Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Trouble is where I chill
My knee is in trouble, because it is giving me some trouble and I don't plan on quitting. First week back to try running. Made it 1 mile up hill which was good, then headed on a slight downhill and instant pain. Apparently where my calve tendon hooks on to my femur has a penchant for coming a little loose. This is right on my hamstring just above my knee. It manifests it's self by my knee feeling like it is locking up and I can't put weight on it. Remedied, albeit temporarily, by some very intense massaging to the area. Made it home walking.
Went out 2 days later (yesterday) and ran at a crazy slow pace, just a half notch faster than a casual walk. Made it 3 miles though without the same pain. Knees feel a little tender today, but I can run again. To get to the first aid station in the race will now take more effort than I have ever put out in a run. I would be lying if I would say I am not worried, but I will keep doing all the training I can and just see what I can do when the day comes. Faith and strength, faith and strength is what I need now.
Went out 2 days later (yesterday) and ran at a crazy slow pace, just a half notch faster than a casual walk. Made it 3 miles though without the same pain. Knees feel a little tender today, but I can run again. To get to the first aid station in the race will now take more effort than I have ever put out in a run. I would be lying if I would say I am not worried, but I will keep doing all the training I can and just see what I can do when the day comes. Faith and strength, faith and strength is what I need now.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
o' brother shoot me in the head
I think I am going to try to figure out how to re-name my blog PDX Ass-clown.
On a positive note my co-worker who is signed up for P2P also pulled out a very nice 40 miler on PCT this last weekend! Go Justin! Don't think I am in good enough shape at this point to pace him! How did that happen. Thinking about maybe taking some steroids to help get me caught back up on training. I wonder if I can climb little mountains over 100 miles with my pecs? More of a thought experiment really.
On a positive note my co-worker who is signed up for P2P also pulled out a very nice 40 miler on PCT this last weekend! Go Justin! Don't think I am in good enough shape at this point to pace him! How did that happen. Thinking about maybe taking some steroids to help get me caught back up on training. I wonder if I can climb little mountains over 100 miles with my pecs? More of a thought experiment really.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
81 Days till P2P
Last night my wife called down to Ashland and got a hotel room for us the night after the race, and the lady who answered the phone has a Son who ran the race last year and is running it again this year and she crews for him. After my wife got a reservation, good conversation, and some great advice from this very nice lady we realized that maybe we got a smoking room, oopsies. So she called back and got the Son who is racing this year and just got back from Western States and then they chatted for a while, and he was also very nice and helpful. God I love the ultra community, I hope to become a real part of it someday.
Well I cranked out about 30 miles (on Wildwood in Forest Park) in 6.5 hours on Saturday. I bonked, but it went as well as I expected. Being on a much better diet than I have ever been on before, my stomach did not desire the Gu packets and Gu chomps that I had brought with. I didn't want to eat them so I only had a few and ran out of energy. Luckily I had a Larabar with me which I devoured but later my stomach was a little cranky. Not sure if it was from the Larabar or not, but that tasted way better than even really good Gu packets. Will have to experiment more latter with different foods and maybe even some real foods. As soon as I had that Larabar at about mile 23 I got right back to it and felt a lot better.
My knees have been feeling pretty great, the last two runs I have done I have followed the advice and instruction of a Chi running teacher I heard on the Podcast 3 Non-Joggers. The podcast is almost as annoying as it is good, but this is nothing new and it is kind of their bread and butter. The Chi running instructor is a local lady, Alice Peters, and she is a certified Chi Running Instructor so I want to try to get in to see her this summer to help some more and I think my Wife would enjoy it also!
Well I will do more gear reviews later, but feeling a little back on track and motivated!
Well I cranked out about 30 miles (on Wildwood in Forest Park) in 6.5 hours on Saturday. I bonked, but it went as well as I expected. Being on a much better diet than I have ever been on before, my stomach did not desire the Gu packets and Gu chomps that I had brought with. I didn't want to eat them so I only had a few and ran out of energy. Luckily I had a Larabar with me which I devoured but later my stomach was a little cranky. Not sure if it was from the Larabar or not, but that tasted way better than even really good Gu packets. Will have to experiment more latter with different foods and maybe even some real foods. As soon as I had that Larabar at about mile 23 I got right back to it and felt a lot better.
