File this under “top secret tips that no one really talks about”. One thing that I’ve learned over the years is to be really nice to your feet. Like really nice. I don’t get blisters anymore and rarely if ever have hot spots on long runs. Couple of things that work for me – ymmv:

1. Buff them smooth with a pumice rock. And then buff them some more.
2. Keep your tails trimmed. Best way to lose a toenail is to have your nails too long and jam them into your shoes descending on trail.
3. Apply Body Glide liberally to your feet (and anywhere your clothes rub).
4. Put on your toe stretchers and prop your feet up with a good book.
5. Thin socks.

And now for a fun story.

One winter T and I drove up from D.C. and planned a climb in the Presidential range of New Hampshire. From Pinkham Notch the climb goes up Mt. Washington and then you climb Jefferson and Adams going north, drop back into the valley and hump it back to Pinkham notch. We decided that fast and light was the way to go. We sat in his truck and ate dinner and then hiked to Hermit Lake shelters around 8pm … slept a little bit and then got up at midnight and started climbing. No stove, no sleeping bags … not much margin of error. Amazing what you can do when really committed.

So it went..summit… summit… summit. Then things got shitty.

Descending snow covered rocks – my crampon kept popping off my boot slowing me down. We were both wearing plastic boots and vapor barrier liners – essentially creating a little micro climate around your feet – totally works… just not so good for your feet after being on the move for so long. We were exhausted. We ran out of water back in the valley, it was dark… we were drinking water from creeks.

When we got back to the climber’s room at Pinkham it was a bit cathartic to say the least. And when I took my boots off… I saw what wearing vapor barriers and plastic boots for 20 hours will do to your feet … I’ll spare you the image. But it was the worse my feet have ever been.

http://www.strava.com/activities/105890576

That’s the fastest I’ve ever run that loop. In the past mile 7 to 8 has been generally an unpleasant experience. But this is the first week that I’ve decreased miles (intentionally) in order to rest and let everything settle under new load. I’ve also sleeping really really well – going to bed early and not being waken up at all during the night.

Training runs are mostly on trail and have about 1200+ of vertical gain.  Friday’s run had a burly 1600+ ft of vertical. This 8 miler has only about 500 ft of vertical – mostly flat with 2 short climbs at the end.  (for comparison, most of the stratovolcanoes [Hood, St. Helens, Rainier, Adams] in the PNW are about 5000 ft of vertical start to summit). It was a bit windy today – noticeable cross winds across Hawthorne bridge. Some tailwind after the midpoint, some headwinds.

The tailwind had me trying to calculate what forward push the wind provides for the split second both feet are off the ground. It has to be something. Everything helps.

I really felt the work of the past 2 weekend long runs on mile 7 – 8. I’ve slowed a little on those last 2 climbs in the past. But today, I accelerated into them and maintained speed and form on the ascent. Hoo hoo ha…hoo hoo ha (that’s what my anaerobic threshold sounds like). When I’m there, I know it and I can modulate just above or just below. I stopped wearing my heart rate monitor months ago… I found that it was telling me that I was going too hard and found myself easing off. Now I just go until I feel like I’m going to blow up… then go for more. It’s always there.

Next weekend I’m racing. It’s an 8K snowshoe race at Mt. Hood.

I took my racing snowshoes out last weekend and cleaned them off and checked the straps. Racing shoes are lower profile and have an offset tail so that you don’t step on the shoe when you’re in a running stride. They’re also a lot lighter and meant to be worn with running shoes. I’m pretty excited – but as always in events like this, there will be a few really fast people. This race is a qualifier for the US Snowshoe Championships.

I just need to keep in mind the 3rd rule of fight club, “have fun and try your best” 😉

Some remixed Doughy – Idiot Kings.
“..well I could be condemned to hell for every sin but littering…”

 

 

 

I read a race report from last year’s Mt. Hood 50 miler yesterday and the ummm… it was brutal and sobering. It brought back some memories of Bull Run and the physical pain that I was in a couple of days after the race. Really the highs and the low low lows.

I think I’m actually in better shape now, but it’s time to knuckle down. Post haste.

I’ll be working to dial in my nutrition over the next 2 months and make sure I’m hydrating and eating on a regular schedule. I might just put a feed interval on a piece of tape on my forearm so that I can do what I told myself to do.

