Hills: Find them. Run them. Ride them. LOVE them.

I got out for about 30 miles on the bike today. I was hoping to at least double that, but I had to go in to work for an afternoon meeting. Something I think I've known for a long time, but didn't really materialize in my head until today is that hills should be your friend. I've hated or avoided courses with hills for years for the want of a better time. Since moving to Brooklyn, I've been running a lot of bridges and I've noticed myself doing much better at running uphill when I hit the park. I've also notice that my legs are much stronger on the bike when climbing. The other thing I've noticed is that I'm blowing by people when I'm running/riding uphill.

Basically what surfaced today was this:

The race is won uphill. Anyone can run/ride flat or downhill. Pace through the flats, let gravity do its work on downhill, and blow people away uphill.

I blew by a guy climbing the hill in Prospect Park today. I stayed ahead of him for awhile as I took it (somewhat) easy on the downhill letting my legs rest a bit and letting gravity do the work for me. He started hammering and passed me, but by the time we got back to the hill, he was toast. He wasted his energy trying to hammer downhill at probably 33 mph, while I "took it easy" at about 30 mph. But on the uphill, I was climbing at 16+mph whereas he was probably under 10 mph.

I'm loving hills these days. Learn how to use them to your advantage.

On my way home, I got hopelessly lost in the throws of Brooklyn b/c I decided to try and find a faster way home. The good thing is that if you know a few major roads you can eventually find your way home.

Slacker

I've been slacking a bit this week, but I'll give you this to satiate you until I get a chance to do a real blog post. I'm about to hop on the bike, but I was very recently reminded of cycling through the Avenue of the Giants. Here's a quick video me me doing just that.



later today I'm aiming to have a proper blog posted.

That's a long way!

I did a lot of driving this weekend on a memorial day weekend trip (I'll post about the trip later). One thing I noticed while driving is how far distances actually are. I routinely knock out 15+ miles. While driving to dinner one night, I felt like it was taking forever to get to the destination. I looked at my directions and saw that the restaurant was 15 miles away. It hit me that I go out and ran that distance without even thinking twice. I was driving 55 mph and the distance seemed endless. Tenths of a mile were creeping by.

After the restaurant incident, I curiously watched the odometer several times over the remainder of the trip. In one instance, I noted my starting mileage and watched the distance click off in tenths of a mile noting just how far 50 miles felt. It made me realize how far I will actually be running on July 5. Fifty miles is a long, long way. It took nearly an hour to drive the distance.

Even a short five mile drive to the rafting company seemed like a long way. My short runs are longer than that. It really did put everything back into perspective. I don't drive on a daily basis and my idea of running mileage is so skewed that I've really managed to lose track of the true length of distances. I'm sure it won't be long until I lose track of distances again and feel that 15 miles is nothing.

Running on the Sun

I watched this documentary tonight. I've known about Badwater for quite some time now. I remember seeing a piece a long, long time ago on Dean's first time running. I've had endless conversations with Chris Bergland about his experiences running the race. I've even researched the entrance requirements for this particular race.

Although it is obvious that the documentary was somewhat low-budget, I felt that it put a whole new perspective on the race. I think that most people watching this documentary would see the pain, anguish, blisters, vomiting, heat, and suffering and then ask the question, "why?"

I watched, and instead of seeing suffering I saw perseverance. Instead of pain I saw toughness. Instead of anguish I saw triumph. I won't even begin to pretend that I understand what its like to run this 135 mile race, but as I sat watching I understood why the runners were putting themselves through that hell. I connected with them. Instead of finding myself asking the question "why," I found myself asking the question "when?"

I'm a long way from attempting something like Badwater, and it may never happen. However, I can see that my brain processes things differently than most. It is kind of scary, yet exciting, to think about the future and what I might put myself through to test my limits.

Oh, its on!

The challenge has been set. June 4th I will be racing one of our pacers in the NYRR 50th Anniversary Run. The challenge was made and accepted by myself and said pacer. We'll be racing 5 miles, which is much closer to her best distance than to mine. I don't know that I can win this one, but I have a feeling she is going to pull me to my fastest 5 miles ever. The race takes place at 5:30 am. I'm not looking forward to getting up that early. Not at all.

Inspired by Jonathan Cane's No Sleep Till Brooklyn Century, I have something very special planned for June 21st to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Stay Tuned for more on that. Coach, I'd love to join you for your ride, but I'm not in shape to keep up that pace. You'd drop me.

I want do do this run. And it has nothing to do with women in their underwear...well maybe a little.

In track news. The Texas A&M Women's team is #1 in the country and the Men's team is #3! My school is better than yours.

I'm headed to the Adirondacks to go whitewater rafting and caving this weekend, so there will likely no updates till monday.

What happened? I blacked out.

