Michael: Is Today the Day?

 The melodic call

Of the midnight barn owl

Lures me back to sleep.

 Tuesday, February 11, 2020



After visiting with my family today I can’t wait to get home and follow what’s happening in the New Hampshire primary because for the first time in my lifetime I feel someone who could represent my end of the political spectrum will not only win, but could very possibly be propelled toward the presidency.



Since college, when I started reading Dissent magazine and Michael Harrington’s books, I’ve thought of myself as a Democratic Socialist. Up until this moment the closest national candidate that represented my views was Ralph Nadar. But I never believed he had a realistic shot at winning.



But Bernie’s different. It now seems he’s poised to become the standard bearer of the Democratic party despite all the old fart scare tactics that someone describing themselves as a socialist is like the villagers hearing that the Frankenstein monster is on the loose.



Ha-ha! It’s turning out that the villagers are actually ready to carry the monster on their shoulders and march with their torches held high to take the power away from the powers that be who have funneled much of our national wealth into the greedy hands of the military industrial complex, the insurance companies, the investment class and, naturally, their own political pockets.



Bernie’s going to win tonight. But we’ve all got to be prepared for the blowback and scare tactics that are going to be unleashed as the first viable Democratic socialist candidate heads toward the White House.

Michael: Seconds Away

 The web of branches

Scattered across the meadow

Lured me off the trail. 

 Tuesday, February 4, 2020



At last Saturday’s Nun Run I ran well coming in 5^th overall in 20:17, though short of my under 20 goal. But I’m not going to give up just yet. I’ll give it another go on a FLAT course in May.



Until then, I’ll keep up with my weekly speedwork of alternating 400 meter and 200 meter sprints with some very short and steep hill sprints. The 4X400s I’ve recently upped to 11.2 mph and the 200s to 11.5. Extraordinarily pedestrian paces relative to what I could easily do in high school, but that’s age for you combined with wandering into the ultra trail running world for quite some time now.



*Scavenging through some storage bins for a briefcase strap, I came across the unused spikes I bought last year to gear up for a track mile. There’s another sad goal I’ll go after later; a 5:30 mile. Again something that feels like Flash like speed but felt like a trot in high school.



Next up though is the Leap Year 100k. That’ll be a slow moving affair where, fortunately, I don’t have any younger me past to reflect back on.



The web of branches

Scattered across the meadow

Lured me off the trail.



At last Saturday’s Nun Run I ran well coming in 5^th overall in 20:17, though short of my under 20 goal. But I’m not going to give up just yet. I’ll give it another go on a FLAT course in May.



Until then, I’ll keep up with my weekly speedwork of alternating 400 meter and 200 meter sprints with some very short and steep hill sprints. The 4X400s I’ve recently upped to 11.2 mph and the 200s to 11.5. Extraordinarily pedestrian paces relative to what I could easily do in high school, but that’s age for you combined with wandering into the ultra trail running world for quite some time now.



*Scavenging through some storage bins for a briefcase strap, I came across the unused spikes I bought last year to gear up for a track mile. There’s another sad goal I’ll go after later; a 5:30 mile. Again something that feels like Flash like speed but felt like a trot in high school.



Next up though is the Leap Year 100k. That’ll be a slow moving affair where, fortunately, I don’t have any younger me past to reflect back on.

Michael: The Leaps

On February’s

Wings of Santa Ana winds

Fly my last year’s dreams.

 Friday, January 24, 2020



It’s not often I get to race on the first and last day of a month; even less often with significant personal goals in mind, and likely never before or possible again during a leap year month of February. But next month on the first I’m going to try and break 20 minutes in the 5k and at the end of the month break 12 hours in a 100k. They’re not quite at polar opposite ends of the running spectrum, but still a pretty formidable challenge. 


Right now I’m not so sure about either goal, but the great thing about the 5k is it’s only a few days away and the speedwork I’ve been doing leading up to it, would suggest that my goal time is feasible. The weather also looks good.

I don’t know the course though and if it has any long or significant climbs that could pose a problem. Given the location it should be relatively flat, but I’m not going to scout it out; just show up, warm up, try and hang on some young dude’s shoulder and just hope for the best. 


