Run With Mu

In one light, these are old and worn-out fields that I ramble over, and men have gone to law about them long before I was born, but I trust that I ramble over them in a new fashion and redeem them.

– Henry David Thoreau, Journal (November 1851)

It’s not that Americans can’t win. It’s just sometimes we get obsessed with time. You can’t win a race like that.

– Kara Goucher

A step-back week, training-wise. Slight increases in intensity for the weekday tempo and hill repeats workouts; a few steps back for the weekend long runs. Back to 5 hours for Saturday, 2 ½ for Sunday this coming weekend.

Man, is it humid.

In both Zen and running practice, continuing. And not much else to say for now, really. Events seem to be at that lowest ebb tide, which the Taoists see as the end of one cycle and beginning of another. What is beginning? I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Monday: 40 min. yoga, a.m.
Tuesday: 40 min. yoga, a.m. 32 min. tempo run @ 8:15 pace; 46 min. total
Wednesday: 1 hour 30 min. neighborhood run, a.m.
Thursday: 40 min. yoga, a.m. Hill repeats: 5 x .25 mile @ 8:20 mile pace/6% incline, 1 X .25 mile @ 8:20 pace/7% incline
Friday: rest
Saturday: 2 hours, cross-country/trails
Sunday: 1 hour, neighborhood. 40 min. restorative yoga, p.m.

“Walden is okay, so long as Thoreau isn’t there.”

– one frog to another, New Yorker cartoon

Can you please resend? I’ve somehow lost the email.

My apologies and thanks!

Somerset Maughm once wrote that in each shave lies a philosophy. I couldn’t agree more. No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.

– Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Last week was a step-back week in terms of training, so nothing much to report there. I am running some of my runs during late afternoon, in the pitiful delusion that I can be more prepared for this when I help crew Nattu at Badwater next month.

Perhaps the biggest part of the week was deciding on races for the Fall. I opted for the tried, the true, and the new. The tried and true are the Palo Duro Canyon 50 Mile in October (I decided I couldn’t stay away; it will be my fourth consecutive October in the canyon) and the Rockledge Rumble 50K in November (a well-organized, friendly but nasty little local ultra run on a gnarly trail system). Then, there’s this new (for me) 24-hour thing in Austin in December. Any race Joe Prusaitis is involved with has the Ultrarunner Seal of Approval, as far as I’m concerned.

Better get busy, I suppose.

Find out.

A positive week, a week of minor ratchet tightening and slight presses on the accelerator. For those playing along at home, I increased my weekly tempo run by two minutes, my Wednesday run by five minutes, my Saturday long run by 15, and my Sunday recovery run by 15. These kinds of minor additions will continue on a regular basis, or as regular as I can manage given other unforeseen but almost guaranteed interruptions in the schedule. We just work around our interruptions as best we can, don’t we? It’s all we can do.

My weekend sesshin is coming up, but could be threatened by one of those unforeseen schedule interruptions: I’m due for oral surgery tomorrow and, while I’m reasonably certain post-op recovery should be routine, the possibility for more pain/annoyance/whining is always present. For now, I’m planning to sit this coming weekend, knowing a weekend sesshin always means missing my longer runs. Sitting sometimes has to take precedence over running, and vice versa. Fortunately, I normally have the time for both.

5/4: Yoga, 40 minutes, a.m.
5/5: 4 X Hill repeats, Flagpole Hill, a.m. Yoga, 30 minutes, p.m.
5/6: Neighborhood run, a.m. 55 minutes
5/7: LHHS track, a.m. 22 minute tempo run, 42 minutes total
5/8 Yoga, 40 minutes, am.
5/9: White Rock Lake and surrounding area, a.m. 2 hours 30 minutes
5/10: North Creek trail, a.m. 1 hour 15 minutes