A question I'm often asked is how I'm able to run as long/far/much as I do. Especially since I do almost all of my running solo. Its mainly due to what I call hyperfocusing or "zoning out." Sure there is a physical aspect, but once you have trained yourself to a certain point, the physical process of running comes quite easily. Long distance running really is mostly mental. Once the physical endurance has been established, it is a matter of distracting the mind from the actual act of running. You have to block out the pain, the fatigue, the outside elements.

There's a trait common to people with ADHD that is called "hyperfocus." Simply put, when an ADHD person is able to focus on something they enjoy or once they get started on something, they completely zero in on it and will almost have a sort of tunnel vision toward the project/activity. They will stay at it until the task is completed or until someone is able to snap them out of their state of focus. They will focus so heavily on the task at hand that they are sometimes oblivious to things going on around them. My mental state while running is similar to this in a way.

Shortly after starting run, I completely zone out. My mind wanders through the vast reaches of my head, but never settles on any one thing for more than a couple minutes. I'm so far inside my head that I'm often oblivious to things going on in the world around me. Everything physically is set on autopilot and I just go. Sometimes when I return from a run, I can't really remember any detail from the run except the route I took.

Its difficult to explain, but there are times where I start running and then all of a sudden a couple hours later I'm done. Sometimes its almost as if my body leaves to go on a run and my head stays behind to sit on the couch. My head and says "I'll see you in a couple hours" as my body jogs out the door. I seem to detach the actual act of running from my brain while I'm in the act of running. I "forget" I'm even running. This phenomenon always conjures an allusion to the movie Old School. Will Ferrell's is in the debate competition against James Oarville and the question "What is your position on the role of government in supporting innovation in the field of biotechnology?" is asked. Frank takes question and delivers a perfect answer drawing applause from the crowd and a stunned no response from Mr. Oarville. When asked where the answer came from, Frank says, "What happened? I blacked out."

Usually I don't completely "black out" for an entire run though. I have short flashes back to reality. Its at these times that I will pick up on the scenery around me or realize that I forgot to send an important email. During these moments of connectedness is when I will sometimes feel the pain or fatigue of a 3 or 4 hour run. This is when mental fortitude comes into play. I have to ignore the reality or push it away. Slowly it fades out and I'm back into my state of disconnect.

In his book, "The Athlete's Way," Chris Bergland talks about finding your "bliss" or your happy place when exercising. Its what got him through multiple Badwaters, triple ironmans, a treadmill world record, and countless other events/races. I never really understood what he was talking about until I read his book and I realized that my zoning out was actually my way of finding my "bliss."

Racing is a little different. When racing, I can remember minute details of the actual run. I can remember every twist and turn of the course. I can remember elevation changes. I can remember the status of my body at any given point of the race. However, I normally can't tell you about any of the scenery or the people around me. I'll completely miss the guy running in the chicken suit. I'm so focused on the actual running that its the only thing my brain processes. Racing is easy though because it is the payoff you've been training for.

I wish I had a better explanation of what goes on in my mind when I'm running, but its really hard to convert that running experience into words. On saturday I spoke with a fellow ultra runner who is currently training for the Vermont 100 Miler. We were talking about training for ultras and I used the term "zoning out" and he knew exactly what I was talking about. That actually made me feel good to know that someone else out there understands at least a little piece of me. That understanding made me feel normal.

I wish I could tell you exactly how to go about "zoning out," but I have no idea how it works for me or why. Maybe its just the way God wired me. Maybe its because I chewed the paint off of all the Christmas ornaments when I was a baby* and killed the brain cells that cause boredom while exercising. Maybe I'm just crazy.

Ultra Running is definitely not for everyone, but I think the first step is finding a way to disconnect from the actual running.

*true story. My mother still has the ornaments and thoroughly enjoys telling the story every Christmas. If you ever meet her, just ask. Especially around Christmas. She'll probably even show you the ornaments. (Love you mom)

Reconnecting with Climbing

It had been awhile since I'd been climbing. I knew I loved it, but I had forgotten just how much. First, its a great workout. Believe it or not, its cardio. A few moves can have you searching for your breath and your muscles quivering trying to hang on to a small precipice in the rock. If you aren't use to it, the climbs will leave you sore the next day.

Climbing presents a challenge for people of all skill levels. Once a route gets easy, you move on to something more difficult. You can even make virtually the same climb twice, but by moving a few inches one way of the other on the route the challenge completely changes.

Like I said, I had been awhile so my fingers weren't calloused enough to climb as well as I would have liked, but I was still able to get in some decent climbs. I had mostly a beginning group, so we were just doing single-pitch top roping on some shorter walls, but it was still great to tackle the climbs. Unfortunately, rain started falling and cut our day short, but I was able to do 4 climbs including my first chimney climb (see picture below). I really only took one bad fall where I cut up my knee and ankle. If I had been wearing pants (like I should have) I probably wouldn't have gotten quite as banged up.

Not a whole lot more to say, but here are a few more pictures:

Over the river and through the...um...buildings?

