""every day is a winding road"

 - Sheryl Crow"

                -Coach Taylor

my very existence is preposterous!

 glad glad glad to be alive!

time to eat some himbo yogurt! yum!

I drink it in and I sweat it out!

Workout today

I felt pretty good on my run. I'm glad I got to run with someone. I think that always makes things feel easier. It wasn't particularly hard. By the end I could feel the fatigue from the 10 miler. I ran some 200s in about 32 seconds so I was happy with that. 

On Thursday I'll do some hills. I feel really tired right now. A good sleepy tired.

I eat kale

I eat kale.

Kale is beautiful.

Kale is a yummy leaf. I eat the salty leaf.

I eat kale at night. The moon wants the kale.

Kale is my friend.

excited to train more!

good day today. tomorrow will be cold but I'll put on layers and run an easy 10 miles!

"he has a LEAF on his shirt"

a thing a little boy said out loud as I ran past today. Amazing.

Post 10 mile race reflection

 10th place. 56:30. 5:40 pace exactly! Wow. Look at me making predictions and getting them right.

Race:

I was feeling very good after the down week. My body felt good. My legs felt good. My head was in the right space to run hard. I was about as excited for a race as I can be. 

The weather was a just a hair colder than I would have liked but I don't think it affected anything too much. I decided to wear my field camp t shirt because 1) I love camp and 2) low 40s is just a little too cold for me to want to wear a singlet. I felt like a goober in a t-shirt but I'm 30 years old and I know my body and I know I get cold easy and it's a comfy t-shirt DANG IT! Anyway, before the warm up it got really windy and started raining a little bit and I silently prepared to sit in my roommate's car for the entirety of the race should it continue. Fortunately it passed and I silently recommitted myself to actually doing the race I've been waiting 3 years to do. Legs felt great and poppy. I was ready.

The plan was to go out and feel relaxed and find a pack and just sit until things started getting tough. Unfortunately there were two packs that I could have run with, one pack was around 55 minute pace and the other was around 58 minute pace and there I was running my 56:30 race so I ended up by myself at mile 3. I tried to go with a guy who was moving up but I started to sense that I was pressing too much and not able to sustain that pace so I backed off and started hoping someone would come back. I passed halfway in about 27:35 which, if you had asked me before, I would've said was too fast to go out. I ended up paying the price in the second half but at least I created enough of a cushion that I was still able to meet my time goal. The last 5 miles were really tough. It was a lot of self-talk and staring straight up at the people in front of me. It reminded me a lot of my first 10 miler experience and, like then, in the final miles I was promising myself that I would train hard and come back next year much fitter and faster. Anyway, it was a slog to the finish but I got the job done. It hurt a lot. In a good way.

It's not fun to not be fit and lose to people that you've been faster than before but the thing I'm happy with is that the race made sense. Like, I put in X amount of training and I got the result I expected. Even despite it being a tough race in not completely ideal conditions. I think for a while now I've felt like my race efforts weren't necessarily in line with the training I'd done so I'm really happy that I can understand what my body can do. Since joining Strava I've had a great 6 weeks of training. But, before that I was doing some of the lowest weekly mileage I've ever done. That definitely showed today. Luckily, I've already got a plan to run more mileage next winter and work in lots of mile repeats. I'll be in a very different place this time next year.

Looking ahead, next week I'll increase the mileage again and probably do some light workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm thinking some X's and strides and then some hills. Then I have the Spring Break trip. I think my mileage will definitely suffer but I can still work in some fun speed training and intervals. I'll get creative with it. 

Then on the either the 5th or 7th of April and then the 19th or 21st I'll do some 800m time trials. I really enjoyed doing those in 2020 and I think they were beneficial. Between those I'll do some 600m repeats and some faster work with longer rest. That will set me up for May where I'll target some mile time trials, probably 2 or three. More broadly, April and May will be middle distance focused workouts with the same mid-60s mileage and a down week every 4th week. 

That will transition into the summer where I'll really be focusing on speed and speed endurance. As well as lifting and strength training. How many sub 60 400s can I run between June and August?

