Category: running

Consistency is key…

To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. ~ Peter McWilliams

I have been running fairly consistently of late with days off Wednesday and Sunday. Mixed it up a lot in between. Last Thursday, I ran down our road and back (about 8 miles in 1:10) then did a loop in the neighborhood on Friday. That was supposed to be “easy” and I suppose it was in a mountainous sort of way.

Saturday, Bob and I headed out with Lindsay and their new pup, Leah then carried on to the BoboLink trail and back over to South Boulder Creek and around to their place. Ended up being 12.5 or so and we did it very slowly. Just soaking in the cool, Spring conditions and enjoying the run. I hit the gym today and logged 4+ on the track.

Overall, I am feeling like I am getting there but my abs are still a problem. Hoping that with consistent training, a lot of stretching and some gait guidance, I can get it cleared up in time to feel more confident about tackling Leadville again this year. Right now I am vacillating but am actually really fired up to do it. Giving until the end of May to make my final decision.

Tomorrow I’ll be down in Boulder for an 8-miler if anyone wants to go for a fun run in the early afternoon.

~stubert.

Slog…

When in kitty country, you don’t have to be the fastest, just not the slowest. ~ stubert.

Sometimes one has to just get out there and churn. That is pretty much what I did yesterday with a VERY slow run from my house, up through GGCSP and back. Ended up being just over 9 miles in a couple of hours. Lots of stops to readjust, take in the scenery and enjoy the run.

I kept a fairly steady pace and was definitely slowed by snowpacked and icy trails. Lots of slick mud in spots too but all in all, it was a blast. I kept the heartrate down WAY low and just tried to implement all the goodies that I picked up during Tuesday’s session. The abs still hurt but there were periods where I was able to run absolutely pain-free, so that is encouraging. A lot to think about and adjust… reminds me of when I was first starting to tele ski and every time I play golf. I think I will need to pick one item on which to focus at a time then add as I get individual things dialed in. We’ll see how that goes. Right now I am thinking of: hips forward, loose lower legs, roll off the feet, flat back, lean forward, everything behind the vertical line, and long through the core. Yeah. And I thought chewing gum was tough.

I’ll leave you with an amusing clip:

~stubert.

And you think I’m nuts…

Sliiiiiiiide. ~ Marla Singer

The Marathon of the Sands is a 6-day race across the Sahara where competitors must carry all their gear and the only real support is rations of water and tents in which to sleep at night. Amazing.

Speaking of racing, I met with Janet Runyan yesterday for the first of several sessions scheduled to help with my running form and to get some training and racing advice. She is a past winner at Leadville and National Ultradistance Champion so I am very excited to see how she can help my performance and help me get and stay injury-free. She recommended some posture adjustments yesterday that really seemed to help and I am planning to go out today to see how much “sticks”. It is fairly warm up here today so as long as it doesn’t rain, I should be okay. She did think that the first 50K I have scheduled was a bit aggressive so I will probably scale that back to the 25K event.

I did get out for some turns at the Basin on Sunday. Luke and I pretty much tore it up and Pete and Edy were up as well. Pete joined us for a couple of fun runs. The conditions were a bit funky but REALLY good turns were to be had if you explored a little. We got into some really good stuff up on East Wall and did a run out the Steep Gullies which was pretty great.

I ran Betasso on Monday evening and it was more of a slog than anything to write home about. Felt pretty poorly throughout but did manage 3 laps before calling it a night. Hoping I can get my psoas issues resolved very soon.

~stubert.