Bridges. I love them. They are one of my favorite things about running in NYC. I did a little over 15 miles tonight after rock climbing today (more on climbing later). On the vast majority of my runs I will get in at least one bridge. I'm lucky to be in close proximity to 3 bridges (Williamsburg, Manhattan, Brooklyn) and the Queensboro is within reach as well. The bridges are NYC's version of hill workouts. I think I really became addicted to them when my friend Jene and I did a 25 mile run last year that incorporated 9 bridges. Once I actually moved to Brooklyn earlier this year, I really became infatuated with running the bridges.

The best time to run the bridges is at night, although I will run them at any time. Running them at night has some sort of lure for me. As you start reaching the apex and look out over the city, it looks so calm, so beautiful. The lights are hypnotizing. The city looks relaxed. If you look down at the black sheet of water several hundred feet below you see tranquility. Headphones on, the music drowns out most of the ambient noise except the faint sound of the traffic going by below. The traffic noise becomes rhythmic and turns into a sound almost like waves crashing on the beach.

Then entire experience is quite relaxing.

Cycling with Dr. Dre

After running, I decided to go out for a spin since the weather was so nice. I consulted my NYC Cycling Map to figure out a route down to Prospect Park. I left my apartment and followed the bike lanes, but apparently I missed a turn because the next thing I know I'm in Bed-Stuy and I'm the only white dude. The guys in front of me had a boombox strapped to their bike and they were blasting "Still D.R.E." Being that I'm so gangsta, I sang along (very quietly) until the music was out of range.

After a few twists and turns, I made it into Prospect Park and did a couple laps before returning home. Logged a little over 20 miles. My legs felt good, but I definitely don't have the endurance back yet. Of course some of that could be the 27 miles I ran this morning. Climbing felt really good though. Can't wait to get out on a long ride up 9W.

The crazy thing is 27 miles running followed by 20 miles cycling doesn't even feel crazy anymore. It feels normal.

No Sleep till Brook...er Manhattan

Thanks to my horribly inconsiderate roommate, I got very little sleep last night. He knows I have to get up early every saturday morning to go work Run Club, yet he always comes back late with a group of friends at night intoxicated and loud. No matter how many times I make my point, he continues the pattern. Last night, every time I'd be ready to get out of bed and yell, he would leave. Finally at a little before 5 am I gave up. I got up, put on my running gear and headed out into the early dawn hours. I got in a nice 6 mile run over the Williamsburg Bridge and back before heading to the McCarren Park Track. I saw hardly anyone on the bridge and got to watch the sun come up.

At the track, I joined the geriatric crowd as I ran a couple miles to calibrate my Nike SportBand. After the track, I came back home to take in some calories, get some water, and get my stuff for work. When I got back the roommate was still up with friends playing music quite loud. I yelled a few things grabbed the backpack stuffed with a laptop, scanner gun, sportbands, paperwork, and various other stuff and strapped it on my back and started running. The bag probably weighs 20 lbs, but I just kept running.

I went back over the Williamsburg Bridge and up First Ave. before heading over to work on 57th. I took it slow, but did 7 miles with the backpack on. Once I got to work, I set up, checked people in and then went out running with the group. I ran for 31 minutes...16 out and 15 back. A nice little tempo run. While running, I got to cheer on several of our pacers who were taking part in the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park.

After finishing up work, I sent the backpack down to the Runner's Station on the West Side Highway and went out for my last hour of running. The last hour was pretty slow, only logging about 6.75 miles, but I ended up doing a total of about 27 miles for the day.

I'm happy to have the day free, but I'm going to kill my roommate if he pulls the same stuff tonight. He's moving out in 2 weeks. Good riddance.

Rain

I only had to work for 2 hours today, but once again my cycling friday was thwarted by persistent rain. So naturally the next step was to put on some running shoes and head out for a run. I've had this pair of Nike Trail S+ shoes sitting in my room for about a month or so now and I'd only gone out on one short run. Well today was the day to put them to a test. On they went, and out into the rain I ran. My goal was to get them wet and muddy to see how they performed.

I was dodging and weaving, but unlike a sane person, I was actually dodging and weaving around dry spots making sure I soaked the shoes thoroughly. I wanted to test how well they drained water. Initially, they didn't seem to drain very well, but then I realized that they ended up draining about as well as the Brooks Cascadia. The Trail S+ didn't drain as fast, but they did seem to drain out the water about the same.

Mud was a different story. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find good mud in New York City. I hit up two parks but couldn't find the kind of mud I was looking for. I got the shoes a little muddy, but I was hoping to punish them a little more. Overall, I was happily surprised with the Trail S.

I only got in a little over 3 miles today, but with back-to-back long runs this weekend, I'm not too concerned with a low mileage friday.

And it begins...

I'm horrible at updating my journal, but as those of you who know me already know...i never stop talking about running. Or cycling. Or pretty much anything that has to do with outdoors/physical exertion.

This will be an outlet for me to channel much of that talk about new products, races, articles, and such. We'll see where it goes from here.