my bike.  From his description it appears they were not standing next to it either.  But, he said, judging from their apparel and positioning on the bike a couple should have considered having a photographer take photos.  While I am glad I did not see this I almost wish I had.  Remember my pet peeve.

Anyway, when I wash the bike it looks good, at least to my eye.  It is much like the one shown below; .the exact same model and color, I just got the pictures from ebay. I get lots of looks while scooting about on it.  Especially since the exhaust is about all worn out and it is just about as loud as the law will allow.  I am not too sure what is going on.  Maybe it is the ‘caveman’ instincts but I have been noticing that most of the looks seem to come form rough looking men just past middle age (about my age…).  The ‘caveman thing’ is meaning “protect and defend my stuff”.  I do not seem to notice getting too many ‘looks’ from the more desirable demographic.  It could just be that my well rounded masculine physique is scaring away ‘unwanted’ attention. Oh well. 

– 

Buford

Fat Boy 3Fat Boy 2Fat Boy 1

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My Distraction

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

Thanks for keeping the blog going Steve. All my writing energies have been going in to a class I am taking that has about 25 pages of writing due in the next two weeks. It’s a class on Stress. I think it has been very effective at teaching about stress because it is the source of massive amounts!

I fell apart on my long run Saturday but I seem to have recovered better than I did from any of the previous long runs. I usually wait two days and then run six miles on the third day after the long run. Usually, I struggle on the six miles after I go really long. This morning I felt great. It may have helped a little that all of my running partners are now training for the California International Marathon so they all went longer than they have ever run before on this past Saturday, which was 13 miles. But it made me feel like I was running really strong. For once on a Tuesday, I wasn’t struggling to keep up!

Chris

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At the Sports Scientist

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell y’all about my experience with the ‘sport scientist’ on the treadmill.  After waiting an incredible amount of time (I often wonder why we bother with appointments) I was allowed in to the closet he had set up with a treadmill.   Now, we were in a hurry.  He made a few prints of foot.  Reminded of the things I did with kids when they first started to walk. Then he stuck me on this treadmill.  I first walked a little bit while he filmed. Then, he asks how fast I run, I tell him 1km for 7 minutes.  We then go from walking to 9kph in about 2 strides. I nearly shot off the end of the treadmill.  He filmed me for all of 3 minutes and said I was simple case.  Oh, if he only knew…

He said I would not away easy with him.  Yeah right, Girly man.  I explained, oh so patiently, that I was not trying to ‘get out of running’ but find a way to complete this marathon without putting myself in the hospital.  I do not have a very good track record in this regard.  A small discussion ensued about my preparation, distance, training, Vitamin I.  While not against it, he suggested that we could work on a way around vitamin I.  I am thinking why mess with success.

Anyway, it turns out the best translation to what he then told me was that that I have an effeminate gait.  Dadgummit, he said I walk like a girl!  Well not in so many words.  But it was a bit distracting. Apparently, you can draw a 1 inch wide line on the ground for 100 yards and I can walk on it with my big toe of each foot striking directly in the middle of it.  This made me think ‘jeez, if I were ever pulled over for drunk driving…’ and the song from Right said Fred “I’m too sexy” began pounding in my head.  If you though being told you walk like a girl was distracting… He suggested a few other things to me. He actually explained why this stride was anatomically incorrect and why it puts extra stress on my knees.  He told me to try standing on one foot more often to strengthen the muscles I am having trouble with.  So, you may now call me ‘Stand like a Stork’ in addition to ‘Plodding Pachyderm’.  He also suggested I spread my legs out when I walk/run.  This has been very entertaining.  Apparently, not only does it make me feel like a member of the cast of the Sopranos but it makes me look like it too.  He has also suggested inserts to help stabilize my foot.  I will pick up the inserts some time this week.  I still intend to complete the marathon without them.  Just me and Vitamin I.

Stands like a Stork
(Steve)

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40KM

Monday, October 9th, 2006

Even though still sick I managed to squeak out approximately 39.5 KM yesterday.  For some reason, once I got warmed up I was the snot machine.  I looked like my 4 year old son most of the run.  I gave up blowing my nose only after I noticed the pennant streaming behind me.  Do not think I was fast either.  I managed to do it in 5:21 and some change.  That means even sick I should be able to finish the marathon in less than 6 hours.  That means, with a 1 hour gap,  I should be able to finish!  Due to being sick and lazy I did not train for this run and it really showed.  I was able to maintain out to 25km(3:00), but slowed drastically after that.  The last 5KM where the absolute worst of the entire run.  I was having visions walking the last 2km and calling it a day.  However, I did manage to keep on plodding, with more walk breaks than I wanted.

I did have a mishap when I started, which really ate up some time.  The cargo master pushed the panic button just after the 4km marker.  I think it was the burritos from the night before.  In any case I left a little personal gift in the woods at 4.25KM  Since it was both foggy and very early on a Sunday morning I was able to complete this cargo drop with out an audience.  I think I would have been able to perform a better cargo drop if I had been on a 5KM lap.  But since I was out at 4 Km on a 12 km lap I jettisoned early.  I think in preparation for the big event I practice Curtis’ hot/cold method to ensure I start with an empty cargo bay.

Besides being whooped, I managed to suffer fuselage damage again.  I am considering using some of that lubriplate stuff “Runs with Elk” AKA “Runs with Turkeys” has recommended.  I suffered a good rash where short rubbed the inside of my legs.  Reminds me of Coronado when I though using skivvies would be unmanly.  That time there was plenty of sand and salt to rub away all my skin.  This time there was not, but it hurt the same.  I also suffered some under wing damage which went unnoticed until I used deodorant after my shower.   I was too tired to scream and too exhausted to flap my arms.  Nothing was left but to bit my cheek.  That there was a real eye opening experience.

Now, before I actually go the distance, I want to bring up an important topic.  Does anyone remember what happened to the first guy who ran a marathon?  I think it went something like this:  he delivered his message and died.  Does anyone know what happened to the second guy?  I think it went something like this: the bad guys killed him on the spot.  Now, why am I doing this again?

 

The Plodding Pachyderm

(Steve)

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