And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly.
Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.
- Maya Angelou
I feel like I’m reliving the nightmare of trying to get in IM after IM and repeatedly getting shut out when registration sold out before I could even refresh my browser. Only this time, it’s just for the Level I USAT Coaching Certification Clinic! I mean, my gosh, pretty soon there is going to be a one-to-one ratio of athletes to coaches if these clinics are going this fast!
The process of training for and competing in an IronMan needs to be experienced to truly appreciate it. We spend months (and years) building up our training volumes and intensities in an effort to hit the starting line at peak condition. The physical training is long and hard, but I believe it’s the mental focus that sets athletes apart.
I’m sitting on the couch watching some Monday night football and relaxing after my first day of training at the US Ski and Snowboard Team’s training center in Park City. I packed up and made the “beautiful” 11 hour drive yesterday from Mt. Shasta. For those of you who have never been on the stretch of I-80 from Reno to Salt Lake City I can only compare it to driving on the moon. It’s a desolate landscape accented by white salt flats and the occasional truck stop/casino. I will head to Steamboat Springs on Friday for Halloween (my favorite holiday) with my friends and teammates Justin Reiter and Erica Muller. After a proper celebration we will head back to Park City for our annual fall physical testing camp with the U.S. Snowboard Team.
Awesome tool at runnersworld.com. Helps you prevent, diagnose, and treat injuries effectively. Check it out…
http://www.runnersworld.com/runnersbody/
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So much has been happeningin the past month. I have been completely missing in action from posting updates. Taking a little bit of a break before jumping back into it full on. Right now I am juggling my Cyclocross season, trying to get on a road team for next season, and then the thought of actually hanging it up.
There’s a nice introduction for athletes on how to get into yoga—appropriate for both women and men—in November’s issue of Her Sports magazine. (Apparently, it’s also the last issue under the Her Sports name; the periodical has been rebranded as Women’s Running.) It’s also available online here.
Last week, tempo run felt hard at 7:55 pace. Maybe I could try 7:50 next week. This week, J says…you are too slow. You are running your VO2 Max sets at 7:05, 5k goal pace is 7:15. Tempo should be no more than 20 seconds slower. So I run tempo tonight at 7:20 (1st blown interval) - 7:40 pace (the other 3 all deadon).
Voila…the power of expectations.
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Those of you with Carolina ties who’ll be in Chapel Hill on November 15 should consider running the Eve Carson Memorial 5K, which starts at the reasonable hour of 10:00 a.m. on the beautiful Carolina campus that Eve loved so much.
Tuscan life is simple. It is an artisan dominate culture - rich in many traditions that show up in their amazing food flavors, art, the love for the land, the beautiful language and the way families spend time together. We witnessed multiple generational crafts - from cheese making to restoring a castle - that showed how passions can be transferred through from father and mother to son and daughter.