Fall- Sept-Nov. up the mileage back to 60+ and ask: how many sub 6 minute miles can I run in a week? I think a good number to aim for and try to sustain is 30. Build that comfortably hard aerobic base. Tentative goal: how fast can I run 2 keene loops (14 miles)?

Winter: Dec-Feb: even higher mileage but slow things down and just focus on a weekly workout of mile/2 mile/ 1k repeats along with a long run of 17+ miles. looking to do between 70 and 80 in 6 days. 

That should set me up nicely for the 10 miler next year and also I think every phase supports each other while keeping things interesting and also working within the constraints of each season. Fall and Spring are moderate enough to work out pretty hard in. Summer is hot and I'm busy with camp so I would rather do short intense sessions. Winter is cold so it's easy to just get out and log lots of miles. 

I think in the past I've tried too much to do everything all the time. This year I want to focus on one specific aspect of fitness and refine it as best as possible in a 3 month window. Also sticking to my own schedule and doing things when it makes the most sense for me to do them. I think in the past I've given myself over too much to other people's schedules and workouts. 

That's it. The race was good. I'm happy with my effort and I'm happy that I come away from it excited to run more.

tracksmith socks on

can't lose

I think I can run 5:40s

run 5:40s until main street and then PUSH

dream house

yesterday at climbing club the kids made up this game where if they did climbs then they earned coins to buy things and this girl said she wanted a dream house and I said "what do you want in your dream house?" and she said,

"everything. the whole world."

And I was like wow, the whole world is all of our dream house. Little kids almost accidentally wander into nirvana all the time.

thankful to create and share

I need to come up with some ideas for climbing comics

 -doing climbing league?

-being on training team?

-promoting my own mile event?

-chalk?

-cheering for others?

one of those maybe. None of them seem really fun to draw. I'll think of something.

Dentist Update

 I'm crushing it with my teeth game. 

Something about being at the dentist feels distinctly republican. It just does. I refuse to elaborate further.

i eat this man's kale

I'm in a really good place right now

 It's worth taking note I think. There are some times where everything is just good and this is one of those times. I am living well. How many people can really say that? I can.

happy Saint Patrick's day

Today on my run I was thinking about the idea of how you can be really tired and still try really hard. In running. In climbing. In life. The power of being able to turn on the ability to try hard. I think it's a really cool thing and it makes me feel alive to be able to do it. I ran some really good hill repeats today. 

Running is fun and training is fun. And eating pineapple slices is a great pastime too.

I love my little gps watch

 It's my best new running fried. This lil guy and me. We go everywhere together. He's keeping track of what I do and he gives me happy beeps when I go far and run fast. I used to be a dumb watch guy because I'm wary of technology and any device that collects data on me but this lil guy, he'd never rat me out. I could commit so many running related crimes and I know that 1) he's not smart enough to know what I did, not like those heart rate monitor watches and 2) even if he did know, he still wouldn't say nothing. we're sweat brothers. brothers in sweat. 

And we're going to share our accomplishments with the whole world! Believe it!

What a good day!

 I went outside and climbed on some rocks with Andrea! I almost got all the way up one but I had to flop around like a whale to get over the top and I need to work on my flopping skills. Next time though for sure!

Then I went to the track and joined in someone's workout and felt great! Running with people is so good. I felt fast and had fun.

Now I'm going to eat yummy food and shower!

I can't wait for fig season

go to the graveyard. eat some figs.

what a day

 Went to bed around 8pm last night. Woke up at 4. Ate dinner for breakfast. Went out to camp at 8 in the morning to shovel mud around at the bottom of a pool. We're cleaning it out. Went to the gym and climbed for about 2 hours. Coached for 3 more hours. Got home around 6:30 and ate some oatmeal. Relaxed for a bit. Left the house around 9:15 to run 10 miles in the dark. Felt appropriately exhausted. Ate a quesadilla with egg and also ate a big plate of rice. Writing this now. Sleeping soon.

I'm really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. Catch me doing NOTHING.

