Michael: Benchmarks

The bluish white skies
Of a feeble sun are cold
And threaten more rain.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

After a few years of running 50ks to change it up it’s either try to go longer or go shorter and try to go faster. As I’ll be 60 next year, for both personal pleasure and for long term health reasons, I feel it would be wiser to go initially go shorter.

The thinking behind this is that speed decreases with age more rapidly than endurance, so why not maximize speed first? That should also have the carry over benefit of making future longer efforts faster as well as the efficiency gained through speed should transfer to a more economic long run. We’ll see how all this theory plays out in the next couple of years.

Next year I’d like to run the Bull Dog 25k under 2:10, the Mt. Baldy 7.5 mile hill climb under 1:40, a flat 5k under 19, a flat half marathon under 1:25, a mile under 5:30, and I’d like to qualify for the World Championships in a standard distance Duathlon in my age group.

Of all of those, it’s the half marathon and mile goal that will be the most difficult to accomplish.

Why?

For one, I haven’t ran those races in years and have no idea how those numbers feel any more. At this stage it may not even be a matter of pushing through the discomfort of training. It may be that the opportunity to retain the leg turnover necessary to achieve those times have long drained out of whatever fast twitch fibers I have left.

But that’s what goals and training are all about. So lets look at what needs to be done and see if I can do it.

I’ve always thought that Ed Whitlock’s 3 hour marathon at age 70 would be a reasonable future goal, but the future may be now. If I can’t even run a half marathon in under 1:30 at age 60 it would take divine intervention to gain speed and be able to surpass his mark at 70.

Michael: The Goods and the Not so Goods

Beautifully silent;
The dark hills sensuous curves
Are out of our reach.

Thursday, September, 21, 2017

For the Los Pinos 50k last Saturday I had a few new tricks up my sleeve, or to be more precise around my midriff. How’d they work out? For the most part, pretty flawlessly.

This was the first time I used the Naked band, ran in a cut off tank top and Skinz underwear, used Skratch Labs hydration mix, and swapped out my Nike Terra Kiger 2s for my Saucony Breakthru 2s road shoes at the 20 mile mark.

The Naked band worked just as advertised. I carried a 17 oz, Camelbak flask in the rear pocket without any bounce. The flask was also easy to remove and replace. In one of the side pockets I kept the Skratch Labs mix and in the other, Skratch Lab chews. I also started off using a Hydrak flask that has a shaped bottom and top that made it easy to store outside the pockets on one of the rear jacket lashes when I was through with it. It was a perfect set up and one I’ll use as long as the Naked band and/or I hold up.

Another good thing about the Naked band is it encourages keeping my waist at a svelte 31 otherwise, I’ll have to both size up and admit I’m getting fatter; neither of which would be positive signs of proper training.

I enjoyed all three of the Skratch lab hydration flavors and drank more than I ever have in a race. It was a relatively cool day for a September outing in the inland hills in Southern California only reaching into the low 80s after 10 a.m., but I still sweat a lot regardless, and I was very encouraged with the electrolyte mix from Skratch labs. Again, another product I’ll use in the future.

Four hours in and at the 20 mile mark I swapped shoes. That decision I thought would be a necessity after a few previous 50ks, but I may have gotten away with sticking it out with the Nikes. I did swap out their insoles for some Spenco thins and they did seem to make the shoes more comfortable. But I didn’t want to chance it and I don’t feel it cost me all that much in time to finish with a fresh pair of shoes that had a different drop and feel from the Nikes after 4 hours of grueling running and hiking. But I may try just to stick to one shoe next time out, though I will have a spare in a drop bag ready to go as a back up. The only problem with that is you then have to be willing to stick around after the race for the bags to be returned, but really what plans are you going to have for the rest of the day after running for over 6 hours? Best just to stick around and enjoy the free pizza and soda.

The improvised cut off tank top did make access to the Naked band easier, but I do think I’ll look for a properly finished and stylish tri short tank next time out. And the Skinz underwear was very comfortable and indistinguishable from compression shorts; at least initially. A few hours into the race the seams began to fray and it looked like my underwear was growing streaks of short thin gray hair. It didn’t bother me running but the fuzzy dice look was unexpected and not one I’ll promote in the future. Next time out it’ll be back to regular running or compression shorts.

But as far as equipment goes in general, I was very pleased with my decisions and will make just a few clothing tweaks next time out.

Michael: Kept in the Dark

The meandering path
Provides hours of blissful peace
In the verdant hills.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Time and money can be a tricky trade-off. To save myself from a long bus ride I purchased a flight from Panama City to David, Panama. It’s only a 45 minute flight whereas the bus trip between the two is about 8 hours. The bus ride cost about $20 and the flight cost about $100. Whether it’s worth it or not depends on a few variables I suppose, but it seems like a worthwhile trade off to me.