Good thing about a short race is it often doesn’t take long to know if you’ve set the bar a little too high for yourself. If I’m not under 6:20 in that first mile, playing pace catch up with only two miles to go is pretty tough. 


At the other end of the spectrum, I know the 100k course very well having run it last year. And it being a month away weather could still play a significant factor. 


However, even if the weather’s ideal, over the course of twelve hours there’s a far greater possibility of mistakes being made other than pacing errors. Though pacing is still a major concern. 


Fortunately, I’ll have a very experienced and upbeat friend along for the ride to take some of the stress off my continually weakening brain.


Right now my major concern is finding the right second shoe to throw in the mix to go along with the Hoka Speedgoats I plan on using the last 50k.

On my last training run with the Hoka Torrent’s I wasn’t convinced as I started to feel my old left heel issue flair up a bit. Next week I’m going to try out the Saucony Peregrine ISOs and hope they work out. 


I’ve vowed to not make any new purchases until March, and I’m going to stick to that. As a back up plan if both the Torrents and Peregrines fail, I’ve written to La Sportiva to ask if I can try out their new long distance shoe; the Jackal. 


Now that’s getting desperate. Not only am I an old dude looking for magical slippers, but I’m hoping the royalty will send them to me free of charge.  

Michael: Testing...

 the lone coyote

sauntered across the creek bed

looking back at me. 

Wednesday, January 15, 2020



Outside of being way off on my time estimate for the SOB 50k last Saturday, everything else checked out much better than I expected. This was not only a race, but an equipment and body check to see if I will compete in the Sycamore 100k on February 29^th. If I fell apart and was really suffering at the end, I doubt I’d ante up and do it. But as all went well, I’m going to give going under 12 hours a shot. I believe I’ll hold up barring any unforeseen changes in the next month and a half.



About halfway through last year I started getting heal pain again under my left heal; usually on the downhill after hour plus runs, but it could occur during even shorter stints if I was pushing it. On Saturday it didn’t happen.



It’s hard to credit what changes I’ve made to overcome this injury, but I hope I keep it up. I’ve been more rigorous in my stretching routine and have started a new lower back routine.



I’ve been doing consistent speedwork for the past three months.



On Saturday I used Speedgoat Evos with Superfeet green insoles and my feet were comfortable for the almost 6 hour trek over pretty rocky terrain.



All of these training components have more than likely led to alleviating my heal pain, at least for the time being.



There’s a lot to consider in planning out a 100k race, but if I don’t have to worry about my heal, that’ll make the rest of it much easier to think about.

Michael: Stocked Up

The night is lonely

Without her sleeping with us

Curled between our feet.

 Wednesday, January 8, 2020



As I descend into purchasing purgatory, I am at least comforted by the fact that Santa Michael had the foresight to stock up well on all the candles to get me through this abysmally dark credit card-less winter.



By candles, naturally, I mean shoes and apparel; but first and foremost – shoes.



Knowing that I’ll have three ultras to start off the new decade meant choosing the right arsenal of footwear. Last year I started off with Inov8 260 Ultras and Hoka Torrents. They worked very well for me at the beginning of last year, but I’ve dropped the Inov8s because on subsequent trail runs my left heel has been painful. This isn’t a new development, and I know the long term solution goes beyond footwear choices, but if a shoe can’t keep my heel from hurting on two hour training runs after being used in just a few races, I’m going to look at other options.



I’m still a fan of the Torrent’s and will probably have them in the line up for the Sycamore 100k in February, but after researching on the net and looking for good sales, I’m going to start the year off with Hoka Speedgoat Evo’s with the Saucony Peregrine ISO’s held in reserve.



The Speedgoats are a complete surprise and I only tried them after being reassured by many reviews that they’re very much different than the first iteration which were far too narrow for my feet. The Evo’s, at least on my first few training runs, feel great. But the true test will come this Saturday at the SOB 50k.