My knees have been feeling pretty great, the last two runs I have done I have followed the advice and instruction of a Chi running teacher I heard on the Podcast 3 Non-Joggers. The podcast is almost as annoying as it is good, but this is nothing new and it is kind of their bread and butter. The Chi running instructor is a local lady, Alice Peters, and she is a certified Chi Running Instructor so I want to try to get in to see her this summer to help some more and I think my Wife would enjoy it also!
Well I will do more gear reviews later, but feeling a little back on track and motivated!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
87 days til P2P
The title says it all. So what have I been up to? Not much. Heeling the knee and testing it back out a smidge. So out for a total of about 2 months and about a month to get back to running and some type of running shape, and through in going back to my Applied Kinesiogist / Chiropractor guy. Oh and I went back to Wisconsin to stand up in my cousin Andy's wedding.
So now what? Fuck me is what, 87 days. Last weekend I went on a good 13 miler. Leaving the house and heading up hill to the trails by Council Crest, Marquem Trail, and then on to Forest Park onto the Wildwood trail and then back on the street. Great run, a lot of fun, and the longest I have done since before the Knee injury. So yes, I am pretty fucked. Besides that though I feel great, ready to rock.
The big plan is to do the bare minimum of running during the week to do good long runs on the weekend. Get the long runs in but avoid the high mileage weeks. Before the injury I got up to about 50 miles per week and that felt like a good number, but we are in crunch time. So no build just run for fun, focusing on long runs and lots of biking during the week. Think is the best way to get ready and sounds like a blast to me for some Summer fun.
I am listening to some Dire Straights right now and it is really fueling this writing frenzy I am putting together here, well comparatively at least to not writing. Wisconsin sucks for food. After living in Portland for a few years and getting used to the quality of food and selection we have I realize how much I value that.
Well hope for maybe a Mt. Defiance or a Wildwood run this weekend. Need to get a hydration running pack this week. Thinking about the Nathan HPL #20.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Paleo-ish Diet
The first thing you have to know about the Paleo diet, it is very strict, this is included and that is not. But the Paleo diet has been adjusted to help many different people accomplish many different thing. So it is not as black and white as being a vegan per say, or what ever that phrase is. So the sub genre of the Paleo Diet that I adhere to that my Dr. also recommend for me is the Paleo Diet for athletes, in particular endurance athletes. And you pretty much nailed it Kev, lots of meat and veges and water. Next comes some fruit and nuts, but it is easy to go over board with those two. The idea is you run your body off of the carbs that your body can get from fat and protein, not carbs that are already carbs in your body.
To get the real skinny on all of this, which is pretty explained there than here. Check out the pdf that is called Clif Notes for Paleo Diet.
And the other pdf.s on there look pretty great.
In short, cause I am always short on time and already an hour behind tonight (and please feel free to ask me any more on any of this, but won't ramble on for my own benefit), the Paleo diet has got me feeling better than I ever had before. The only think I don't love about it is some of the implications of eating meat from an environment stand point. This kevin you know much about, I would like to only add that all of our food is organic and local, or at least all of the meat and veges. Beef that had come from local cows from the Oregon or Washington where the cows were grass fed and it is certified organic. Chicken eggs that are from free range chickens that had organic vegetable feed that is local and so on. So that means the food makes me not feel bad, as far as the small amount of conscience I have and it tastes great. Wild animals are supposed to be the healthiest to eat, so just another reason to go hunting! Might do that this year.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
It's been awhile.
Once you get out of the groove of posting, there always seems too much to catch up on. So I will provide a list, you tell me what interests you, or maybe what interests you the most right now.
- Knee feels like SHIT after playing soccer for 10 minutes, haven't ran in 2 weeks. Kinda freakin' out.
- Been seeing an Applied Kinesiology Doctor who is also a Chiropractor and a Homeopathic Doctor to help me with a range of problems.
- Biggest difference to Doc has suggested was a diet change after doing some biofeedback tests, and now I am on a Paleo diet, well actually a Paleo Diet for Athletes. Paleo as in Paleolithic, as in caveman diet, as in prior to high fructose corn syrup by a couple of years.
- Well this list seems pretty short all of a sudden:)
- Weight loss has been appropriate but I don't like it, need to put some weight back on but working so damn much.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Will Patch die?
ELEVATION MAP
As previously explained, Patch, my non-runner friend is going to pace me at P2P. As you can tell from the elevation map this race is brutal, but let's specifically look at Patch's likeliness to actually make it to a designated spot. First of all he has ran, but would not be considered a runner. He is athletic, but wouldn't be confused as a track athlete if found wondering around on a college campus.
