Friday, June 27, 2008

DONE!

I'm DONE! Prosthetics program complete and time to go back home to Virginia.

2nd great news.... I'M IN HARDROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually got a call from the RD the day Western States was cancelled......which felt odd to be so happy when so many were so sad.

Another strong week of running while juggling final exams:

Sunday- off
Monday- 7 AM, 7 PM
Tuesday- 7 AM, 7 PM
Wed- 7 AM
Thurs- 7 AM, 7 PM
Friday- 7 AM
Fly out tomorrow wicked early in the morning

Chicago has been great but I am really eager to be home with Anne

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Moving on UP!!!!!!!

Guess who is number one on the Hardrock waitlist????????????

yep..

Read all about it here

Time to step up the stair workouts!!!!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Week 7

Solid week: 63 miles- 9 runs, 1 tempo, 1 stair workout

Sunday- off
Monday- 7- easy
Tuesday- 7 AM, 7 PM - into head wind 44:02!!!!
Wednesday- 7AM, 7PM- sore calves
Thursday- 7 easy -
Friday- 7 easy following 6 sets x 18 floors stairs
Saturday- 7AM, 7 PM

Feeling okay, a bit overwhelmed.....settling in for a stretch of 5 tests in 4 days....Lab final, oral exam, practical exam, written lower extremity tests, written final exam..

Evaluate and RATE ME!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Week 6

Easy recovery week: 4 runs- 28 miles, 3 days off (Last week I got in 86miles)

got back into it on Tuesday with a commute run 7 miler that necessitated a couple walk breaks. Legs not overly sore, but still feeling the 100k slightly. The rest of the week felt pretty good, but nothing special

Saturday- 7 miles easy following my first REAL stairs workout:
6 trips DOWN 19 stories, 5 trips UP. each floor has 20 steps to it

On three of the up trips I took the steps 2 at a time and went real slow trying not to spring off the lower leg calf, but relying on the glutes/hamstrings of the leg stepping up to pull me up. After a couple trips of this it felt like I had been doing a bunch of lunges. I expected to be very sore today, but not much. that is exciting.

Since I have been doing one solid trip down 18 flights running M-f for 5 weeks now, the quads are in pretty strong shape. I plan on doing multiple sets every couple of days the remaining two weeks I am in Chicago.

Additionally I hope to run doubles (in and out from school the 7 miles) M-F these last two weeks. I gotta do something as I'll be flying into Colorado less than 48hrs before the Friday morning start of Hardrock. I am now number 7 on the waitlist!!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Kettle Moraine 100................K

Sat- 100K- 14:00:16

A great course, great aid, awesome volunteers, super course marking, beautiful country, but

Worst conditions in my 75 ultra starts:

90 with 90% humidity
miles of open sun exposed running
torrential sideways rain, lightning and wind with tornadoes in the area
mud
bugs

I had great legs and no body issues other than massive dehydration that caused diarrhea from hours 4-8. Seven pit stops total left me reeling and led to me getting behind in caloric intake. I took time out at the 31 mile aid station (first out and back turn around). Probably spent 20 minutes using the bathroom, eating, drinking, getting salt, trying to cool off. slowly got things back in order and was running well again by the time the rains came 10 hours into the race.

at 10:50 into the race I sought shelter in an outhouse as the sideways rain and huge winds made running impossible. An interesting 15-20 minutes as I and two others who also sought shelter in there waited for things to calm down. Peeking out the door, the rain looked like a snow white-out. Since the county was under tornado warnings I thought the race might be called. But after reaching the next manned aid station all seemed to be a go. Rain continued on and off as I approached the 100K finish at 8pm. With darkness approaching and the thought of cold crazy rain helped me decide I had had enough fun for the day. I left the mosquitos to drain someone else dry!

a great training run for Hardrock......14 hours of movement, dealing with stomach issues, and wet pruned feet.

Now time to study....3 weeks of school remaining

Monday, June 2, 2008

"I'm Mr Brightside"

WOW! Commute route 43:29!!!!!!!!!!

Normally the route home takes me 52-57 minutes. Music makes a difference though. When I was rocking out to Mr. Brightside (the Killers) I looked up and realized I was already passing the statue that normally takes 24 minutes to get to and my watch only read 19. Music for me really decreases the RPE as we say in the exercise physiology/cardiac rehab world ( the rate of perceived exertion) It just doesn't feel as hard. But it'd be dangerous for me to run with music all the time as I'd over train....it be like running in college with competitive teammates racing everyday! Such a waste of all that effort. Besides, I still make fun of runners with headphones dangling.

Random thoughts on today's run from my head:

-Man that lake is pretty..turquoise like the Caribbean
- hey there is almost no wind today
- wow, it must be nearly 80 degrees (+20 from what all of May was here..cold)
-Look at all these people
- mmm bikinis
- a string bikini on her is not indicated...nor appropriate
- that dude is jacked
- Volleyball looks cool, but always hurts my forearms
- I probably suck
-I am getting better at this prosthetics thing though
- but, I did manage to cut up my thumb with a screw driver today
- and mixed up my foam wrong yesterday
- and had to re-do today
- suppose it is all just good practice, I am here to learn
- I did rock that anatomy exam last Friday though
- Dr. Ada Kelly of baylor Univ would be proud of me
- The one question I got wrong I had written down correctly at first
- then changed...I should never change my answers
- That homeless guy has shorts on today, good for him
- That dog seems to like the water
- Holy crap that girl has the best body I have ever seen!
- better than Divinci could sculpt
- better than a model
- wait Models don't have good bodies, just skinny
- thery are supposed to show off the clothes..muscles draw attention away
- why is my libido so high when I am away from my wife?
- The year in Egypt was like this too
- except no good bodies there at all to look at
-rollerblading looks fun
- I'd commute on rollerblades if I had some
- I am running faster than this bike rider.....he must suck
- No one is passing me today...running
- Madonna is cool
-so is Tool
- I run well with a goal
-I'm going to break my course record, for sure
-Beck is awesome
-Look at all those kids playing soccer
- soccer is way bigger today than 20 years ago when I was a kid
- or was that 25 years ago
-I graduate highschool 15 years ago this month..I'm old
-Haile G is my age and still breaking world records
- Ed Whitlock was running 3:00 marathons at age 73
-Why don't I train faster?
- I suppose this is good Hardrock training
- pancake flat, but with my breathing and heartrate a COOKING
- I'm number 15 on the waitlist, should I buy a plane ticket?
-I should write this all down in my blog
- ugh this is getting uncomfortable
- almost there now
- hey I need to get some milk
-cereal this morning with water on it sucked
- nice, catching the walk sign at the light
- sweat 43:29...solidly 4 minutes faster then ever
- how far is that again?
- 6.8? 6.6, 6.5?
-I'm getting there