Category Archives: Training

Happenings

A busy week is ahead of the OGRE’s. OGRE Scott is racing the 70.3 race at Lake Logan, NC on Saturday. OGRE Dru will be riding 60 miles from Endurance House on Sunday (7:30AM if you want to ride along), with an hour or so brick off the bike. Then next Thursday night, OGRE Dru will be doing a Bike 101 Clinic for roadside repairs at Endurance House Alpharetta (6:30PM).

Feel free to come and join us at any of these.

On a side note, it looks like the Sunday OGRE ride for 08/16 is going to relocate and ride with the Olde Blind Dog crew on a tour of 3 gaps from Dahlonega. Should be a good day of climbing and fun.

Loving the Run

Over the last few years, I have met a lot of runners. I enjoy chatting with them. So many runners talk about the runners high, and their love for running. I admit that I have struggled with this. The run, for me has several distinct phases.

  • Pre-run: Uggh. Run Day. Maybe lightning will hit me and I can take the day off.
  • The first 8 minutes: Uggh. It’s hot, my legs hurt, my lungs hate me, running sucks.
  • The next 8 minutes: Oh fine, I’m out here, let’s get this shit done.
  • Somewhere around 15-20 minutes in: Lalalalalala, I’m thinking and thinking and singing along to the tunes, oh hi other runner. How far am I going today? Aw screw it, I’ll go till I’m tired.
  • Somewhere around the time I’m supposed to turn around: I still feel alright, but the plan says only do x.
  • About halfway back from the turn around: Hmm, still feeling good, maybe I can push the pace a little.
  • About 8 minutes later: Holy crap, that hurt, WTH was I thinking.
  • The last .25 mile: finish strong you big dufus.
  • Post Run: That wasn’t so bad, I guess. I want ice cream. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. It’ll spoil my appetite, but dammit I want ice cream.

Notice, nowhere in that is the famed runners high. For me, the run is something I have always had to motivate myself to do. Here we are, 4 years into this whole, getting fit and living a healthy lifestyle, and I keep telling myself how much I don’t like the run.

Then I take a few days off for some reason or another and I discover something.

I don’t hate the run anymore. Far from it in fact. Turns out, I really miss the running when I don’t do them. I feel guilty when I skip runs. I struggle to get motivated to DO the runs, but once done, I am satisfied.
Does this mean that I’ve found the love? Perhaps it does. At least it means that I value the work over the guilt of not doing the work. Perhaps, just perhaps, that is the real secret to learning to love the run.

Valuing the results over the actions. The fitness of getting that run done, and being better prepared for the next run with each one. Maybe that will get me over the hump to a point where I am excited about run days like I am for bike days.

Link
Article form Lower Extremity Review

Article form Lower Extremity Review

The whole article is worth a read, but it supports what the minimal runners have talked about for a long time. Too much padding can produce injury just as quickly as not enough.

Personal opinion? too many of us think we know how to run, but we don’t really know how to run to protect our bodies. Running with good, safe, form is really hard. Most of us have spent so much of our lives in shoes with heel to toe drops and right to left support that our bodies have forgotten how to absorb the impacts through our feet.

That means, you cannot just ‘switch’ shoes, you have to work towards less padding slowly. Apply a method, and most importantly, listen to your body. If something hurts, figure out why.

Training Opportunities with the OGRE’s

Just a heads up for any Atlanta area readers that might want to come suffer along with the OGRE’s. IT is Wednesday, so we will be out with the Endurance House crew riding their Wed Night Ride. OGRE Dru is expecting to lead the B2’s on the EH WNR route at about 16.5-17 mph and then follow that up with an 8 mile run around downtown Alpharetta.

Feel free to come out and get your sweat on (weather permitting, or not).

The Ride (Wheels down 6:15PM) https://www.strava.com/routes/2439821

The Run (Feet on the pavement after the ride) https://www.strava.com/routes/2940107

Weary Legs, Weary Body, Rest Day Blues

I’ve joked a lot about how much I struggle with rest days. Here we are, another week in the books, with less than 10 to go until IM Chattanooga, and it is rest day. For once, I am truly grateful for my rest day. My body is telling me it needs today in a bad way. It is not anything specific, but more of an accumulation of the last 3 weeks combined with a lack of sleep. The lack of sleep is mostly a side effect of work + training + family stresses all hitting high points at the same time. Eventually it all catches up with you, and that is exactly where I am today.

Weary.

It really is the best word for it. Nothing is broken, nothing is injured, but I need a day off nonetheless. The worst part is that by this afternoon, I will have forgotten how worn out I feel this morning and I will have to resist the desire to do something. In the grand scheme of things though, these days are arguably more important than workout days. They clearly indicate that the training days are getting it done. It is however, high time this old body takes the day, so that is what I am going to do.