Sometimes I Could Really Use a Coach

Couldn't we all, right? For the most part, I'm pretty good at coaching myself, or at least I think I am. In all fairness, I have to give a great deal of credit to Scott Jurek. Scott has never been my coach, but I've learned a lot from him about how to train. I used to just go out and run. That's fine to a degree, but at some point, if you want to go to the next level, you need not only run, you must TRAIN. So train I do and sometimes foolishly. In the case of this past week (recovery week), I got sucked into a 4 hour run on Saturday. On top of that, my new gym just opened, and it's such a nice facility I've been sucked into some extra workouts there. Needless to say, my so called "recovery" week ended up being the second biggest week of this past block. DUMB. DUMB. DUMB. I know better, but it's just so fun to get after it. Well it's early in the year, and even my big weeks are pretty tame compared to what lies down the road. So a little extra in the early going probably isn't going to hinder too much. At least with a coach, I'd have someone to answer to every now and then.

Off Topic

Well, this is mostly a blog about running, but I have to say that I'm inexplicably excited about the return of one of Seattle's most prolific athletes, if not THE most prolific. That's right. Ken Griffey Jr. is coming back to the Mariners. I'm not even a big baseball fan, but as a kid playing Little League I was a huge fan of Griffey, and his return, 20 years after he first came up with the organization, has rekindled some of those youthful memories from my past. Sure he's old and way past his prime, but it's neat to see a great player come back and finish their career with the organization they began with. I think it's great for Seattle sports, because outside of some phenomenal running performances, there hasn't been much to get excited about.

Back in the Swing

This past week capped off my second solid 3 week block of training for the year. I hit a little speed bump the second week of this block with a DNF at Orcas, but I turned things around this third and final week of the block. Everything felt great this week. I had a solid threshold run Friday morning at Green Lake, and then followed that up with a 25 mile run on Chuckanut Saturday. I hit 84 miles for the week and even managed to get three days in the gym. Mentally and physically I'm all systems go. Right now, I just need to squeeze a little more time in on the trails. Run commuting to and from work is great, but I need to build that strength that can only come from time on the trails. One promising tidbit to note was that my chronically achey achilles tendon wasn't even slightly worse for the wear after a long, hilly run Saturday.

Check me out

Bet you didn't think it would happen, did ya? Well look at this I'm actually posting two days in a row. I'm dead serious when I say that it's now officially running season, and thus blogging season as well. I've been hitting it hard this week after having a wake up call at Orcas last weekend. Today I had a great threshold run at Green Lake. It was a crisp clear morning and there was very little wind. I managed just over 7 miles between 5:50-6 minute pace and felt really good. Tomorrow I'm headed up to Bellingham to get a little time on the Chuckanut course. Ah, I do love the Bellingham trails. A long run followed up with a potato burrito, what could be better?

Called out

Well, it's officially running season again, so hopefully I'll have a bit more to write about now. But first I want to apologize to anyone who feels the same way a recent anonymous poster does about my last few blog entries. Evidently I've been complaining a bit too much and don't seem to appreciate how good I have it. This anonymous individual left such a comment on my most recent rambling about having lost my hammer. It's funny to me (not so much ha ha funny) how people can so differently interpret things. IT WAS A JOKE. It was a lame attempt at humor, but I know at least a few people got a chuckle out of it. And, last time I checked, this is my blog and I can write whatever I damn well feel like. No one's forcing you to read it. WHEW! I got that off my chest. Now where was I? Oh yes, race season is just around the corner and I can't wait. Chuckanut will be my next race, followed shortly thereafter by the brand spankin' new Rainshadow 50k, in the beautiful Methow Valley. I'd like to squeeze something else into April and then run Miwok and States. I'm not yet thinking much beyond that, but there are definitely some intriguing new races out there.