What Can We Do?

There's a link I'd like to post.

A link that will take you to a website where you can help someone important to me, and help a worthy cause in a long, not ending any time soon fight.

As those of you who regularly read this know the last 10-11 months have been a tough period. Friends lost unexpectedly. My father-in-law losing his battle with cancer, and most recently my mother losing her battle with breast cancer. Tough times are typically when people are called to action. We each do what we can.

T is doing what she can. She, along with her mother (because the fucking disease has touched her family as well), are participating in the Komen 3-Day for the Cure, in Seattle this September. What is that exactly? They will walk 60 miles over 3 days and raise money to help fight this disease that has touched each and every one of us.

They are doing what they can.

What I'd like to do is post that link now, so that if you've felt the cold touch of this disease and are able, you can do what you can.

T's 3 Day Fundraising Page.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I made a tough one this morning.

The lungs aren't quite there yet...still working way too hard to move air when my effort increases. I ran a hilly route this morning and my HR shouldn't be in the high 160s at the pace I was at, even running uphill.

So, not wanting to totally crash and burn Saturday, I'll be running with T trying to help her finish in what could be a huge PR.

Time to shift my focus to the fall now.

Not Encouraging In The Least

The last entry I mentioned the run on Saturday that ended up being much harder than it should have due to me suffering from a cold. Remember that one?

Well, even though I'm feeling mucho better and am on my second day sudafed free the way I felt on my run today is not giving me a lot of encouragement for Saturday.

Now, granted it was hot/humid out - my own fault, I violated Summer Running Rule #1 today but it should not have felt like it did. My legs were okay, but my lungs were not up to it, plus my heart rate shouldn't be hitting 170. Nope, not encouraging.

I'm going to get out there much earlier tomorrow and see how it goes, and if that run ends up the same as today's then most likely Saturday's goal race becomes a long run that I get a t-shirt for finishing. Not ideal, but is looking more and more like the intelligent move.

Damn that person who passed on the cold to T.

The Thing I Dread The Most

Having a cold in the summer. It seems like that is the only time of year I get sick anymore. Okay, also having a cold 5 days before a goal race.

I don't advise doing hard effort running while on sudafed (and I don't be the PE shit) or on a day when there is a 98% humidity level. That was Saturday. Completely wore me out.

I think I've turned a corner though...just hope the progress continues.

As Promised: 5/3 Riverbank Run Race Report

The 5/3 Riverbank Run is a tradition here in Grand Rapids. 2010 was the 33rd running of the race, and the race serves as the US Track & Field 25k Road Race National Championship which means there's a good chance of catching a glimpse of recognizable elite athletes. Every year we've been in Michigan I've been asked: are you running Riverbank? by anyone that knows I'm a runner.

In the past I've run the 5k and the 10k they hold in conjunction with the 25k but until this year I'd shied away from the big boy.

With the half marathon at Bayshore being my goal race this spring (Memorial Day weekend) I thought the 25k (which by the way for the metric challenged equals 15.5 miles, 2.4 miles longer than a HM) would give me a great chance to run a bunch of goal pace miles to gauge my fitness level and do it with a bunch of people and support along the course. Plus registration was only $30. That's right, $30, and that was up until about a week before the race. Bargain.

Race day started out perfect. Weather was cool, some rain in the forecast - which held off, and the only thing not working in our favor was the wind. 20-30 mph predicted, not ideal for running in.

We did have a nice moment of hilarity on the walk to the start line. The race course starts and finishes in downtown Grand Rapids, so the city's finest were out directing traffic and closing off roads. We pass an intersection with two, that's right two police vehicles blocking the street and two police officers standing there...as we're walking across the street a young woman swerves and zooms past the officers, goes under a bridge and stops at a red light to make a left turn (her left turn would have put her right on the 5k course). One of the police officers throws his hands up, looks at all of us crossing the street with a "you've got to be kidding me" look and proceeds to walk up to her car and knock on the window. No idea what was said to her, but the fact the police officer was pissed and she was on her cell phone it probably wasn't causal pleasantries.

The goal for the race was to run the first 2.4 miles easy, around 10:30-10:45 pace as a warm-up and then hit the lap button on my garmin and "race" the last 13.1 miles in an attempt to see how long I could hold my goal pace of 9:30/mile.

First miles went by with out incident - except for a bathroom break due to cold diuresis - and as we hit the 2.4 mile mark I wished T good luck (she was also running the 25k and trying to execute the same type of plan I was), hit the lap button and took off.

It was a pretty good feeling passing folks, because that's pretty much what I did for the next two hours. I walked a few water stops, but for the most part I held a pace between 9:30 and 9:45 until I hit 3.1 miles to go when I tried to push a bit. I had to take a walk break right about 1 mile to go, hit the lap button as I crossed the sign telling us 1 mile to go and took off for the finish running a 8:45 pace for that mile.

Chip time: 2:34:29

Using my garmin (which auto paused when I stopped to pee and retie my shoe) times and taking out the first 2.4 miles it worked out that I ran a 2:06:21 HM. Not great but not shabby either.

