Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The Roots of Phrenology

Just like the extinct science of phrenology, so to is my current method of training, it's going extinct. I need to get back to the roots of what I do and what I am and need to overcome some obstacles to do that. 
The best way to shake it up is to refocus the goals and do whatever it takes to get there. I'm in a constant "fitness" but want to take a few shots at some bigger ideas and different training methods. The school year has been breaking my cuss and I'm finally settling in a bit but the daylight is long gone. Acclimation is in order. What really needs to happen is get back to my roots of what I do best, deal with discomfort and pain. That's really what it is, dealing with what's uncomfortable and putting yourself into a realm, that someone as fit as you won't, to get the upper hand. 
The last few weeks have been weak to my refocused goal of: whatever it takes, but was a nice spell and put me in a good position to really get after it. And when I go in, I go cuss deep. There have been some great, gnarly, easy and fun runs the last few weeks and the most recent week had a combo of all just said. 

I decided to get wild on some training and kick it old school from college and hit the mantra: whatever it takes, and last week I had a good start up week for this idea. 

Wednesday - hustled the trail behind my house and ran the loop as hard as I could. There were points, as I'm flying through the woods or grinding up the hills, where I found a lot of peace and felt very relaxed. This immediately was molded into telling myself, "don't fall asleep, keep rolling." And was able to punish out one of my fastest (if not the fastest time) for the switchback loop. This was a confidence booster and total gnarly fun run. 

Thursday - I felt fairly good and had fun all day thinking about what I was going to do today. By the time I got home I wanted to get wild again and do something fast. I decided to run 6 in the woods with my girls, then drop them off and roll out on the roads and tempo/run fast on the local towns 5k (which the 2 mile mark is a mile away). So I threw on the flats and headed out in pitch black. I cruised to the 2 mile mark and get after it, I hit the mile split in 5:05 (slightly downhill). This 5k is long and my next .1 took about 80 seconds at the same pace, so when I hit the start of the race I hit the split for the first mile of the course. I was able to cruise relaxed at 5:07, very cool, before hitting the second mile of te course (uphill) and rolled 5:38 up the hill. 
This was a great feeling and I was happy with the effort. 

Friday - just chilled and relaxed on a no times run and ran nice and easy. Felt good too. 

Saturday - Greg and I Voltroned in Putney then drove to the top of Putney mtn for a new run on familiar trails. We connected a bunch if trails we run just from a different direction with a few new trails included. We wanted a longer effort but relaxed. 
With our schedules, seeing my bro's gets tougher with limited daylight, so it was great to sneak a run in this week with hetero-life mates. 
We weaved out way from Putney mtn, towards Brookline/Athens to the Pinnacle and then back the ridge. I felt great te whe run and just as the car came into view did I find that I was hungry, perfect timing. 

Sunday - Boj adventures out to my shed and we hustled the sap lines and switchback. This is a solid 1:30 run and was a great day for it. Boj is in his best shape since I've run with him and it's great to be able to have home roll. 
The true adventure didn't start until dinner where the plan was to hit the Stone Hearth Inn in Chester for some wings. They have a great menu of a variety of wings. Dave Sontag and Fyffeet at my place before the "deliverance-esque" drive to the Inn. The food was great, with great dudes and upon driving home felt something wrong with my tire. Yup, flat tire, I got no spare and for once, I was thankful Greg wasn't there. 
We were in absolutely no where's and it was colder than a witches cussy. Sontag and I ran to wears civilization (after I drove on the tire, destroying it) to call for help. 
We ended up using our handsomely good looks and rapist wits to secure a ride to town where Larry bailed out my bros and I had to wait for AAA, which took forever, but I'm thankful for. 

Thanksgiving will be interesting (for racing), as I'm trying a new race at Stratton. I'm thankful for all I have and the opportunities I find myself into and look forward to some adventures. I just secured a spot with the La Sportiva international team to race in Europe which will be epic! Whatever it takes!!!

Be sure to check out VOMax's blog for my latest celebrity smut peddling as I dust off my super hero outfit and don the Last Hero Only Hope threads! 
Cuss yea!!!