That is unless some unknown rears its ugly head and throws the straight up time for money equation into some foreign Twi-Light Zone mash up. That’s what happened to many of us yesterday at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City.

First off after landing from L.A. and proceeding to the Baggage Claim area I noticed that none of the shops were open and all the lights were off. Unusual, but since it was only a little after 6 I just figured not a terrible energy/money saving idea when so few people are at the airport. But once I walked down into the claim area and saw that quite a few people were searching for their luggage using their phone flashlights, I knew things were off. In fact I’d never been in an airport suffering from a power outage before.

Nevertheless, I was hustling it along because I only had an hour to catch my connecting flight. After a nice lady showed me how to turn on my phone flashlight, I got lucky and found my luggage almost instantly.

Things slowed a little after that because customs had to do a cursory hand check of most people’s luggage instead of using x-ray machines. For some reason again I lucked out because the agent waived me through without a peak inside my bag. Whew, I thought, I might just make it after all.

Outside the airport I hustled toward Copa’s small domestic terminal and was happy when I ran into a long line of people waiting there. . All right, they hadn’t started boarding yet. Turns out they wouldn’t start boarding for over 4 hours. Nobody knew when the power was going to come back on and it became apparent we weren’t leaving until it did. I did see other planes either landing or taking off in that time, but I didn’t know what was going on and no one was coming out and telling us, so most of us just sat there and waited.

I also wasn’t able to contact my wife, Kimme, because there was no wi-fi and I had AT&T sim card in my phone with a U.S. number. I did have my Claro sim card and was thinking of trying to swap them out and call, but it turns out that wouldn’t have worked either as she doesn’t have her phone set up for Panama yet after exchanging phones in the states with her mom.

Either way, I figured she would know more about what was going on then I did because she was at the nice small airport in David that more than likely had power and could inform her what our status was. That turned out to be false. They did have power, but they were just as in the dark about what was happening in Panama City as we were. In fact, one employee there told her that all the flights were cancelled. Turns out that wasn’t quite true as our flight was the only flight from Panama City into David not to be cancelled that day. So I’m glad she stuck around until that could be officially  confirmed, otherwise I would’ve landed there 5 hours late wondering where she was. Had she gone back home? Was she going to comeback? …

But she was there and even in pretty good spirits for someone who had to wander around a very small airport with only two small coffee shops and a very small gift shop for 4 hours.

So will I make that same time for money trade off again after such a long delay leaned a bit heavily on the time end of the see-saw? Probably. What are the odds of being held up more than once by a power outage at a major international airport?

Michael: Fashion Faux Pas

She has the spirit

Of an angelic child

And demonic beast.

Friday, September 15, 2017

A few weeks ago Active.com sent out a blurb on fashion mistakes runners make. Being a fashion sensitive dude I’d prefer not to make any but for tomorrow’s race that presented a conundrum.

 I’ve been testing a new waist belt system, the Naked band, and if I don’t tuck my shirt in (one of those fashion crimes.) reaching behind me and putting a bottle in the band becomes a bit tricky. First off, I’ve got to pull my shirt up to find the small tab on the Naked band, then I’ve got to fumble with whether I’m putting the bottle in my shirt or tucking my shirt in the band as well as the bottle. It would be far easier just to tuck my shirt in my shorts, keep the band completely exposed and be on my merry way.

But I’ve figured out an alternative and am going with it and,  although it isn’t listed as an Active fashion disaster, it sure feels like one.

I’ve decided to cut my tank top at the belly button and go with short top (crop top?) that would expose my middle age midriff if it weren’t for the Naked band. It’s never been a feel or look I’ve been comfortable with, even in my late 20s when I didn’t have the slight muffin tops I have now and could get away with it. But without tucking my shirt in it’s by far the most functional option. And on my test run it even felt very comfortable. I doubt other runners will find the 3 layered look very appealing; band on top of shorts on top of cut off hill billy wife beater, but it works for me.

Michael: 4 Security Checkpoints

The flutter of the quails

In the wild oak chaparral

Is country music.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

I thought 9/11 would be a safe bet for a day of travel back to the states for a job interview. I thought I’d go through the usual 2 security checkpoints; one at the small airport in David and another on the flight from Panama City to LAX.

But I was way off. I ended up going through 4 screenings and wound up having 3 items taken from my possession.

The first screening in David wasn’t a problem. But in Panama City I threw in an extra screening and Copa airlines also tossed another one at me for no additional charge.

