Table of Marathons

11 MCM (not for time) 11 Wineglass (950/1442)
10 MCM (not for time) 09 MCM (348/1076)
09 Washington's Birthday Marathon (22/44) 08 MC Historic Half (51/210)
07 Frederick Marathon (32/60) 06 MCM (394/1076)
05 MCM (547/1047)

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Fitfull Moon

4 AM. | 4.1 miles | temp: 36 F. | wind chill: 27 F

Last night's full super moon is still high, being fitfully covered by at least two layers of clouds rushing by. The lower layer is thinner and moving more quickly. When it opens, you can see the moon, almost perfectly round, being partially obscured by darker, higher, slower clouds. Its quite a sight.

Legs and low back a little tired from yesterday's dead lifts and squats.

Time to go running.

By 4:15, the winds had blown the sky to a clear black, with only the moon and a few stars visible. I turned off my headlamp as we ran across the commons. We ran in the bright, cold, light, able to see the trail and everything around us quite well. It wasn't what comes to mind when I hear the words "dancing in the moonlight" sung, but rewarding enough.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Damned Inconsistent

7.0 miles / 0800 / 31 F

I've been running fairly well this year, but have been damned inconsistent. I've hit 40, 45 mile weeks fairly easily, but not been able to hold at that distance for subsequent weeks. Mental challenges have gotten in the way. First came the realization that I will be 61; I never planned to be 61. Then came the realization that I have perhaps as few as 6 years remaining in my career; I've always had a long term professional plan, now there is no long term. Finally the shock that a candidate who openly embraced bigotry could become president of the United States. I'm letting negative thoughts my training cycles. It prevented me from getting into true marathon fitness this year.

The run liberates. It is a stunning cloudless, bright, Maryland fall day. This was a mindless, mindful run. No deep thoughts, no delighted pondering the Jupiter's rise over the horizon. I just ran because that's what I do, to relish the fact that I easily run my standard 7 miles, today made more easy by the beautiful weather. I also ran because I missed my Thursday run and could not permit the inertia to grow into something out of hand.

When the mind creeps into dark places, it gets difficult to leave. It can build and drown you in a sea of inertia and mediocrity. Breaking free stops that slide. The next run brings back life. All that matters is making that next run happen.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Stars

0430 7.0 miles. 2.0@Tempo 40 F.  147.8 lbs.

This morning was the first real harbinger of fall. Both Denise and I dressed in warmer gear.

Given all the time we spend under the morning stars, specially in winter, I thought I'd put the time to even better use by re-learning the constellations. I started with Orion, which I remember from childhood. Since it is now above the horizon at 0430, I picked up the constellations immediately below it, Canis Major and Lepus. Denise joined me after a couple of miles and I pointed out our first constellations to memorize. We marveled at Sirius' brightness, the brightest in the sky. At one point, as she finished her run, we paused on the commons to debate the identity of Betelguese.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Compromise

5.5 miles. 70 F. 147.5 lbs.

Denise had an 8 AM meeting today, so I trimmed my runtime a bit. The distance was only 5.5 vice my preferred 7 miles. Every endurance athlete feels that tension between training time and the rest of life's commitments. We are in the last 10 years of our admittedly successful careers and that side of life is lessening in importance in my mind. The astonishing benefits we have both derived from our training seems to magnify every year, particularly as our cohort ages. I don't like impingements on my training; my growing physicality is a goal and benefit in itself. The sensuousness of being soaked in sweat during hill repeats or straining against the implacable descent of a barbell verges on the sensual. The training impacts your body, molding it into something better. It is small wonder that the Spartan youths of both sexes, not given over to silly trite niceties, trained and competed in the nude.

But other responsibilities demand attention. A career is a form of training, if it has been demanding enough. The drive to perform excellently in a career also molds mind and will, both components of body. If it is not hard, then no training, no adaptation can occur. Compromise to improve as many aspects of life as possible, this all lends to the final self-creation that is an individual.

Still, I love the brutal simplicity of sweat and gasping for air as I summit my hill.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

The Idea of Back to Backs

7.0 miles. 72 F. 147.0 lbs. 17%.

