Slice of life

Via GZ, excerpt of an interview with Carpenter:

How many miles a week do you run, and are they all on trail?

I go by time not distance. In the mountains and especially in altitude, distance becomes meaningless and can get you in trouble. . . So, I shoot for two hours a day on a consistent basis (just went on a four-month streak with no days under two hours) with 3-4 hours for a Sunday long run, which I may take a little longer if I am training for an ultra.

As for the amount I run on trail, it varies. Before my daughter started school I spent a lot of time on the roads pushing her in a baby jogger. However, once she started going to school I have tried to get as much trail time as possible.

You head up the Incline Club training group with the motto: "Go out hard, when it hurts speed up." Should everyone—even beginner runners, or road runners transitioning to trail—go out hard and hang on as well as they can?

The motto/tagline is more of a life philosophy than a racing strategy. It just means that, when times are tough, that is when you have to try harder. But, if someone literally could pull it off in a race, they would never lose.

In real life, the key in any race, no matter the venue, is learning to run even effort. What is hard for those making the transition from the road to the trails, or even beginning trail runners, is there is so much more terrain variation. For many just starting to run trails if you graph their heart rate you pretty much get a topo map of what they ran as they end up pushing too hard on the ups and not enough on the downs. It takes time and practice to learn to get an even effort on varied terrain.
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Of course, great stuff. Time orientation vs. distance. You see these two approaches at work constantly with many athletes. To each his own? One is better than the other? Right now, I'm time-oriented because I'm just "plugging" along. Still, nice to see THE elite using such an approach. May be a better way to monitor consistency.

His point about "even effort" really helped me re-frame my training. I signed-up for a 50k in late August. I'm really excited. So, I go for a run yesterday, mid-day, hot and humid but with a slight breeze. I hit Florida Canyon which is very rolling, not big climbing, but not flat at all. I decided to wear the HRM but not STARE at it. And run by PE. With Carpenter's perspective in mind, I just tried to stay steady (but aerobic), really comfortable at all times. I went up very easy and made sure I cruised going down, keeping the effort as even as I could. For the first 45 minutes, avg. 148 and the last 30 min. avg. 154. I'm also feeling comfortable keeping these runs aerobic almost throughout, but letting things float a little toward the end ala GZ with Tim's blessing! Running is like Catholicism.

My runs will get longer and dial-in this approach -- aerobic with some effort at the end. And yes I will start to climb more. Easy climbing . . .perhaps before the sun throws down! And cycling with big climbs! And beer only on the weekends! And peace love and harmony . . .and

Today, I was in the pool by 6am with homeboy Tom. We swam for about 25 min. and then did some weights, a little circuit work with Tom leading the way. It was awesome. I'll do another 1hr+ run today and then hit the beach with the boy.

A pain in the neck

Woke-up with a sore neck and shoulder from poor bed positioning. I looked at my training log, at the Sunday field. It's empty. I looked at last week's: "Sunday: Off." Hmmmmm. It's a pattern. Actually, I need to get-in a big run on Sundays or a big bike. I have to. Right now, I'm doing about 7-10 hours of "work" a week. I'm certainly not killing myself; after all, I'm fairly aerobic and we all know that's pretty weak (sarcasm). GZ is killing it. That guy is just good apples. I finished my growler of Green Flash Imperial (as I type) so the neck pain is diminishing and my hike is getting itself together (along with t-shirts that say, "I'm a pussy").

The other thing that happens when you're a good reader is you can turn, sniff and literally catch the theme/moral/argument of a "story" tracking humanity. I can only share a bit of it here, now ;D

I certainly don't want to even hint that this blog should provoke heated debate/ Period. Such debate falls victim to meager research and flawed personal perspective. The blog is just me "saying shit." And there's a lot of shit out there.

"Politicians, pundits, and financiers defend deepening our national debt to bail out the institutions of a failed Wall Street system. But this system, built on speculation and the rule of money, is undermining the health of the planet and the well-being of all but the wealthiest few." She's okay for much of that but for the total dismissal of our current system. So, that qualification aside, boom.

"We're told we need Wall Street in order to finance business. But Wall Street has quit serving the real economy and has morphed into a global casino, creating exotic and toxic packages of 'assets' that have no function but to make money for the already wealthy." Ouch. She nailed it. Oh, she didn't? Shut-up.

There's a lot of shit out there, and van Gelder is just one of many calling it like she sees it. She's off? Of course she is.

S. van Gelder, on the whole, is positioning her magazine, Yes!, for theme essentially granting us the possibility of local and therefore future global sustainability. I annotated in the table of contents, near the titles of pieces both about water rights and growing local: Food and water.

It's on. Fuel and hydration.

Hal

I know Hal. No I don't but he raced and won the World of Hurt 50k last October. I placed 5th in the 25k. I got a chance to meet Jurek at the race and sorta rubbed shoulders with Hal, but no exchange. Still, I sorta know the nut, yeah? He smoked quite a field this year at the WS 100. Thanks to GZ for the forum. Great sipping a beer and following that little window when Hal apparently blew up the field including Mackey. Anyways, great stuff and thanks to Anton Krupicka too for the insight. Here's Anton's response to Justin Mock regarding Hal's training. By the way, Hal is not a 130 lbs. feather weight that floats up the climbs. He's a beast, which Anton sorta reiterates.

"Justin,

Regarding Hal and 100 mile weeks. Haha, no. Hal's training is: run three days in a row of 1-2hrs with mostly big vertical (that's all there is in Ashland), take two days off because his foot has blown up. Go win a 50K. Take two days off because he's limping. Run up a couple more peaks, go charge a local road race, take two more days off with exploded foot/knee. Repeat.

I'm only kinda joking. The dude just goes running. No speedwork, just whatever mileage his various chronic injuries will allow. I do know he was able to get in a couple legitimate long runs (30-50 miles) this build-up, which is notable for that cat. But, if you look at his ultra racing schedule: Chuckanut (50K) in March, 35 miles or so at American River before DNFing in April with blown knee, wins Macdonald Forest 50K in May, WS training camp over Memorial Day, f--ing people up at a STACKED WS100 a month later. Honestly, how he even finishes 100 milers is beyond me. Actually, I'll tell you how: he's a badass.

Seriously, Hal just rolls with it. I remember crewing for him at the North Face 50 in December. He just charges until he can't charge anymore and lets nothing rattle him. Messed up fuel, no big deal. Screaming plantar? "Well Tony, if I run the downhills hard enough, it'll just go numb." Need anything, Hal? "Yeah, a new pair of legs, dude." Keep in mind, this dude ran the Colorado Trail in 9 days back in 2003. A week after placing 2nd at Leadville. He's wearing M1 for a reason."

--Anton Krupicka

Hal before the race. Thanks to Matt Hart.