This ain't No Thinkin' Thing

This ain't no thinkin` thing, right brain, left brain. It goes a little deeper than that...

You might not be a regular reader of this blog (not too many people are!) but if you do venture out to read it every once in awhile, you might notice that I get a bit philosophical in my writing. However, I always bring it back to my running. Typically my runs give me that time to think, theorize, philosophize or just plain vegitate. A hard training run doesn't afford this free thought. That was my run on Saturday. I went out to run a hard 10 mile tempo run where I wanted to push the pace for at least half the run. When pushing the pace, the focus is on running - form, breathing, adapting, arms, turnover. It becomes relaxed and natural at a point but I am still in a focused, race-pace zone - a focused, race-pace zone "ain't no thinkin' thing"! Thus, you won't get any philosophy or meaning of life in this entry.

The first couple of miles were for warm-up - easy 8:45 pace and then I kicked into a 5 mile 15K-pace tempo run around 7:30-7:45 . I know for you speed demons out there that your warm-up might be in the 7:30's! I pushed the pace both up and down the hills. To me, rolling terrain is the best for training and racing. Your muscles get to rest as the terrain changes. I think it is much better than running on flat surfaces. Using the same muscles over and over again for a long period of time fatigues them. Of course, one might like a flat 5K or 10K where there is more interest in flat-out speed but I will take a rolling course anyday for any distance over a 10 miles. I am sure the elites and locally competitive runners will disagree since they actually have a shot at winning!

Anyway, I brought it home after the tempo portion at a medium pace and then cooled down in the last mile. I need these hard workouts when I am going through race withdrawal. I do at least two harder workouts a week - one typically hill repeats. I love the hills! As Frank Shorter said, "Hills are speedwork in disguise". The other hard workout is usually a tempo or fartlek run.

Hard training runs - This ain't No Thinkin' Thing!

Horse With No Name

On the first part of the journey, I was looking at all the life, There were plants and birds and rocks and things. Each part of the journey while running is about life. It is not just the life around you but the life within you. In many ways the life within is experienced by touching and seeing the life around you. As I was running a nice, easy 10 miler this week, I stopped to experience life. Millstone is known for its many horse farms. Whenever I see a horse standing by a fence, who seemingly does not understand why someone is running without being hit by a whip or spurred in the ribs, I stop to pet and chat. At about mile 3, there (s)he was, a horse with no name just waiting for an explanation. Friendly and nosey I petted her and chatted about running. It wasn't Mister Ed so he didn't talk back but he seemed to understand. No matter, it was a moment when I got to share my life with the life around me. It makes you glad you are alive but makes you equally happy that there is life outside of your own to share it with.

Against the Wind

Against the wind, I keep running against the wind, I'm older now, but I keep runnin' aginst the wind... I always feel obligated to write when I run in the rain. Today, I just happened to be running against the wind on a cold, wet, rainy day. It was an uncomfortable but easy 5-miler. I don't run well in the afternoon or early evening. Add the rain and wind and an easy day turns into a hard day. I do like to stress my body and mind on days like this though. I know that at some race, sometime in the future, it's going to be a crappy day with wind, cold and rain. When it occurs, I'm going to know how it feels and know how to run in it. That is the beauty of doing hard things - most of your other experiences feel easy or at least easier.

I see few people out in the rain, let alone runners, and I am sure the drivers in their cars are thinking, "what an ass, out running in this kind of weather!", yet secretly wishing that they were running or at least in the shape to run in this kind of weather. Maybe I will motivate someone someday. If that happens, I hope we can wave to one another while we're both out running against the wind.

The Sounds of Slience

Sometimes I just need to get away from human noise. When I refer to human noise, I mean, noises that are the direct result of humans - voices, cars, hammers, jets, phones, etc. I turn to the sounds of silence or as close to silence as I can get. I find this silence on the trails. The only things "human" about the trails are related to me - the rhythm of my breathing, the pitter patter of my shoes hitting the stones, sand, and roots. You can open up your ears on the trail - the birds chirping and flirting with one another, the little creatures rustling through the brush, the wind playing the leaves, creating nature's white noise. All playing at once like nature's symphony.

This run was special. I ran 5 miles to the trail and spent the next 4 miles at nature's concert and then 5 miles back. It was a solid 14 miler with a rythm like I was the conductor of the symphony. I picked up the pace once I came off the trail. The roads are still rurual at that point but there is human noise. My last 5 miles were much faster than my first 9 miles. I don't run many negative splits, if any, but I am finding that a good relaxing, easy start affords me a strong, well-paced, energizing finish. I just now need to remember this for races!

Overall, I had a solid 3 days of weekend running putting in 25 miles for 3 days and 40 for the week. The most encouraging aspect was that each of the 3 weekend days was strong and relaxed. That is how I like to run, strong and relaxed.

The body as well as the mind need the sounds of silence every once in awhile. When mine do, I head for the trails!

The Trees

The Trees has always been one of my favorite songs by Rush. As I was running on a gorgeous morning this week, I turned into a tunnel of trees, better known as “skook hollow” - well at least to me it is. It is a dark, spooky, narrow road at night. When driving on it, if you turn off your headlights you will see nothing but dark in front of you, not even your hand, thus the name “skook hollow”.

Anyway, the morning was crisp for a May morning, 37 degrees with a clear sky yet a fog meandering through the low lying areas, over ponds and filling in the newly sprouting leaves of the trees. It was eerie in a sense. As the sun rose and glared at each of my strides, it created a lightshow somewhat like at a rock concert – the fog, the beams of sun highlighting the performer. Each twist and turn on the road presented a different scene. Trees, newly sowed fields, and ponds each had their own personality or relationship with the fog.

It was a normal, medium-paced 5-miler except the beauty of the morning was more daunting. I couldn’t help but look around, hardly knowing I was running. This particular route is a down and back. After the turn, I head up a slight hill, over the crest and back down the other side. Typically, my pace picks up here as my body is warmed and used to the pace. Once I finish the decline, I turn into “skook hollow”.

This is where it hit me. The Trees embraced me! The new blossoms welcomed me home like they missed seeing me run beneath them. The fog was lifting and the sun was rising but The Trees were closing in on me. They now had a personality all their own. This is when the song, “The Trees” hit me. “The maples formed a union and demanded equal rights, the oaks are just too lofty, we will make them give us light.” It was a hug from nature, just me and The Trees!