We ran easy along Patuxent North Branch. My legs were very heavy for the first three, then the energy seemed to flow. I'm not sure what dynamic is happening, but my body seems to wake across the first three or four miles. This was Denise's long run for the week. I hatched up this idea that I could add on miles by staggering our long runs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I run my long run on Saturday, then do whatever she's doing on Sunday. The idea comes from the ultra marathon training community, back to back long runs to build strength, endurance, and the mental toughness while running the second day.

This finishes a great week's running. Too often, I judge my weeks based on how well the running has gone. Its been a very good week.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Bats to Birds

15.2 miles. 70 F. 0510

I call it running from the time of bats to the time of birds. Most of my runs begin pre-dawn. Ten years ago, the bat population was greater. Now their numbers have thinned, I believe because of the bat white nose syndrome. But I still see them flitting about near the tree lines. I have even been buzzed on the commons by something small and fast in the dark. I presume my invisible friends are bats. I hear, then see, the birds awake and take to the air. In spring it is a noisy chorus of males calling for mates and challenging other males. Now, they are much more subdued, spent from a summer of mating and raising young.

Some mornings, the dawn is Zarathustrian. Today, the nearly full moon was mostly hidden by the clouds, occasionally showing a bit of its orb. By sunrise, the sky was leaden, as it mostly is in Fall and Winter here in Maryland. It was an easy run under such mild circumstances, no radiant sun to suddenly raise temperatures.

My agency is sponsoring two 5 K's, one in two weeks and one in six. This is enticing, I am thinking of running the first to establish a baseline speed and see if I can improve on the second. Six weeks is a typical training micro cycle, where a training stress is applied and maintained for the requisite six weeks for the body to adapt. I did both a tempo run and hill repeats this week. Consider maintaining the quality runs until the end of October. Can I improve my 5K time over this period?

Pondering the challenge of this micro cycle, I also realize that if I achieved a concomitant weight loss, my time would certainly improve. I'm sitting at roughly 147 lbs. and 15% body fat. Objectively, this is heavy for optimal running performance. With sufficient will, I could, dare I say, should drop down to under 140 lbs. This would put me in single digit body fat levels. I have not been under 140 lbs. since my twenties.

We live a society immersed in indolence and over consumption. Fit seniors are a rarity, given an unhealthy life style that is so prevalent that the resulting weakness, obesity, and ill health are considered normal. Advertising, peers, and a steady stream of temptation in the form of greasy, processed, sugary foods work around the clock to subvert the healthy senior athlete. I cannot escape the analogy of a righteous man in a Boschian landscape.

So, while running today, I dreamed up this challenge. It is two 5 K's with the opportunity to radically improve my time and optimize my body. The challenge isn't really even physical. It is mental: do I have the strength of mind to will it into reality?

Thursday, September 15, 2016

First Hint of Fall

7.6 miles, 70 F.

There's a full moon this morning. Hints of fall are beginning to appear: one of the red maples is well into losing its leaves, the hummingbird feeding is dropping off, and the forcast high today is only 70 F.

I woke up stiff and groggy this morning and spent the better part of the first 5 miles wondering if I was up to my speed hill repeats. The cup of coffee and half peanut butter sandwich I had before my run seemed to sit in my stomach. I've never had this happen before. When the time came, I slipped into the faster pace surprisingly easily. Dispite being mildly tired, my legs pretty much powered me up Tendinitis with little challenge. It's so easy to sleep through 5 miles of LSD; the interval work jarred me awake. I had hoped to do 6 repeats up Mt. Tendinitis, but time allowed only 4. Earlier, Denise had come out for a walk and I ran round her, delaying the start of my faster running.

This is shaping into a good week: I got my tempo run done on Tuesday and, now, did a respectable interval workout today.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Second Day

7.1 miles, 70 F.

This is the second of 3 weekday 7 miles. They've become remarkably easy.Yesterday, it was 7.2, with 2 miles at tempo pace at the end. I began my run at 4:20 AM. Sirius hadn't yet cleared the tree line to the east.

Today, I took it very easy, though. Finished off with 2 miles with 4 over Tendinitis.