I was very pleased how the day went. Loved the course - a significant portion of the course is also used for the GR Marathon in the fall, just in reverse - and can definitely say I'll be running this race again.

The End is Finally Here

Due to a craptastic weather forecast last Friday evening (the weather reality was not of the Minnow wreaking proportions predicted) the conference track meet was postponed until today.

Starting at 4 pm. That's right, 4 pm. Which means the meet will end approximately sometime around 10:00 pm.

BUT, it is the last home event to be covered. So that is a positive.

Also, there are only 11 work days left. That, is also a positive.

Long Weekend

We had a long weekend, not in the sense of an extra day or two included in the weekend, but a jam packed weekend of fun and frivolity.

Saturday was the first goal race of the spring for me - the 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k. More on that in an upcoming post.

T and I planned to see Iron Man 2 on Sunday, so that took up a good chunk of the late morning/early afternoon. Good movie by the way. Excellent sequel that avoided the usual traps that befall sequels to big budget blockbusters. Then we had tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls Sunday night.

Great show - second time I've seen 'em - that capped off an exceptional weekend.

The weekend set the tone for the upcoming week, and really for the rest of May as things slowly wind down for me at work. God, it's nice to see the calendar turn to May.

Nature vs Nurture

It's an age old debate, nature vs. nurture, with some convincing arguments on both sides.

Read The Talent Code. It's not a lot of pages, easy to read, but there is a wealth of information there to be mined. If you're in any profession where you teach or coach you need to read this book.

Something To Think About

Mental Toughness

Yet another great post by Vern Gambetta that makes me think not only about the athletes I have worked with in the past but also the ones I see everyday, plus it makes me think about my own current fluctuations in training.

It certainly feels like I've lost a bit of the edge when it comes to training I had a few short years ago. Yes, I'm logging miles but I'll have a great week followed by a week that I take 2-3 days off. The uncertainty of my work schedule plays a role but I think a big portion of it is simply that I'm letting myself off the hook too much. I'm not bringing my "A" game.

I don't want to just go through the motions so as things wind down at work over the next 10 days or so my goal is to figure out exactly what my "A" game is and working on making my mental discipline a bit better.

Treading Water

I have a love/hate relationship with the spring.

Love: the weather, cool and crisp mornings that turn into beautiful days with the temps in the 60s, nights with no bugs, general rebirth of the frozen wasteland that this place becomes in the winter

Hate: the spring sport schedules. All of them are weather dependent, have no time limits, and take on average 5-6 hours to complete on a daily basis.

So that's why I've been scarce with the posting, I'm trying to tread water and not drown in the chaos that is my spring. Life will return to normal (for the most part) in two weeks. A fortnight. I can make it through that! Can't I?

Must Watch

"Only One Way Out Of The World"

Interesting title huh? Comes from the song "Why I Am" by the Dave Matthews Band and is extremely fitting for a blog post where I sum up the events of the last 6 weeks or so....

We said good-bye to my Mom on Tuesday. Her battle with cancer ended on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at approximately 11:05 a.m. The latest rounds of the battle were fought over the last 12 months or so, and while she fought valiantly, ultimately that bastard of a disease won. Her chemotherapy treatments really took their toll on her since about August or September and six weeks ago she received her last treatment. After that it was just a matter of time, since there is only one way out of this life...

So you can understand that things sort of fell by the wayside as my family began to adjust to, and cope with the reality of her final days. I was able to have a great visit with about two weeks before she passed, and I am grateful I took advantage of that visit to tell her how much I loved and appreciated her efforts into helping make me the person I am today.

She celebrated her 72nd birthday last Thursday. Late that afternoon her condition warranted moving to the hospice care facility where she would spend her last hours surrounded by her friends and family. She left this world the way she had expressed to me that she wanted to: she went to sleep and didn't wake up.

I'm still coming to grips with the gravity of the situation, and I miss her dearly, but I am very thankful that her ordeal is over.

The event that resonates the most with me from Tuesday: Over the last few years my mother gather with a group of women that she attended elementary school with, that's correct, elementary school, for lunch on a regular basis. I had a great conversation with one of those women who related to me how much she admired my mother's strength as she confronted the disease. That meant so much to me...that and she told me that my Mom was extremely proud of me. What more could a person want?

She leaves behind a husband of 48 years, three children, and three grandchildren. She touched many lives. She will be remembered by many.

I will miss her. I will try to carry her spirit with me and demonstrate it in my daily life. What better memorial could there be than that?

Priorites

Learned a valuable lesson yesterday.

This time of the year, spring sports seasons, I have very little control over my schedule due to a variety of factors: weather, spur of the moment scheduling changes, events that have no time limits, etc, etc.

The lesson? I've got to make my stuff a priority when I can. No putting of a run until the afternoon because the afternoon while clear on my calendar might be spent at the baseball field. No putting off that phone call, or paperwork because I might have to be at a softball game. You get the idea.