For pacers you have 3 options: mile 65-83, mile 83-100, or mile 65-100. As you can tell from the elevation map (good christ!), all of those are brutal.
Option 1; mile 65-83 is from 7500 feet, the highest point in the race, to 3000 ft. Pretty much 18 miles of down hill running, descending a total of 4500 feet, somebody pray for my knees.
Option 2; mile 83 - 100, not so easy either. At mile 83 you are at 3000 ft. then you go up to 7000 ft. in just 7 miles and then for the last 10 miles of the race a descent to cry about, from 7000 ft. down to 2000 ft. So in review for Option 2, ascend 4000 ft. followed by descending 5000 ft. over the last 17 miles of the "race".
Option 3 = Option 1 + Option 2.
Now just when you are thinking how crazy stupid tough Option 3 is, remember if Patch chooses option 3, he will be joining me after doing this kind of dance for 65 miles already. Concerns about a pacer included many things, but they can help out so well in so many different ways. This so far is a dangerous proposition because if he isn't ready for that brutal incline and declines, he could be worse off than I am, or I could perceive it that way and waste energy being concerned about him regardless. And to boot, a big part of the job of the pacer is to be babysitting me, being that it will be pitch black in the middle of a vast wilderness at that point and I may be borderline delirious or full blown emotionally trashed.
So let the bidding begin, what do you think Patch will be able to do and what do you think this proud bear of a man will take on? At this point the ex high school defensive end has not had much time for working out and has not ran more than maybe 10 miles or so before I believe.
As previously explained, Patch, my non-runner friend is going to pace me at P2P. As you can tell from the elevation map this race is brutal, but let's specifically look at Patch's likeliness to actually make it to a designated spot. First of all he has ran, but would not be considered a runner. He is athletic, but wouldn't be confused as a track athlete if found wondering around on a college campus.
For pacers you have 3 options: mile 65-83, mile 83-100, or mile 65-100. As you can tell from the elevation map (good christ!), all of those are brutal.
Option 1; mile 65-83 is from 7500 feet, the highest point in the race, to 3000 ft. Pretty much 18 miles of down hill running, descending a total of 4500 feet, somebody pray for my knees.
Option 2; mile 83 - 100, not so easy either. At mile 83 you are at 3000 ft. then you go up to 7000 ft. in just 7 miles and then for the last 10 miles of the race a descent to cry about, from 7000 ft. down to 2000 ft. So in review for Option 2, ascend 4000 ft. followed by descending 5000 ft. over the last 17 miles of the "race".
Option 3 = Option 1 + Option 2.
Now just when you are thinking how crazy stupid tough Option 3 is, remember if Patch chooses option 3, he will be joining me after doing this kind of dance for 65 miles already. Concerns about a pacer included many things, but they can help out so well in so many different ways. This so far is a dangerous proposition because if he isn't ready for that brutal incline and declines, he could be worse off than I am, or I could perceive it that way and waste energy being concerned about him regardless. And to boot, a big part of the job of the pacer is to be babysitting me, being that it will be pitch black in the middle of a vast wilderness at that point and I may be borderline delirious or full blown emotionally trashed.
So let the bidding begin, what do you think Patch will be able to do and what do you think this proud bear of a man will take on? At this point the ex high school defensive end has not had much time for working out and has not ran more than maybe 10 miles or so before I believe.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
short story made shorter, and then a little longer
Second week of working extra early wore me out, just need more sleep than that. Was getting up at 3:45 to run into work and then getting home at 6PM, and the whole day I was on my feet of course. Anywho, I was tired and didn't run except at the gym during the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl. And yes, I was wearing my Packer T mi padre sent me, thanks Pa!
On a side note Patch (a non-running friend) has decided he is pacing me for the P2P race and is excited. Kid has no idea what he is getting into, but it will be entertaining:)
On a side note Patch (a non-running friend) has decided he is pacing me for the P2P race and is excited. Kid has no idea what he is getting into, but it will be entertaining:)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
January Review
So January is over and the month went pretty well. This next week and last week were extra busy putting in extra hours at work, but it's all good. Good but busy, signed back up at the gym and that is nice. As my homeboy inferred in a conversation (Roni's my boy!), the treadmill is not the dreadmill when you get to multi-task and it is crappy out. Crappy for him means lung cancer from air quality issues. Crappy for me means sprinkling out and running in a city. Yes that means he is a bit tougher than me on that issue.
Okay, weekly mileage for January; 30, 21, 24, & 37. Not too shabby, right about on schedule.