I’m also switching to an ultimate directions SJ vest instead of a single bottle and pouch. Both because of the ID debacle last weekend and because I need to carry more fluids/food/shell/arm warmers/beanie.  I used to carry 2 UD handhelds… but it actually wears out your upper body carrying full bottles over miles and miles.

I passed on Leadville 100 this year. A friend wanted me to come out and do the ride again… but I’ve already done it… maybe if I need a break from running in the future. I would rather to do the run. I had my reminders set and was ready to register on December 31… and thought long and hard about my motivation, realities of the stress of training and how bad I wanted it. How bad?  What are you willing to give up? How deep can you dig? Leadville is also a circus. I don’t want to drag a crew out there from OR, line up pacers and then f**k it up. A lower key 100 might be a better option. Cascade Crest looks good, but I’m not sure if I’ll be recovered from a 50 in July and then do a 100 in August. No. No way that’s happening.

The truth is also that I just can’t wrap my mind around the distance. I know it’s possible – for many people.  I can grok 3 10’s, I can grok 5 10’s – I know that pain. I cannot grok the 10th 10. Not right now. Mentally I could drop the hammer, but I’m not sure if my body would hold. I could break myself.  Maybe next year… the pain is going to be epic. Book of Job epic.

I want to see how I hold up on the 50 miler. It’s a good goal for this season.

 

Alpinist 45 came in the mail yesterday and Rafael Slawinski has an excellent piece on he and Ian Welsted’s ascent of K6.

So here is a bit of synthesis. In his recounting of the decision to go/no-go after the tragedy on Nanga Parbat he talks about possible futures based on the decisions we make – and each future branching off and occurring or not occurring. He notes that this model fits with the theories of a quantum mechanics and entanglement. Note: he’s a physics professor.

Later in the evening, flipping through Zite – I came upon this article. So… woo-woo. And yet. And yet… I think Pynchon is drawing upon these very post-modern ideas of time and space in Bleeding Edge. Multi-layered and complex. Specifically when referring to the sightings around NYC of people who were killed on 9/11. Pynchon also manages to mix in the Montauk Project … I think he covers every conspiracy theory – which is entertaining for sure.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the character of Maxine as well.  From a gender studies angle, she’s pretty fascinating. My first thought is that she’s “like a dude”. The complex roles she plays in the novel are fascinating. She’s a fraud investigator (“Tail ’em and nail ’em” is the name of her firm), but she also sleeps around, pole dances in one scene, is the primary caregiver to her 2 sons and has a complex relationship with her ex-husband. Lots going on.

 

Starting to periodize my mileage with the goal of ending up in a good place for the Gorge 50K. After 2 weeks of 30+ miles, I’m going to dial it back to around 20 before increasing mileage next week.

I haven’t run since Sunday so… this is generally how I’m feeling after 3 days of run rest:

 

My right heel is still a little bit sore from descending council crest. After switching to the Brooks Pure Grits I definitely felt more confident opening it up coming down the mountain… which resulted in a little too much heel striking.

I think the most amazing thing about the book is the author’s imaginative mingling of the physical world and the digital world. He’s writing about the digital as if it were a physical place (DeepArcher). There are definitely some HT’s to Neuromancer and some of the early cyberpunk fiction, but it’s modern (2001 modern… in 2013).

The other concept that underlies the story is this idea of directions and progress and choices and alternatives not taken. There is a great quote about the physical space being overtaken by advertisers and essentially ruined… and the question of what it (the Internet, capital I) would have become if that had not occurred. All in a nostalgic yet accepting way. I was very surprised how he handled the actual ‘event’. It was understated, he didn’t follow the common script at the time (and really the historical record of the event). There is a lot of heavy emotion around 9/11 and the author really handled that deftly, a little bit removed in fact. It was a different telling and it surprised me. I had some anxiety b/c I knew the book covered it – but it was subtly comforting in that he didn’t dig it all up again.

The other point is the historical perspective of programs like MKultra in light of Snowden and the NSA. The logical question is, why would you need a ‘Manchurian Candidate’ and a program like MKultra if you could surveil every bit of information from the population? The answer is you wouldn’t.

The time travel narrative is pretty weird… coupled with the idea of sightings of dead people walking around NYC. Maybe in a historical perspective (Pynchon is 76 now) he’s completing the narrative begun in the 60’s continuing through 9/11 and onward to the present intelligence apparatus. He’s touching on the ideas of loss and enduring the ‘atrocity’ (he uses that word) but approaching it from a unique perspective. He focuses on the return to normalcy – which I think is different than the media’s narrative at the time.

