Deep Thoughts

Here's another article about Ryan Hall's retirement.

He says "“There’s no 10,000-hour rule to mileage. It’s not like, if you do 100 miles a week, you are going to be a great runner. You might be at your all-time worst running 100 miles a week.”

http://www.outsideonline.com/2050226/ryan-hall-doing-too-much-too-soon

Over the past few years, I've philosophized internally (my basic resting state is a swirl of disjointed, sweeping "truths" that I concoct/reinvent continuously) about running and life...and one thing I keep coming back to is a variation of the well-trodden "correlation does not imply causation."

With running, I think it's different but the general underpinnings of the above truth are similar - it'd be more like "Running 100 mile weeks does not make you a great runner...it's spending years patiently getting to the point where you truly CAN run 100 mile weeks comfortably (or somewhat comfortably) that makes you a great runner."

Not quite as pithy...it's a work in progress...

The Running-of-100-Mile-Weeks is just the hood ornament on a very carefully, lovingly maintained car. What sort of a sad-sack just buys the decapitated hood ornament and then hopes to slowly attach the hood it...then a windshield, etc...?

*looks down at closed fist and slowly opens it to reveal sweat-slicked hood ornament that smells like cheese*

I swear to God, I wrote this while taking a shit just now. It lowers my blood pressure and makes my thinking much clearer.

That's it! Have a great Thursday, y'all!

Not to jinx it but...

...I think Rio still may be in the crosshairs this year.

I was in Michigan at the beginning of last month, jogging easily on some old trails I used to run often, and my left knee started to hurt. This is an old injury, one that fucked me in my cherry-red bottom back in 2013. So...being older and wiser now...I continued to run on it everyday for the next two weeks.

To be fair, it only hurt a little and some days not at all, but the end result was the same as in 2013: I couldn't keep running.

But I'm not quite AS stupid these days, so I have done a really good, disciplined job of rehabbing my knee and the results have been positive. I started running easily again last weekend after about 10 days of no-running. During that time, I signed up for a free 2-week trial at the local gym and elliptical'ed like hell, rode a bike a little, and did a bunch of strength work designed to shore up my hips and knees.

I feel pretty good. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I'm in the clear. Gonna continue to run cautiously this week.

My 2016 goals right now are:
1.) the Arizona Trail half-marathon in April. Defending champ.
2.) the McDonald Forest 50K in Oregon in May.
3.) something in June/July, not sure.
4.) Get a lottery draw for the Bridger Ridge Run in Montana for August.
5.) the Mogollon 100 in September.
6.) somehow use my 100-mile fitness to prepare for and WIN the Bisbee 1000 race in October.

Number #6 is the only real question mark here. I am serious though. I want to win that race.

Also, D found a stray chihuahua at her clinic near the MX border. And I guess we're keeping him. He seems to run OK and looks like a mummified cat...so that's cool. His name is Doug.

Towers Run

D, Dog, and I did a longer run up to the second set of cell phone towers above Bisbee. It's 10 miles roundtrip from our door. Here's a picture of the road looking down and towards town.

Here's the data for the 1st set of towers...add another hundred or two feet of up and another 1.6 miles. Gotta start promotin' Bisbee running.

https://www.strava.com/activities/459564551

Here's a picture of the dog, 2 minutes after coming home.

That's it for today. 

No idea why I'm posting again, but I'm sure the reason will slowly reveal itself over the course of many awkward boring updates.

Mulligan's Island

Let's just let that little* post from yesterday slide, shall we?

A little toasted this week...had a weird long day of running last Sunday in Tucson...did some jogging at 9,000 ft. on Mt. Lemmon and dodged children sledding into the highway on tupperware lids. Good thing their chain smoking fathers were taking selfies nearby. Then we came down and ran Blackett's Ridge in Sabino Canyon. It's a fun, steep, short technical run with amazing vistas on the Santa Ritas and down onto Tucson.

Monday I ran w/ a buddy in town. He ran for Kansas State and can still fake it through a 5K sub-16:00. So, despite him nursing a supposedly bum ankle, it was still a faster run than usual. Then I ran with D and the Dog in the evening. I might have even done some plyometrics.

Tuesday, we ran steadily up the dirt road above town. It's always tough. Steady, steep uphill with very nice views of the adjacent mountain ranges.

Wednesday, did some weird stair repeats (Bisbee has shitloads of long staircases). Ran a bit. Might have done some of the same later in the evening, too.

Thursday, went and chased some deliciously stupid Strava CR at a popular trail in Sierra Vista. With a little bit of straining and quite a bit of hacked up phlegm, I managed to come away with the "win," and by that I mean I'm a huge loser. Definitely getting fit these days though.

Today I ran with the dog very easy. Hopefully tomorrow we'll do some longer stuff and maybe a run and bike on Sunday...

With the big snowstorm making love to the east coast tonight and the temps in SE AZ in the 60's and sunny...well, friend, it's real real nice.

*very long and pointless