Goals for February; 40 miles a week, strength training at the gym 3 times a week, hot tub and self inflicted deep tissue massage 1 time per week, each week long run 13 miles long at least.
So you want to cause yourself pain also? Serious this things make it possible for me to run, period, no they do not pay and they never will cause I am a terrible writer and slow, but that doesn't mean these don't work. For self inflicting deep tissue massages, click HERE.
Okay, weekly mileage for January; 30, 21, 24, & 37. Not too shabby, right about on schedule.
Goals for February; 40 miles a week, strength training at the gym 3 times a week, hot tub and self inflicted deep tissue massage 1 time per week, each week long run 13 miles long at least.
So you want to cause yourself pain also? Serious this things make it possible for me to run, period, no they do not pay and they never will cause I am a terrible writer and slow, but that doesn't mean these don't work. For self inflicting deep tissue massages, click HERE.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What I remember from Dean's appearence
Dean Karnazes gets a lot of shit, and he has a lot of admirers. This is my take on him, and I have not read his book; he is just a guy, a guy who has done some very impressive things, and yes others have done more impressive things, and others yet have not done more impressive things. But all in all, he is a guy doing what he loves, and I love that.
Ok, so I bought some tickets for this speaker thing he was doing through North Face when he came to Portland. Seemed like a real decent guy and this was a couple of months ago, end of last year or something. Anyways, the thing that I remember that really sticks out for me is something I keep coming back to. He was commenting on a question he usually gets, how does he stay so motivated. And he replied something to the extent of (not an exact quote by any means) --- I don't know, I just do what I love and I don't have to worry about being motivated.
I thought that was great. Do what you love, then do what you should, then do what you must, and fuck the rest. Now that is good and I just came up with it! Ha!!! How do you like me now! I know it is obvious but worth mentioning, not to excuse anything, but to give the read of feel for me. I don't proof read, go back, or really care too much about proper sentence structure. I try to just write how I think and how I talk, so it is a little in-coherent and improper. P.S. that quote is awesome, maybe I should put that somewhere important on this blog:)
Ok, so I bought some tickets for this speaker thing he was doing through North Face when he came to Portland. Seemed like a real decent guy and this was a couple of months ago, end of last year or something. Anyways, the thing that I remember that really sticks out for me is something I keep coming back to. He was commenting on a question he usually gets, how does he stay so motivated. And he replied something to the extent of (not an exact quote by any means) --- I don't know, I just do what I love and I don't have to worry about being motivated.
I thought that was great. Do what you love, then do what you should, then do what you must, and fuck the rest. Now that is good and I just came up with it! Ha!!! How do you like me now! I know it is obvious but worth mentioning, not to excuse anything, but to give the read of feel for me. I don't proof read, go back, or really care too much about proper sentence structure. I try to just write how I think and how I talk, so it is a little in-coherent and improper. P.S. that quote is awesome, maybe I should put that somewhere important on this blog:)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 2011 Goals and Boring Back Story; told incompletely
This month I will shoot for 30 miles per week and 3 days of P90x per week. I will not do a long run longer than 10 miles and will not cry if I don't make it to 30 miles per week. The base must be built but more important for me is I must be uninjured.
So was my goal for the month, obviously I am not posting this at the beginning of the month, but this is what I thought then. Which was the same time my wife said, "Are you actually going to sign up for a real race year." And so I got online and began searching, I have been into running for a year and a half now, focusing mostly on trail running and with my original goal to be to run an ultra distance on trails.
Spring of 2009 I was downsized and depressed. And despite what I considered to be my best efforts I couldn't run more than 3 miles without hurting something. And I wanted to run more, thought it would be a fun pure adventure. I even worked with a guy who had ran and completed Badwater 135. I honestly couldn't fathom running a race that long or that hot or hard. Truely insane, and I loved it and was jealous, so I thought, I bet I could do a 50k. Ran on and off, and kept getting hurt. Said it must be because of my old soccer knee injuries, and thought about buying a nice road bike and join the roadies. I don't know why but since my I moved to Oregon to be with my then fiancee in January of 2008, I got bite by the endurance sport bug, but hadn't yet found an adequate outlet.
Anywho, I got downsized at a dream job, and bummed out that I couldn't find any work and decided to take matters into my own hands. To set a goal for something that I thought was impossible but really wanted, and had a twinkle of maybe in my mind. Maybe I can run a 50k I thought. So after being inactive since I hurt my knee Freshman year in college on the soccer team, I decided to start running, and do what ever it took to run that distance.