I'm fortunate that my work day typically doesn't start until mid-morning, so I've got the time. I just need to spend that time more judiciously.

I need to be a bit selfish. Me first. Because if I take care of me first, then I'll be in a better frame of mind to tackle the events of the rest of my day. Then everyone wins.

Apologies

I need to go on the record with an apology.

I haven't been able to update this as frequent as of late due to circumstances beyond my control. My family is dealing with some end of life issues right now, and while I will at some point talk about all the stuff bouncing around my head right now because of that I'm unsure of how to do so without airing familial dirty laundry and violating privacy.

Right now it's hard to put things into words, so I'm going to refrain for the time being.

I'm still alive and kicking and trying to get ready for my two goal races this spring, and I'm updating the reading list over there on the right just so all 4 of you don't think I've fallen into a giant hole and can't get out.

I promise there will be an update this weekend - excellent chance there will be great news to share after a 5k on Saturday.

Grading Scale

In the classes I teach the grading scale says that 87-89.9% is a B+, 90-92.9 is a B, and 93-100 is an A. (Don't get me started on +/- grading scales...still haven't been able to get anyone to tell me why there isn't an A+ and if there really is a big enough difference between an 86.9 and a 87 to warrant that little "+", and no it's the grading scale the Athletic Training Education Program uses so no, I can't change it.)

Sorry for the diatribe.

87%. A solid, above average (no matter what scale you use) effort we would all agree? Good.

Then I had a solid, above average week of running last week. Schedule called for 32 miles and I ran 87% of that amount, or 27.8. Most importantly though, I learned some things, most of which fall under the I'm not doing all that I can to give myself a chance to succeed category:

• I need to get more consistent sleep.
• I'm not eating good enough throughout the day
• I'm definitely not refueling correctly after runs, especially after hard, quality runs that are on my schedule now.
• I'm not doing enough ancillary work (foam roller, strengthening, etc).
• I've totally abandoned any other form of workout besides running.

So what am I going to do with all of this knowledge you ask? I've already made on small change to re-incorporate some general hip/leg strengthening back into my regimen and I'm working on adding back in some of the other things that have fallen to the wayside - slowly. I'm trying to avoid throwing so much stuff at myself that I can't get it all done. Add one thing each week and then build on it.

One thing I'm working on this week? Lights out at 10 pm. I'll let you know how it goes.

Gaps

I realize that some time has passed since my last post here...not for the lack of anything to say, just not enough time to say it, and not sure how to say it.

But I'm not giving up on this, just waiting for things to settle down a bit.

So check back in a day or two.

What We Need

I'm not really a fan of sports.

Okay, I am, but I don't buy into the cliches people like to banter about regards sports. You know things like "sports build character", "sports teaches life lessons", "sports show us that if you work hard you can be a champion". Makes. Me. Want. To. Puke.

Sports do teach us lessons, except they are things like this: if you're talented people will fawn over you, if you're talented the rules don't apply to you, if you're talented you can be lazy and not have to work and still be successful, if you're talented people will make excuses for you, and most importantly if you're bigger/faster/stronger than your opponent 7.5-8 times out of 1o you'll win.

Why this post?

Because of this post.

That's the problem with sports. The inmates are running the asylum.

Ponder This

Lots of not-so-fun-but-part-of-being-an-adult-so-get-your-big-boy-pants-on-and-deal-with-it stuff going on in my world as of late.

I'm a regular listener to the Phedippidations podcast and last week's episode talked about this essay by Dr. George Sheehan, "Is Running A Religion?"

We all deal with things differently, seek solace in different places, but take a few minutes to read that essay. I know running has been, and continues to be, a place that I find renewal. Well, that is when I'm able to do it.

Then ask yourself, what is that place of renewal for you.

A Return

So after spending the first two weeks of 2010 in a boot (self imposed) and the first three weeks of 2010 not running my ankle/foot/shin finally responded.

Yesterday was my first official day back in training - okay, so I ran a whopping 2.57 miles last week over three days to see how it would respond - and I actually got to run outside. You can only guess what happened then. That's right, it snowed last night. Have I mentioned how much I love the winters here in west Michigan? So back to the hamster wheel it is for me. Sort of reminds me of Punxsutaweny Phil, see the white stuff scurry back inside. Boring yes, but infinitely less likely to be injured.

The goal this week is about 20-25 miles. Yes, I've had to totally redo my training plan to accommodate a lower peak training mileage (still not pleased about that, but that's what injury forces you to do) but still have the same goal for the HM at Bayshore.

The one positive from all this? I've actually used my portion of the YMCA membership! That and I've gotten in the habit of getting up and getting my workouts done...well, that is until today.

Off The Recent Topics, But of Vital Importance

I saw this link on a friend's blog. Clicked it and after reading it, I've got to post it here. No idea if anyone will follow it and read. I hope they do because it is simply the most cogent defense of gay marriage I've ever read.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/229957

No matter what your stance on the subject, or how you came to your opinion, take the 5-7 minutes it took me to read it and at least be open to hearing the argument.