Got the Wordle in 2 today!!!

My 2nd two. This is my reward for shoveling mud and muck at the bottom of a pool.

Peanut Butter Every Day

 I eat peanut butter every single day. I love it. Sometimes if I haven't eaten any peanut butter and I don't have any bagels or oatmeals to put it in then I will just get a spoon and eat it right out of the jar.

Right of out of the jar? I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that my love of peanut butter is out of control and is driving everyone away from me. My life is headed down the drain, a drain that is clogged by massive amounts of peanut butter. Creating standing water that is gradually becoming more grosser and stinky. A grosser and stinky life puddle cause by an insatiable hunger for that most American of condiments. Peanut butter is a condiment. But it's more than that. It's a butter too. A butter made from peanuts. And it's my whole life. And now it's yours.

And then I put a mark of peanut butter on your forehead and now you are in the thralldom of the peanut butter too. Rad. 

Coaching Today

 The training team kids are a good group. We were missing a couple key players today and it changed the energy but it was a good practice. The more I coach the more I think that competitive games centered around climbing are the best ways for kids to improve their climbing skills. Lessons and drills are important but it's hard to really get the kids engaged. You can let them climb on their own but kids often run into the problem of not being able to engage well in productive struggle. Everything they can do, they do it easily. And everything that's too hard is seemingly impossible. I think with games they can be engaged and challenge themselves.

We played a game called Eliminate that the kids love and you just take an easy climb and every time someone does the climb, they remove a hold. It can no longer be touched or used. You rotate through an order and pretty soon there's a only a few holds left. It's nice because it creates a challenging climb that still uses good holds and is within reach of the kids. Plus the kids really like pushing each other and cheering for one another. I also love games that the kids can organize among themselves and still uses the main climbing wall.

Eliminate

The Onsight Game

Golf

Face Off

Circuits

The Points Game

Add On

this blog and thoughts on a day when the skies are grey

 This blog started and persisted for a long time as a creative outlet. A need to get something out there that people could potentially look at. But mostly just to make things. And now, having not posted in a while, my thoughts go to thinking about my family that reads this and just wanting them to know that I'm thinking about them and love them. I don't know. I think it just means a lot as a point of connection. 

Also I started thinking about the song, You Are My Sunshine, today and I've definitely written about it before but it's just so sad and so beautiful. Whew. Just processing some sad feelings today. But not like gloomy sad, like when your heart is too full of love and you just have to cry. 

Yeah, anyway, I'm doing really well.

good day today

Very busy weekend but I'm so grateful to have spent a great day with my sister and parents :)

I Did That

 I had this mildly surreal experience the other day while looking around Strava. I found the race GPS info from the guy I barely beat the year I got 2nd in the 10 miler. And looking at the splits and how fast he was going I was thinking, "this is insane." Like, based on my current performances and fitness I'm seemingly no where close to running those sorts of times. And it was weird to look at those times and think, not only did I do that, but I did it exactly one second better. 

I think I can get back to it. I'm optimistic. Strava has been such an immensely helpful tool to motivate me again. I really needed more pressure and data. I can feel the return of those feelings of improvement and getting excited to push myself again. When I look back at the weeks of training leading up to that 10 miler performance, I was basically to the point where I was running a workout or moderately hard almost every day, 5 days a week, and then working all weekend. I can feel myself getting back to that gradually. But it's also fun. It's not like I'm dreading running or destroying myself. It's the fun competitive feelings that I used to feel running with other people. I would still very much like to run with other people but I also know my schedule is weird and I also know that I don't really want to change it that much to run with others. In any case, good things are happening. Climbing is taking a bit of a backseat. Like today I probably would have gone climbing after running but I was feeling extra tired and figured staying home would be better. Again, another trade off I'm happy to make. 

On Thursday I'm going to do a fast track workout of something like

6 min 1600

1k in 3:07 or faster.

4x400 off 4:30 rest. It would be nice to run 67 or 68.

4x200 off 3 min rest. It would be good to run 30s.

600 fast (1:45-ish)

6 min 1600