All spring, I kept trying out new shoes and kept hurting my knee around the 3-5 mile range. Finally by Summer I started running a little everyday, for the first week it was .5 miles everyday. Week 2 it was 1 mile everyday. By the end of the first month I was up to 3 miles. By 3 months I found a job and quit running everyday but kept running, by the Fall (of 2009) I decided one day at work on a Friday, that I was bored and tomorrow I was going to run the entire Wildwood trail in Forest Park (31 miles, a 50k) and run to the beginning of the trail, so about 33 miles total. And I did it, and it was awesome. Then training was pretty lame on my part. No new goal, no real training, some running.
Early 2010 I decided I was going to run 60 miles on back roads when I went home to Door County, WI. Sounded easy enough till I went on my first real road run of 13 miles and felt my body want fall apart and decided to do another trail run. So I decided I was going to run in local park back home, Potawatomie State Park, for a good chunk of the day. Worked out pretty well it was about a 10k to run around the outside of the park. So ran about 40 miles and hurt my knee at about mile 30, that's what you get for not training.
So I needed a real goal and it was time to find a real race this Winter, my wife was right of course. I picked Pine to Palm 100 - mile Endurance Run, a.k.a. P2P, because it wasn't a part of a race series (I'm just not that competitive and didn't think that would be a fun environment for me), I didn't want to take somebody's spot who would care more than me about it (P2P is a new race, this will be the second year of it and it didn't sell out last year), and it is in Southern Oregon (a part of the state we have wanted to go to but havn't made it to yet, like many parts of the state).
So was my goal for the month, obviously I am not posting this at the beginning of the month, but this is what I thought then. Which was the same time my wife said, "Are you actually going to sign up for a real race year." And so I got online and began searching, I have been into running for a year and a half now, focusing mostly on trail running and with my original goal to be to run an ultra distance on trails.
Spring of 2009 I was downsized and depressed. And despite what I considered to be my best efforts I couldn't run more than 3 miles without hurting something. And I wanted to run more, thought it would be a fun pure adventure. I even worked with a guy who had ran and completed Badwater 135. I honestly couldn't fathom running a race that long or that hot or hard. Truely insane, and I loved it and was jealous, so I thought, I bet I could do a 50k. Ran on and off, and kept getting hurt. Said it must be because of my old soccer knee injuries, and thought about buying a nice road bike and join the roadies. I don't know why but since my I moved to Oregon to be with my then fiancee in January of 2008, I got bite by the endurance sport bug, but hadn't yet found an adequate outlet.
Anywho, I got downsized at a dream job, and bummed out that I couldn't find any work and decided to take matters into my own hands. To set a goal for something that I thought was impossible but really wanted, and had a twinkle of maybe in my mind. Maybe I can run a 50k I thought. So after being inactive since I hurt my knee Freshman year in college on the soccer team, I decided to start running, and do what ever it took to run that distance.
All spring, I kept trying out new shoes and kept hurting my knee around the 3-5 mile range. Finally by Summer I started running a little everyday, for the first week it was .5 miles everyday. Week 2 it was 1 mile everyday. By the end of the first month I was up to 3 miles. By 3 months I found a job and quit running everyday but kept running, by the Fall (of 2009) I decided one day at work on a Friday, that I was bored and tomorrow I was going to run the entire Wildwood trail in Forest Park (31 miles, a 50k) and run to the beginning of the trail, so about 33 miles total. And I did it, and it was awesome. Then training was pretty lame on my part. No new goal, no real training, some running.
Early 2010 I decided I was going to run 60 miles on back roads when I went home to Door County, WI. Sounded easy enough till I went on my first real road run of 13 miles and felt my body want fall apart and decided to do another trail run. So I decided I was going to run in local park back home, Potawatomie State Park, for a good chunk of the day. Worked out pretty well it was about a 10k to run around the outside of the park. So ran about 40 miles and hurt my knee at about mile 30, that's what you get for not training.
So I needed a real goal and it was time to find a real race this Winter, my wife was right of course. I picked Pine to Palm 100 - mile Endurance Run, a.k.a. P2P, because it wasn't a part of a race series (I'm just not that competitive and didn't think that would be a fun environment for me), I didn't want to take somebody's spot who would care more than me about it (P2P is a new race, this will be the second year of it and it didn't sell out last year), and it is in Southern Oregon (a part of the state we have wanted to go to but havn't made it to yet, like many parts of the state).
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