"Trench Footloose and Fancy Freak" Weekly 11/20/11

66 miles. 13:40:00. 10,800 ft.

Hahahaha! Check THAT out! Yeah, sure it could be the westcoast "W" ...but in this case it isn't. It's definitely the Wu "W." doubtless.

It's also a sign from God that I need to run the W circuit in Torres del Paine and reset the FKT for that route. Quim and I ran this 30 mile route today in anticipation of summiting Volcan Descabezado and returning all in one day. It should be about 80K roundtrip and, according to several local guides and the manager of the park office, has never been done. by anyone. ever. which is super fucking rad, as far as I'm concerned.

Mon- "I brush my teats!" the students tell me. I respond: "nipple clamps would be more fun, I think"

Tues- 6 widdle piddly miles. 6 x 400m all in the high 80:00's. (those are minutes). 50 minutes. then, i lifted some weights. and by "weights" i mean tits. and by "lift" i mean caressed. and by "some" i mean "my." ...yeah, that was a bit stupid, but the set up was worth it. it was. ZERO feet of climbing.

wed- mothers, don't let your sons grow up to be huasos.

thurs- 10 miles 2:10:00. felt horrible. 1,500 ft.

friday- 12 miles 2:20:00. felt better. watched the huasos wrangle a herd of horses. mothers, maybe possibly consider letting your sons grow up to be huasos. 2,000 ft.

sat- 8 miles 90:00 (those are seconds). the night before, i went out with friends and two of Talca's imported basketball professionals. you gotta understand, for one: there are no black people in talca and hardly no black people in chile. for two: these guys are like 7 ft. tall and gigantic. it was really funny seeing them next to my friend Maria who is maybe 5ft tall in heels. we had a nice time and i danced too hard again (by dance i absolutely mean "drink"). anyway, this run was pretty horrible and hungover. please understand, i'm not making excuses for a lousy performance or complaining. hangovers of any stripe do not bother me in the least anymore. HOWEVER, and very frankly, i would like this to be less of a reoccurring theme on my blog. 500 ft.

sun- 30 miles. 6:50:00. Vilches Alto. Got hailed on. But no sweat, my pet, 'cause then I got my beer on ...AAAND i got my horrifying pork/fried egss/french fries/onions ON! 6800 ft.

Man, the meat puppets were a pretty goddamn good band. I mean, they still might be...but...you know. fuck that.

Lucho's podcasts are the best thing on the internet right now:

...If you yearn to feel the burn: http://www.enduranceplanet.com/tag/ultrarunning/

"Bust Yer Hump and Do the Rump" Weekly 11/13/11

Tres Cuernos on the right.

Quim standing on the edge of the supposed ancient UFO landing, El Enladrillado.

"Bajamos al río?" he asks...no, we should not fucking bajamos to the río.

Could we have a liter of Chile's blandest, please? a 2011, perhaps? An excellent year.

I've been consciously trying to change my running week lately. The new job is helping. A lot more days off than is typical, but the mileage is coming up and I still hit 14 hours of running in just 4 runs. I really liked how this felt. My plan is to continue to run fewer days per week, but run longer on those days that I do get out and, of course, continue to try to improve my ascending strength and my descending skill (hopefully). That is all.

Mon- off. taught from 8:30am to 8:00pm.

Tues- 1:15:00 - 10 miles, w/u and tempo. lifted weights afterwards.

Wed- off. taught all day.

Thurs- 4:00:00 hours, 18 miles. summited large cerro that i had attempted last week. tricky route through the farms and quite a bit of crawling under barbed wire, but i got there. the view was excellent.

Fri- off. Mid day drunk turned into all day drunk. Sneaky little bugger.

Sat- 2:45:00 - 14 miles. explored some different routes around the horse hills.

Sun- 6:00:00 - 25 miles. went to the mountains with Quim for a good long run. I ate about 400 calories all day, but drank about 4.5 liters of water. ended the run feeling surprisingly good. Post-run snack= Empanada de Pino (filling is meat, onions, olives and hard-boiled egg) and beer. Then, back in Talca we went for the ol' plate of fries/porkchops/onions/fried eggs "lomo a lo pobre"...and more beer. I was powerful thirsty after the fries, but luckily, I still had some beer in the fridge at home.

67 miles. 14:00:00

Tell'em how it was Bill...

Lexicologically Bemused

Who says "lexicologically bemused?" Me, I guess. I'm sort of an asshole like that.

Questions that I have:

Double track trail: Is this specifically a trail wide enough for two people to run side by side, thus enjoying their own, respective "track?" Or is it so-named because these trails are also paths for off road vehicles, which produce a distinctive double-track from their two sets of tires? If it's the latter, then why do some people use BOTH the term "double-track trail" and "jeep road" to describe a route?

Single-track: Ok, this I get. No problem.

Fell-running: As I understand it, this is a specific sport...but what if I wanted to describe the running that I do here in Chile? There aren't any trails to speak of in a lot of areas, a runner just picks a line as he goes. Should I call this fell running? Like, "I was following a trail but then I lost it so I fell-ran the rest of the way to the bottom of the mountain." Or should I use a more general term, like "mountain running?"

What I'm getting at is... I'd really really like to call this "no-track" or "zero-track" terrain.