I’ve always resisted reading fiction about the tech world. I think primarily because I’ve been living it for 15 years. I never read Microserfs, I don’t want to watch movies about Google, never watched AK play Jobs – I’m kind ‘anti’ the fictionalization of the industry. Maybe that’s odd, but it is so (I did read SJs bio though). I guess I’m not cool with the hagiographic representations of tycoons and robber barons.  That sounds bitter. Not my thing.

I think Pynchon portrays “late capitalism” and the character of Gabriel Ice as they should be portrayed. The kind of person who after shaking their hand, compels you to go and wash yours.

(such a great biological synthesis + indication of compatibility by the way… I always note the urge if it’s there when meeting someone new… but that’s just me)

There are so many compelling ideas to explore … these are just a few.

**I’ve never seen those shows btw… I should write a post about my theory of creators and consumers some time. It would be epic.

http://www.strava.com/activities/104336371

2300 calories in 2 hours 48 minutes

I’m not really a foodie. I love food made with love. Small portions, elegant plating. Farm to table… etc, etc.  But sometimes when the furnace is burning – it doesn’t matter what goes in. The worse feeling … not actually a feeling, but a smell – is the smell is ammonia. After a long, sustained effort with too little nutrition going in, the body will start to  break down muscle – the catabolic state. Ammonia is the smell of your body eating itself.  I wasn’t quite there today, but I definitely didn’t bring enough food. One vanilla Gu and a grandma strawberry hard candy – you know the ones. Love those things.

At mile 6 (about 45 minutes in) I got all excited to find some water and and eat my Gu that I forgot to zip my pouch back up after throwing away the Gu packet at the Rose Garden and continuing on.

Other contents of my pouch included my keys,  driver’s license and a debit card. At about mile 8 I looked down and noticed the zipper was open and my ID and debit card were *fucking gone* … along with my strawberry candy – that was like 15 calories at least! Gone somewhere between the rose garden and arboretum. So I turned around and ran all the way back looking along the side of the trail. Near the playground I found my candy. Yes! But no dice on the ID and card.  Then I turned around and ran back the way I was going – up to Council Crest and back to PSU over the Hawthorne bridge and home.

How to say that the run wasn’t so great without saying it sucked. It didn’t sucked. I lost my ID… but found my candy (in the street) so I had that after 2 hours and the sugar provided me a little energy. I was a bit wrecked when I got home though – the total elevation came in around 1800 ft mostly because I ran one hilly section twice looking for my ID. It had me thinking that … who cares how you react when things are going well. It’s when things go pear-shaped, or something unexpected happens – how do you react? How fast can you recover. I was rushing. I think the losing the ID weighed on my mind and my performance suffered. I need to work on that…

The Cocoon

Since the summer I’ve had this ritual when I get home. I start thinking about it when my focus starts to waver as I’m getting closer to home.  My running shirt and hair are typically drenched when I get home – even when it’s below freezing as it was when I started today.

So here’s my top secret, little slice of heaven, super cocoon ritual. I strip off my shirt(s) … let the air in the house dry me off a little bit and then …. wait for it… I put on my 900 fill puffy jacket. If you’ve never worn a puffy (synthetic or down) with nothing on underneath it – you’re missing out on a little slice of heaven.  You must try it.  And the beauty of the cocoon is that you can zip all the way up and… no one will *ever* know that you have no shirt on underneath. Sooooo… nice! Trust me.

So I’m standing in the kitchen in my puffy eating a bagel with almond butter and honey, and a banana, and a big cup of diluted gatorade and a cheese stick and some crackers… when I hear my phone buzz and it’s an email from TB:

“I found your ID and card in  Washington Park just now — let me know how to get it back to you.”

WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I was like this guy (turn captions on):

So I emailed back and an hour after I ate some more food and took a shower – recovered by DL and card. My week was about to start off very badly… but saved by an awesome person. They exist.

Time for a couple of days off from running and  lower mileage this week.

Lesson

Slow is fast and fast is smooth. I was rushing, not paying attention. I shouldn’t keep my ID with my food. I think I’ll take some cash in the future and just wear my Road ID for emergencies.