It's never too cold

It's been a little cool here in Boulder lately, with highs generally not topping freezing, and several 0 degree mornings. This has, naturally enough, led to a certain amount of complaining that "it's too cold to train."

I have never subscribed to that philosophy, being Northern-Minnesota born and bred. Our XC skiing races were never canceled until it was -29 degrees or below. Thus it bugs me a little bit when people try to say that it's too cold to train. It's never too cold to train.

On another, related note, I very much like this column in the NYT. It's called "Personal Best," and it often has very interesting topics. I will continue to post whenever I find something interesting on the site.

Destinations v. Journies

The age old comparison of the journey versus the destination: which is more important? Now that I'm working towards a specific goal race (assuming I get into the race in the first place) it's become a more interesting and important question to me.

On one hand, if I'm going to run the race I want to run, at the pace I want to, I have to focus very closely on that goal, the destination. If I don't keep that in mind, and convince myself that I can do it, then there is no chance I'll succeed. Every day, week, and month has to be planned with the ultimate goal in mind. If I lose sight of that, I won't run the race I plan to .

On the other hand, by doing that, I risk losing sight of why I run in the first place. That was detailed in an earlier post, probably some time in mid-November. And if I lose sight of why I run, I won't enjoy it any more. I run simply to run, because I love it. But the constant straining towards a goal risks upsetting that.

I'm sure every runner has methods of mixing up so as to not lose sight of running for racing. I have a few methods I like to use. At least two, sometimes three days a week, I leave the watch behind, don't really plan a distance, and just go out for a run at whatever pace feels good to me that day. When I can, I'll take trips in order to run in to places (last summer I did a run in Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as several in the Indian Peaks Wilderness). I like to keep it fresh. Most of my runs take place in familiar locations along often-repeated routes, but changing it every so often keeps me interested in the scenery, and not just the act of putting one foot in front of the other for what might be as long as four hours.

I think I take the position of many when I decide that the journey, not the destination, is often the most important part of any process, whether it's a trip or a training program. If we focus too much on the destination and not enough on the journey itself, we risk missing the destination entirely. If I don't run my time for the half this summer, but enjoy the training process and still love to run at the end of it, I'll consider that a success.

This was put more succinctly on my favorite TV show of all time, Firefly (curse you fox for cancelling it!)

"Why don't you care where the ships are going?"

"Because the journey is the worthier part."

New Beginnings

I started my second semester of grad school in EE yesterday. My schedule is very odd, and I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to mesh it with my running schedule yet. Tuesday and Thursday I am pretty much swamped from 8-6. It's going to be rather difficult to get a run or two in around the lab sessions that I both take and teach. On the plus side, MWF are pretty free days for me, so I should be able to get enough in on those days.

On the theme of new beginnings, I'm also beginning my next six-month training period. My goal race for this is the Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon on June 21st. For those who don't know, that's the half marathon that corresponds to Gradma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. Having grown up watching the marathon (and half) every year, and never having run it, I'm looking forward to finally putting my name in the lottery. Granted, I'm not certain to get in, but being a first time runner, from out of town, and with the possibility of posting a good time, I have a better chance than many.

My goal pace is 6 minute miles, putting me at a final time of 1:18:40 or so. I figure this is well within my reach, since I'll be coming down from altitude for the race, and I know I can post a 10k of that pace up here. That still won't put me all that far up in the standings, though. I believe the winner last year came in at around 1:05.

So in the interest of posting a good time, I'm focusing on this race for the next 6 months. During the next 3, I'm going to increase my mileage from where it stands now (around 40 miles a week) to around 70. I don't even need to increase my mileage that much each week to do so. Around 6% a week will get me there right on time.

We shall see how that works. My coach is of the opinion that I haven't even come close to touching my potential yet. The friends who know me as a runner think the same.

As my friend Sonya (who's blog is linked at right) says "You have to believe it so much you get goosebumps every time you think about it."

Highway 61 Revisited

Yes, I know it's a Bob Dylan album. But, for Christmas, I returned to my home: Minnesota. I grew up (and started running) on the shore of Lake Superior. This specific break, my parents were not living in the house I grew up in, but rather 20-some minutes up the north shore, off the fabled Highway 61. They live between the 5 and 6 mile mark of Grandma's Marathon (I plan to run the half marathon this summer, if I can scrape up the money to fly home and do so). In any case, this meant that I went for several runs up Highway 61.

One in particular sticks in my memory, and in my right arm. I was scheduled for a two hour run the Saturday I got back. When I got up, it was about 35 and raining. By the time I was ready to run, it was about 40. At that temperature, I decided to wear shorts and go out for an 80 minute run.

Unfortunately, what I didn't know was that I went out with the wind. By the time I turned back, 5 and a half miles up the road at 40 minutes (right at the starting line of the marathon) I was soaked to the skin. On turning around, I realized that the temperature had dropped, and the rain had turned to snow. By the time I got back to my parents' house, I could no longer move either of my hands.

One of the dumber moves I've ever made. . .

To the right is a pic of me after that run. You can't really see it in this pic, but it was snowing heavily by this point and I was covered in it. By the end of the next day we'd gotten some 10 inches or so. My hands are quite literally stuck to my sides. I had to mold them into position in order to get that pose. Even now, I can still feel the damage I did to my right arm.

For the rest of the trip, I didn't get a whole lot of running in. Among other problems, we had two decent snow storms during the vacation, which precluded running for those days. Add to that taking Christmas off, and I didn't have a whole lot of time to train. The trip back in a car didn't help either.

However, once I got back to Boulder, and once my family left, I quickly got back into it. On Friday, I went out for a "40 minute" run. Having a fair amount on my mind, the 40 minutes ended up being 56. I went out 4 miles in 30, and came back in 26, for an average pace of 7 minute miles.

I'm back . ..