My mistake was turning into Copa’s domestic terminal after landing in Panama City. At that screening my heating oil I use before races was taken. It had made it through two previous trips, but it was larger than the limit so that wasn’t too much of a surprise.

Once I got where I was suppose to be headed straightened out, I went through a screening at the international terminal. There they took away tweezers and a nail file from my toiletry kit. They had made many previous trips without so much as a questionable pause from any screener. But this security dude made the sharp pointy thing gesture to let me know why they were no longer acceptable transport items.

The final checkpoint was at the boarding gate. That was unexpected and if they had found anything there I would’ve been dumbfounded.

I’ll replace the tweezers in L.A. and buy a cheap emery board to replace the metal nail file. I’m guessing the tweezers will make a bunch more trips without any problem, but in the future I may avoid traveling on 9/11.

Michael: The Merits of Junk

Blossoms like gold flames
Sporadically decorate
The green leaved branches.

Friday, September 8, 2017

There seems to be a growing consensus that runners should clean up their act and use electrolyte mixes and foods that are made from simple wholesome ingredients. Sounds good. Yet I’d throw a caveat into the mix and still advocate for swallowing a decent dose of semi-unknown crud during every long outing.

Why?

I’ll use my plan for my upcoming 50k to explain. It’s going to take me around 6 hours. I suppose I could carry all my hydration and nutritional needs with me, but what’s the fun of that? That’s reserved for either a long hike or a fastpack trip. This is a race and the point of that is to finish as quickly as I can. That means taking advantage of drop bag points and aid stations.

This race has two drop bag points over the course of a 50k; one at the 12 mile mark and another at the 20 mile point. There are also aid stations at the 16, 26, and 29 mile points.

So it should be easy to throw in my preferred hydration mix and food into drop bags and always be able to consume what I’d like and have trained with. Yes, problem solved; case closed.

In fact I am partially going to mix the two approaches; I’m going to carry a few hydration single mixes and chews at the start and run through the first drop station and have a bag with a few more mixes and bars at the second drop point.

But what if my bag doesn’t make it? Or I take longer than planned? Or my stomach has decided that today, of all days, it’s sick of those formally always delicious Picky bars and it’s daring me to take another bite and see what happens?

That’s why before every run that’s going to last more than a couple of hours I feel it’s somewhat wise to walk into the nearest store and pick out something that looks familiar to any child; a pack of Oreos or Chips Ahoy or whatever the local knock offs are.

Use those bio-hazard products during the last hour or two of your long training runs and you’ll discover that you can get by or maybe even enjoy the variety from your usual scientifically precision formulated super fuels. If so, you can be confident in one of the crises above, that you’ll be alright scooping something similar off an aid station table.

And, as a bonus, you may discover that you don’t have to rely on the expensive concoctions at all out there and can skip using a drop bag or carrying any excess hydration or food.

However, you may also painfully discover, as I have, that this strategy can sometimes not turn out so well. And by that I mean getting punched in the gut by something that seemed edible at the time but quickly turned into an alien wanting out of your stomach in some hideous purge through any or all available orifices. That happened to me when I tried to run on these locally hand made sugar corn cookies. With only a few miles to go during an otherwise enjoyable long run, I gave them a shot and within minutes I came to a crawl with a wrenching fist of gut pain.

Live and learn. I can manage on chocolate chip like cookies, but I’ll avoid yellow cellophane products like the plague.

It’s all a part of experimenting while enjoying life on the run. It’s fun and what makes getting outside a wonder and a treat (usually) in more ways than one.

Michael:Toys from the States

The meandering path
Provides hours of blissful peace
In the verdant hills.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Kimme will be returning from the states on Thursday after a three week visit and naturally I’ll be overjoyed to see her. So much so that I won’t even ask her about showing me my two new training/racing toys that I ordered until maybe even Friday.

One of the toys is a new watch and the other is a new type of waist pack. One is just a small functional upgrade and the other is … well, I’ll find out soon enough.

The watch was the least expensive watch I could find that had a dual interval function. It’s a woman’s Timex slim 50 lap Ironman watch. Kimme says it looks hideous, but in this case, that doesn’t sway me one way or another. So long as I’ll soon be able to do intervals with a different recovery period from my work period, I’ll be happy.

The Naked Band is what I’m really excited about. If it stays put and doesn’t ride up as I run and can hold all that it’s website promises with minimal bounce (don‘t they all say that?), I’ll be ecstatic.

Problem is I won’t get to try it out for long before next Saturday’s Los Pinos 50k. Maybe one long run here on Sunday then a short hill run on Wednesday in the states. So it’ll have to be a quick decision. If it works out, my prayers will have been answered Turkel ( I just finished watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for getting close to Howard Hughes obsessive Ice Station Zebra status.).