Ex: "After running to the summit of the Torres hill, I followed a horse trail along the ride until I descended through an area of no-track before reaching the jeep road that leads to the vineyards." ...it isn't like "trail-breaking" because that term connotes something too forceful. There isn't any need to break trail or bushwack if you're passing through no-track, it's grass/bushes/rocks/dirt whatever...entirely runnable but just without a direct path of any sort towards anything.

I'm very tired right now and this is what a language-obsessed nerd thinks about while he's waiting for his lady friend to arrive so they can go get drunk at 4:30pm.

Nostalgia for Long Paved Out n' Backs?

What the hell? I have just enough time in my teaching schedule to get out for a run, but the only thing around campus are flat, straight roads. Straight up Michigan, all over again. So, I did 5 miles out at 7:30/mile and came back at 6:30/mile.

You know what? I actually kinda liked it. Sick, sick, sick.

"'Free Tequila' is an Oxymoron" Weekender 11/6

Something about our friend on the left there makes me feel funny in my running shorts.

Yep, that's the ol' trail there on the right. This is scary upon descent, but...you know, fun.

Horses are pretty rad. Horse skeletons are radder. My least favorite vegetable is the raddish.

No long run would complete without coming across something weird. Mannequin arm, you'll do just fine.

A shot looking back towards the mellow side of the cell tower climb. Talca's just over the ridge. In the distance, you can see those crazy old Andes doin' their thing: namely, being awesome and huge.

On Friday night, a spirited young man approached my lady friend and I at the bar with just one simple question: "Who wants tequila shots? My treat!" ...after some initial skepticism, we capitulated (4 times) and I wound up dancing reggaeton so hard my right hip hurt the next morning...or maybe it hurt, I'm not sure because I woke up still completely hammered. That sort of hard and fast drinking often ends up being a smart investment in your future: you can't have a hangover if you're still drunk. FACT.

47 miles in 4 runs this week. I didn't really "get after it" in any sense, but with the halloween party on monday, the mammoth hangover on tuesday AND starting a real job...I feel pretty satisfied with everything. the runs were all 2 hours + with lots of climbing. Thursday i did the 6 x 30 sec uphill intervals, a workout i am planning on keeping for the next several weeks.

Today, I tried to find a route to a distant hilltop that I'd been eyeing for a few weeks, but gave up after running in circles through farms and nurseries without getting any closer to the base. it was 80F and i ran out of water, so decided i'd try again next week. still, it was a good 3.5 hour run and I was still able to put down a sub-7 mile on the way home on pavement.

Quim and Gabby keep throwing around the idea of running a road marathon in december or january...I have access to the university track, so i'm considering actually running around it a few times just so i can play with my watch a lot and hate my life.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Love,

Pat.

p.s

Just checked the NYC marathon results. Has anything in the world gotten bitch-slapped harder this year than the marathon distance? Goddamn!

Gosh Darn Documentaries.

i know this has to do with running, but i don't feel like explaining how exactly:

i just started working in full again this past week. in the time leading up to it, i've been "working from home" and watching an insane amount of documentaries (my previous life as a laborer will never allow me to believe that working from home is actual work).

anyway, here are netflix picks...which you've probably already seen:

- everest. beyond the limit. at least the first two seasons. don't bother with the 3rd.

-everest. the wildest dream

-Touching the Void, which i watched twice even though it physically hurt me.

(obviously there's a theme going here)

-180 south. this is an obvious pick at this point because it includes both mountain climbing and Chile. a little eye-rolling, but it's shot really well and you'll be jealous of Jeff Johnson's life.

-Pulling John, about arm wrestling. it's awesome.

-bigger, strong, faster: about PDA's in sports. OUTSTANDING. draws and makes connections between sports, movies, drugs and the american dream. really good.

non-netflix picks.

-**if you go to vice.com, you can find Vice's amazing documentaries. They are the best and they're free and they're quick. the one about Liberia will absolutely destroy your whole world. if you've ever done drugs, the Swansea Love Story is very difficult to watch and the Krokodil Tears is pretty fucking horrifying. i put asterisks in front to indicate that all of vice's doc's are awesome and free. if you've ever been a skateboarder, they got you covered too. the north korea edition of "vice guide to travel" is also pretty mind-blowing. the vodka one is good too. they're all ok. dig in.

-All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. This is a wild one. Highly recommended. You can find is streaming via some google searching. "topdocumentaryfilms.com" has it if i remember correctly.

Old Stand-bys (both are on netflix i believe):

-Man On Wire. This is my favorite documentary of all time.

-Deep Water. round-the-world sailing doc. this is my second favorite. it's my #1 pick, but only when i'm feeling kind of dark. very applicable to ultrarunning i think.

also, Beer Wars will make you not want to drink InBev stuff (not that you did anyway). King of Kong everyone has already seen, but it's still pretty good. The pinball doc isn't bad. If anything, it's just a nice reminder of when I was a kid.

Eric, if you happen to read this, please add some more that I haven't seen. Thanks!

All of these will somehow be applicable to running. Enjoy.

"Ho humb" Weekender 10/30

5o miles. twisted the ankle monday morning, heard a nice celery-snap "crunch!" and thought "jesus mother of god you fucking asshole what did you just do to your poor ankle?!?!" ...it was just a wee sprain and everything is gravy after just being super thoughtful to it and taking it for dinner, backrubs, white wine, etc. good long run in the andes on sunday. post-run meal was chorillana, the mother of hangover of foods...plate of fries topped with sausage, pork, grilled onions and two fried eggs. fuck you, heart! try to beat your way out of THAT!