Back to Mt.Pisgah

It has been awhile since I have felt anything I thought was blogworthy but, here goes. This past weekend I returned to run the Shut In Trail Run from Asheville to Mt.Pisgah. This is 18 miles and 5000ft of gained elevation during the race. I ran this race for the first time in 1989 and was humbled by the race, finishing in 3:20 after going out very hard for the first half. A running friend won the thing that day and I was shocked. No power gels, hydration belts or the like existed then. Just take in a few sips of water at the stops. Road shoes did not work so well. I came back the next couple of years and one of the years it
 was shortened to 11.5 due to the Blue Ridge Parkway being closed. I came back in the late 1990's and attempted it again. Dropped at 10 miles or so. Another few years went by and I came back to run a 3:41ish. Damn, the thing never gets easier does it. The next time I dropped out at 14 and was sick as a dog. So far, 4 for 2 at Shut In. Nothing worth remembering but, I love this course. Beautiful and pain- searing.
  Along comes years of stiffness and arthritis in my knees. On a whim I asked my friend Joanna if she wanted to do the race. We entered via mail and got in. Dang, now I have to do this thing. I had been running about 10-15 miles a week but, doing biking, swimming and yoga.
 Here is the big difference. For about 6 months I have been working on centering myself. Calming the energy, listening more, trying to reset my expectations of others, myself and athletics. I felt more positive about this race than I had a right to. The race started at 10:00 at the NC Arboretum. The first 3 miles went by easy. I was near the back of the pack and had a strategy of energy management. Both physical and mental. I took care of myself knowing I had no base miles of running. Drinking water and taking gu's every hour. Thanks to yoga my legs felt great until 12-14 miles then they started feeling the effects of little training. By then the finish line was pulling me in. After crossing Hwy 151 at mile 16 and starting up the last 2 miles with little energy, I trudged through. Thoughts of turning around and going back to Hwy 151 entered my head head but, knew the only way was up. The last 2 miles took 44 minutes of determined effort. I crossed the line in 4:28ish and was more at peace with my finish than most races I have done. I watched  Joanna finish with the realization of what Shut- In is only after you have done it. It is hard to explain the suffering and wiill power needed. It made me happy to be around others enegy at the finish and enjoy the efforts of my labor.  It was time to go back to Shut-In, sometimes you can go home again.

July goals

Okay, I am taking an idea from my friend Brad Smythe. He posts his monthly goals and then how successful he was in obtaining them. So, here goes for July.

Try 4 new exercise classes at O2 Fitness
25 pushups, 25 squats and 5 pullups each day
No fast food- anything with a drive through window
No sodas
Create more peace in my personal relationships
Listen more- talk less

The last 2 are hard to measure but, I will share with how I think I did!

Beachin it

The beach vacation. The time to relax with a good book, lay in the sun and imbibe something tasty. Sounds good, right? Not on your life! This year for my vaction I have rented a stand up paddle board, 2 kayaks. I am bringing my bike and running shoes with me. Time to have an active vaction. There will be time to lay around but, that is called recovery from all the exercise. In the downtime I plan to birdwatch and go crabbing, walk the dog and swim in the surf. Once the vaction is over I might time off just to recover from all the fun.

Phoenix Rising

A couple of weekends ago while I was at Merlefest, I purchased a t-shirt with a Phoenix design on the back. This seems to be the story of my running and fitness, coming back from an injury or low motivation and bringing myself back to the light of fitness. To others it seems like I have endless motivation, always up for the next run or ride. This is true when my body, mind and knees cooperate. Other times it is a struggle to start again. The cycle for me is an intense fire and passion, have it die down to ashes and rebuild the flame again, rising with the heat of the next goal.

Triathlete? No, but it works

I had done a few triathlons back in the late 80's early 90's. Too expensive of a sport for me. I was always a terrible swimmer and a decent cyclist. These sports are coming back around to be of use to my body. With my crappy knees, running 3 times a week is about all I can do. I am grateful for that. I have started cycling in the past 2 years and have added swimming into the mix a couple of times a week. I feel fitter than I have in years. Maybe it is all the yoga, maybe it is all the sports but, something is helping me get fitter. I have developed a nice routine. Bike one day, swim the next, run the following day, do yogga every day and some sort of strength work 3 times a week and voila! It is nice finding I can do all this and still have a life. I pay closer attention to my body than ever before. Those aches and pains mean something. All for now, a workout is calling my name.

Your Routine

Life long exercise begins with making whatever form of exercise you choose, your own. Most lifelong exercisers tend to do the bulk of their workouts alone. Trying to match up schedules is a challenge. Trying to do this with kids, spouse and a job is nearly impossible. It does help to have a group that shows up at a regular place and time. This way you can show up but, not be too pressured if your day does not work out. If I am planning to meet a group, I can be more lax about showing up but, if I am meeting one person, I try to do everything possible to be there. My dog walking business allows me to have mid-mornings and afternoons free but, it seems everyone else is working so, I try to show up for evening workouts or weekend mornings to have a social life. This is a plus when most of the workouts are done on your own. I am more focused when working out alone but, really enjoy being part of a group. People come and go over the years with any exercise group so, it is nice to have some continuity of a group that is affiliated through a club or some sort. Enjoy your own routine but, make time for others : )

Mechanical recovery

Ah yes. Time for another introspective, advice giving, reflection on running from me. This time the subject is another in the line of what I did wrong with my running and what I am doing correctly now. My knees are a piece of crap due to arthritis but, I have learned more about my body in the past 3 years than I learned in the first 28 of running.

Running is easy when your body recovers from workouts and you gain fitness with each outing. Or is it? The rehydration, eating, staying strong are the easy parts of recovery. It seems the heart, lungs and mind always recover and are ready for more. Unless you are training heavy, fast miles, your body systems restore themselves with fairly minor attention. The part that does not recover is the the skeletal system, the tendons, ligaments and muscles. It seems they recover okay at first glance but, they need special, focused attention to increase training and recover from workout to workout. Running being the linear, repetitive movement that it is, does not favor the inefficent runner. That means most of us are mechanically inefficent. You see the people running when you are driving from place to place and think"my god, they should just walk if they look that bad." The injuries that happened to me, happened slowly. At first I was tight after my runs but, a hot bath and minor stretching would fix me up. Then I progressed to the point where getting out of my car after my runs was tough, then people noticed I seemed to limp when I walked. What the hell, I could still run faster and farther than them. So Suck It. More running will smooth things out. It got so bad I went to a physical therapist and massage therapist to figure this thing out. I stopped running. Every run seemed to injure me anyway. The engine was still a Ferrari but, was stuck in a Ford pinto chassis. My friend Jessi lured me back into helping out with a trail running group. I started running some slow miles and the fires reignited. The strength work and massage helped me run again but, my legs were still worked over after every run. A few weeks ago, I started working with the foam roller every day and doing a Yoga routine every day. This intense attention to recovery and getting my muscles loose and balanced has helped me run pain free again. Mostly. My knees are still crap and will never get better but, I am working on creating balance within my body. Runs should be followed with foam roller work and stretching. No more Ibuprofen to cover the aches. Stretching every day helps me know if I am recovered from a run. I pay close attention to the biomechanics of my runs. No more sloppy form. Core work to hold my form together. People usually just run due to time constraints but, your body will break down with enough miles and no awareness of your mechanics. Pay attention to the chasiss. The engine with no frame gets you no where. Fast!