Michael: Bound to Happen

A breath of slumber

Takes in the cool damp breeze that

Seeps into your dreams.


 Monday, August 26, 2019



On Saturday I had my first DNF in 5 years. Although I had sworn earlier that wasn’t going to happen again, for this race it wasn’t completely unexpected.



At my last 50k at the end of July, I bruised my heels pretty badly. A mistake that may have been caused by not using my usual Superfeet green insoles. I’ve been trying to work through recovering while still maintaining enough training to go after the age group record for the Bull Dog 50k on Saturday. I thought maybe if I got through it fast enough I’d be off my feet before the pain really kicked in. I was way off.



I did the first loop of the two loop course in 2:08, which was faster than my time in the 25k last year of 2:14. But my left heel was bothering me on the downhill and when it got worse on the uphill of the second loop I felt my day was going to either end in further injuries or end prematurely. I decided to pull the plug at the 21 mile mark.



In the past most of my DNFs involved some kind of emotional trauma. This was a purely rational decision that I feel will allow me to heal properly so I can get back into the flow of training as soon as my heel’s recovered.



I’ll take my time and try to maintain my cardio vascular fitness bicycle riding and keep up my running form by doing speed work. I also have a few days left of work before going on a 6 day hiking trip to Colorado. There, I only plan on walking. When I return I’ll see how the heel feels and go from there. But it’ll only be races less than 30k for the rest of this year. 

Michael: The Man I Forgot to Forget About

Innocent mistakes

Like silent raindrops falling

Into her coffee.

 Monday, August 12, 2019



There are quirky people you meet under quirky circumstances that you figure you’ll never encounter again, so though you think that moment will make an indelible impression, but it both kind of does and doesn’t.



For example, about 7 years ago when I was training for the first ever Backbone Ultra I did a marathon training run that ended at the three road junction at the Louis Ewen Overlook. There an older Japanese gentleman greeted me and began to tell me how he use to be a marathon runner and that I should train for one since it looked like I had the right body type. I tried to explain to him that I had just finished a marathon to get to the point we were both sharing, but that didn’t seem to stop or even slow his continued advocacy of how and why I should take up marathon training.



Since I didn’t run into him again for years I completely forgot about that incident until last Wednesday. Then I was riding my bike up Shueren toward that very same point as he was walking down that street. He greeted me with a thumbs up, not recognizing me. But with a flash I recalled who he was.



I’m sure after a few more rides and runs past that point I’ll once again forget meeting him until the next time we cross paths.

Michael: Junk

Simultaneous

We breathe next to each other

My wife and best friend.

Junk: August 6, 2019



I don’t enjoy giving talks, particularly when my idea of what would be an interesting talk is rejected and I’ve got to wing it.



At work I usually have dinner with the guests on Saturday night. On that night a prepared talk is given on their VO2 test and Bod Pod results by one of the persons in charge of giving those tests. But I was switched to Friday night where a full timer usually talks about diet and exercise. I was semi-prepared for this and submitted a speech to my boss about why I believe endurance training is important. That speech was rejected.



That left me with a day to come up with something to talk about related to diet. Thank God for Google. I decided to briefly describe the differences between a few diet types; plant based, veganism, whole food, and vegetarianism. That’s short, pretty straight forward, and pretty non-political.

I didn’t receive a standing ovation but I wasn’t booed off the stage either, so good enough for now.



What I’d really like to talk about is why, with all the information we have available, are people still not making wiser decisions about issues related to their long term health. I’ve ordered a book; The Fitness Mindset, which I hope will give me some insight that I can pass along to our guests when I’m called upon again to give a talk.

Michael: Super Feet

Eucalyptus trees

With their old skin shedding

In the summer heat. 

 Wednesday, July 31, 2019



There’s always lessons to be learned from a race and I learned a lot at the Harding Hustle 50k on Saturday. Mainly I learned not to go without my Superfeet green insoles for any run lasting over 3 hours.



On Saturday I wore a shoe that I had only run in twice before, the Inov8 260s. They were great on those couple of training runs. They felt so good in fact that I thought I could go without my usual swap out insoles. I was wrong and I’m now paying the price with painful steps on bruised heels. Oddly, it’s far more prevalent on my left, but since hopping is an extremely tiring way to train, I’ve taken a couple of days off of running to let my heel, heal.



So why ditch the inserts if they’ve been working for me? Because there’s a compromise in using the Superfeet greens and that is they make a shoe far more stiff laterally which makes if feel like I’m more prone to roll an ankle. That hasn’t happened to the extent of causing an injury, but it is a disconcerting feeling running down a rocky or uneven trail.



But I’ve discovered that for longer events I don’t have a choice. I’ve also fortunately found two shoes I’m now very happy using in ultras; the Hoka Torrents and the Inov8 260s. I just won’t be using either without replacing their insoles with the old reliable Superfeet green insoles.