The Peregrines are also super comfortable so far and would seem to have a better tread for wet weather. That’s why I got them. It’s was hit or miss last year with the rain and mud here, so I wanted to be prepared with a shoe that would work well in those conditions. The Peregrine’s seem more than stout enough and also light enough to use even under dry conditions. Not sure when I’ll test them out under race conditions; that’s partly up to those babe forecasters on all the news channels, but I may just give them ago in March at the Valencia 50k regardless.



Either way, I believe I’m entering 2020, at least the first quarter, with confidence that my feet will be happy campers. Though I’ll also admit that whether these shoes work well or not, I am looking forward to trying out a few other choices once I’ve paid my three month penance.

Michael: Prep

Prep: Thursday, January 9, 2020

The beast moved quickly,
A grey ball of animus.
It was a squirrel.




With my first trail race two days away it’s time to finalize my battle plans.



Always first; what to wear. The weather’s going to be moderate though cold at the very start. From head to toe I’ll be wearing Speedgoat Evos, Injinji quarter trail socks, 2XU compression shorts, Ortovox long sleeve wool shirt, New Balance gloves, Brooks Hi-light cap and as a somewhat essential accessory, Ultraspire race belt.



During the warm up I’ll have on Inov8 weather pants, a Columbia down jacket, a beanie, a neckwarmer, and a different pair of shoes on to walk to the registration and porta pottie if necessary (highly probable) although I will have access to the Four Seasons very nice commodes before driving to the race.



My typical accessories as well; silicon wedding ring, Amazfit watch and my wave necklace. I don’t have any tattoes but do have a wide variety of scars which have painful, sometimes humorous, histories to them.



For pre-race prep I’ll apply AMP performance lube and some Mad Alchemy pre-ride warming lube (really more like burning lube – so always pays to be careful to wash hands before going through any other pre-race rituals or there’s always a strong possibility of starting the race with a flaming penis – enough said.).



As far as breakfast goes; probably switch out my usual muesli for a muffin, and as always, banana and coffee. I’ll also drink a cup of coffee in the care while having a couple of Skratch Lab chews every 15 minutes.



Since they’re be GU and electrolytes at the aid stations, I’ll only start with ½ liter of Tailwind and my usual Run Gum; the latter to be held in reserve until the final 5k or so of the race.



Now what makes trail racing such an interesting challenge is the always changing logistics of nutrition/hydration on course. The aid stations for this race are at 6.5 – 11 – 13 – 18  and 24.5. Crazy distances apart beginning with long gaps but close together in the middle, and to add to the challenge it’s a cupless race so no grab and go small swigs at those short aid stations. If the race is cool and I’m feeling good I’ll probably opt out of stopping at the 13 mile mark and try to go from mile 11 to 18 without stopping. It’s a pretty easy slightly downhill run on that section and harder on the turn around so makes more sense. That would mean 4 planned stops out on course which should be enough to get by on given the distance, weather and terrain. That’s all dependent upon finishing within 4:30 to 5 hours.



Plans made; now let’s get out there and see if it all works out.

Michael: Thinking About the Thoughtful Gift

 
The contrast between

The winter’s light and shadows

Is a blinding wall. 

Monday, January 6, 2020



As a complete surprise one of my sisters gave us a Nespresso coffee maker for Christmas. In our family we choose names and only give one gift. She wasn’t responsible for either my wife or I, nor did we ever suggest we’d like a coffee maker. I’m surmising that she enjoys the treat of individual gourmet coffee so much and perhaps heard us talk that since we no longer live within walking distance of a coffee shop, we’ve been committing the coffee drinker’s mortal sin of using instant every morning.



So this was a thoughtful gift.



Yet…



As great as the delicious early morning treat is, we do feel bad about the waste individual pods create.



So as a compromise we’re going to keep the machine but recycle the pods and substitute our own favorite coffee once the sampler’s run out. It’s still probably a bit more wasteful than using instant. I haven’t seen any comparisons between the glass usage of occasional instant coffee vs. the foil usage of the circular caps needed to replace the used pod tops, but I’m sure there’s people out there who have. But the coffee is quite good so I’m not going to google it to find out.