Author: admin

Action…

Judge not lest ye be judged. ~ Some hippy dude

At the risk of turning this into some sort of political blog, I feel obligated to call everyone to action to help save a life.

Troy Davis needs our help to keep him from being executed by the state of Georgia for a crime evidence suggests he did not commit. (I could go on at length about my opposition to the death penalty in general but let’s just focus on this case for today.) I am asking everyone to take a few moments out of your day to let the Georgia government know that executing Mr. Davis is unacceptable. Please take action now. Learn more about the case.

Thanks.

~stubert.

Like a step back in time…

Our challenge for the future is that we realize we are very much a part of the earth’s ecosystem, and we must learn to respect and live according to the basic biological laws of nature. ~ Jim Fowler

This was a decent week of training. Not quite what I had planned but a lot of hard running. Which is good. I did just notice that a long post I created on Thursday somehow didn’t get published. Bummer. It was about a movie I saw on Wednesday night (Sharkwater) that documented the horrible treatment of sharks for the fin industry. Really revolting and one of those films that makes one really despise the human race and our propensity to feel that we can just dominate all other species without concern for their well-being or the impact of our actions. If you want to learn more about long-line fishing (bad), finning (also bad), check out savingsharks.com.

On that light note, here is a summary of my running adventures this week:

  • Sunday (9/14): 20 miles on the Boulder Backroads course, 2:58ish. Hit the Boulder Backroads Marathon course with Caleb for a great run. I had a 17-miler teed up and Caleb was scheduled to do a 22-mile run so we split the difference. Good times. We started out early (7:30) fromCoot Lake under cloudy skyes and cool conditions — perfect morning for a long run. I felt great from the beginning and only faded in the last couple of miles. Was super-psyched to hang with Caleb (his personal best marathon is a 3:02 or something at the NYC marathon last year) and even lead a little at times. He dusted me with a nice surge up the last hill and was able to maintain at the top while I faded. Just couldn’t go that fast any longer. Fastest sustained pace over a course this long I have ever done.
  • Tuesday (9/16): 10 miles on the Boulder Creek path, 1:21. I decided to step it up a bit and instead of doing an 8-miler with a few strides, opted for a much harder run with a 2-mile warm-up, 3-mile tempo, 2-mile jog, 3-mile tempo type of deal. I have to say that by the end of my first 3-mile tempo, I was not running pretty. Fortunately, I can chalk this up to a steady uphill. At least that is what I plan to tell myself. Actually, I felt strong and recovered quickly from the first interval to finish the run up strongly. The last tempo was really only 2.5 miles or so since I got onto city streets and got hung up by lights and whatnot. All in all a good run.
  • Wednesday (9/17): 5 miles in the Casa Forest, 00:50. Just a quick recovery run in the woods near our house. I had to squeeze this one in as it has been a really busy week with work and whatnot. Felt okay, not great. Still a little tired from yesterday’s hard effort and Sunday’s big run.
  • Saturday (9/20): 7 then 5 (12 total) in Boulder, 1:52. Today was Bob’s wedding day so he invited people to join him for a morning run in Boulder. Ryan and I were the only two brave enough to hammer the groom on his wedding day (actually, we took it pretty easy). I went down early to get in some miles before meeting up with Bob and Ryan so I sorta did a double. It was fun, actually. I started off on the network of paths in Boulder and ended up on the Boulder Creek Trail where I warmed up for a couple of miles, then did 3 miles at tempo, then warmed back down at about a 9-minute pace back to Bob’s. Once we left his place, we headed up roads, mostly to the NCAR road. This is actually kindof a cool place to run since the atmosphere nerds at NCAR have marked the road in 25 meter increments all along the way. it is about 2K to the top total and we pretty much went all out for the final .5K. I felt great at the top and was really able to settle into a fast pace without feeling like I was going to completely explode. Just kept throttling up a notch until the end. Good stuff. Wish I had felt better on the first 7-miles of the day but whatchagonnado?

Total mileage for the week: ~47
Total time for the week: ~7 hours

So for the week, I was off what I had hoped to achieve for distance but still had a solid week of hard training. I missed out on runs on Thursday and/or Friday due to work and weather and maybe a little bit of apathy, but that is all okay. I am thinking I may do the Denver marathon on October 19th as a warm-up for Vegas. Still noodling on that but I’ll let you know.

~stubert.

Sore and more sore…

Uh oh. Mom’s mad. Bench presses. I’m going to wail on my pecs and then do my back. ~ Lester Burnham

So as predicted, I am a bit sore from my visit to the gym yesterday. So instead of whacking down handfuls of Vitamin I and crawling back into bed, I went to the dentist, ran 10 miles, then went to see Shirley at In Motion Rehabilitation for much needed physical abuse massage. Man, she does not pull any punches. At one point, she was doing something to my left hamstring that felt like she was trying to drive her elbow through my leg to China. I can’t confirm this, however because I was too busy burying my head into the table and seeing if I could keep her from noticing my sobs. Then she went to work on my back. I think I may have bitten through my lower lip.

Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. [Factually inaccurate – ed] It only hurt a little. [Understatement – ed] And I left the experience relaxed and calm. [Half truth – ed] I scheduled another appointment for next month. [Actually, this is true – ed]

So that was my day. Tomorrow, I am hoping to hook up with Pete for a recovery run and then watch some adventure film in preparation for this year’s Boulder Adventure Film Festival.

~stubert.

Running is in our genes…

`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run. ~ Bruce Springsteen

Yes, I realize I just quoted the Boss. And I also realize how incredibly uncool that is. But I just read this great Discovery Magazine article about how humans are uniquely able to run long distances.

Biomechanical research reveals a surprising key to the survival of our species: Humans are built to outrun nearly every other animal on the planet over long distances.

Pretty cool stuff, I must say. Probably not enough to offset my Bruce quote but whatchagonnado?

Today I didn’t have a run scheduled so I went to the Rec Center to lift weights. It has been a LONG time since I hit the gym and I suspect I am going to pay for it tomorrow. I tried to take it easy and mostly managed to do so but given the time that has elapsed since my last sojourn into the weight room, I am not counting on being soreness-free in the morning.

Tomorrow I have an early appointment in Boulder, then a conference call and then will do an 8-miler with some strides down in the valley. Probably will just work some of the great bike/pedestrian trails Boulder has to offer but we’ll see what happens in the morning.

Work it.

~stubert.

Hard frost…

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~ e e cummings

Tonight saw our first really hard frost of the season with sustained temps overnight in the mid=20s. We have had a few lighter frosts this season already but last night is the first night that we had cold enough temps (for long enough) to really hammer home that Fall is approaching.

At the risk of alerting the valley-dwelling leafers, the aspens are starting their yearly burst into full on color mode and should really get going in the next couple of weeks. Last year, I wanted to organize a run up on the Leadville course to enjoy one section in particular that is just packed with amazing aspen groves. We’ll see if that happens this year. Given racing schedules, weddings, lack of running fitness, and buddies in India, it may end up being a solo venture.

I have decided to only bore you once a week with running exploits (doing more of a weekly synopsis as opposed to the daily detailed update) so I’ll only mention my daily runs in passing with fuller reports coming at the end of the week. That being said, Caleb and I did a 20-miler yesterday on the Backroads course that was quite fun. Then I went to see Pineapple Express which had moments of goodness but overall was pretty much a trainwreck. Not on my recommended viewing list.

The birds (along with the bears) are going nuts right now and so I need to head to Boulder to get more food for the freeloaders. May check out Burn After Reading while we are down there. I’ll keep you posted.

Today’s homework: Register to vote if you haven’t done so already.

~stubert.