Monday, May 24, 2010

Weekly Update May 16-22: Listen up!



Hannah Georgas - The Beat Stuff
(More Canadian stuff, this girl can't hide the happiness in her voice or her guitar)

Sun - 10k in 36:34, mile warm-up/2 mi cool down. Felt better in second half and neg split (9)
Mon - 3 mi easy before test
Tues - Nothing, 2 finals
Wed - 8 (am) on bikepath, 5+6 evening to/at run club
Thurs - 10 sullivan ridge fast ascent with tri-guys, 14 evening bikepath
Fri - 11 easy bikepath
Sat - 37 mi backbone Will Rodgers to Hondo and back, 6,700ft climbing. 5 easy (pm)

total: 108, 6 days.


A good week as I moved a little further away from Miwok, and finished up finals. The four days after finals totaled 96, so that was pretty strong. The legs responded well to the loading, and we'll keep chasing those 15-20+ mile days depending on work. I'm happy to get the chance to develop some confidence going into Badwater, and really make the most of it.

In the 2 years I've been running ultras, I've come to realize the sport demands a lot of maturity, patience, focus, but most importantly, the ability to have an open mind. It is really a creative sport that allows so many different possible paths to final goals of finishing races or doing well. When I started and began dreaming up ways to run such for such long periods of time, I had a "expeditionary" outlook on the sport. I thought I had to have a camelbak or waistpack in addition to bottles. I thought I had to have lots of solid food and protein/carb drink mixes. I even thought I had to have plenty of shoes (with lots of cushion and support).


My first 100: Rio del Lago, Sept 2008

Now I'm going into my 100's this summer with what I would've considered "reckless abandon" . I'm the guy I would've looked at the modern me and scoffed muttering "good luck, idiot" under my breath. But, this is actually a wonderful thing for me: I have listened, learned, adapted, and gone on to enjoy the sport more, and (just begun to) fulfill my potential.

Though it sounds easy, remember to keep your mind/eyes/ears/heart open and ego turned down. You never know what you can learn till you hear something out and give it a shot. Sometimes that advice is going to be subtle, and sometimes it's going to be an annoying guy bugging you to try something. Either way, there is an ideal way for each and every individual to run; it's just finding that perfect blend for that perfect run.


Kilian Jornet in record time at UTMB: Effective technique blending and use of resources

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