Pop-up books have come a long way since I was a kid
Mommy? is a marvel of paper engineering, and Phil was captivated by it. But maybe we shouldn't have looked at it right before bedtime.
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Mommy? is a marvel of paper engineering, and Phil was captivated by it. But maybe we shouldn't have looked at it right before bedtime.
My plans for the next few months do not include any road marathons or road ultras. Since both of my road ultras last year were painful experiences, I'll need some additional time to overcome this "pace aversion" (which I define as "taste aversion for runners").
My plans do call for a bit of everything else, however.
My next major ultramarathons are likely to be the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 in Bellingham on June 6th and/or the White River 50 on Crystal Mountain on July 25th. (I say "and/or" because I might skip one if I get sick the week of the race or my training goes worse than expected or whatever.) Also, Brian Morrison tells me that about 20 miles of the North Face course can be previewed (in the reverse direction) at the Chuckanut Mountain 50K on March 21st, so I'll do that one as well. My joke to myself is that I'll run Chuckanut "just hard enough to win." It's true that I would love to win and would prefer not to kill myself in the process, but a lot of fast people will be there -- besides Brian, the current start list includes Bryan Dayton ('08 Chuckanut champ and '06 USATF 50K trail champ), Adam Lint ('08 White River runner-up), Aaron Heidt (who almost beat me at White River), Peter Ellis ('08 Chuckanut runner-up), Matthew Simms ('07 Chuckanut runner-up), etc. -- so, in all likelihood, I'll have to fight hard for a place in the top 3-5.
As mentioned in my last entry, I'm reducing the frequency and intensity of my extra-long-and-hard training runs, leaving more room in my schedule for quality speed workouts and shorter races . . . like the Valentine's Day-themed Love 'Em or Leave 'Em 5K at Green Lake on February 8th, for example. Due to poor family planning, I "warmed up" for this race by hanging out with my son until about three minutes before the start, at which point I finally got my number and did a couple of half-hearted accelerations. But Brett Winegar had an even better excuse than I did -- he had run a 2-mile track race the day before -- and still crushed me, 15:03 to 15:29. I managed to sneak into 2nd place in the last mile, and the guy I passed "friended" me on Facebook a couple of hours later, so I guess there were no hard feelings about that.
Love 'Em or Leave 'Em was also notable in that it was my debut as a masters athlete, sort of. I'm still 4+ years shy of my 40th birthday, but my teammate in the pairs competition was Henry Wigglesworth, whose age of 51 easily put us into the 80-and-over category. Our ages ultimately didn't matter, though, as Henry's 16:44 gave us a cumulative time faster than those of all other registered teams, young and old.
I suppose that's as good an omen for the year as any.
I want to write something about my recent training and goals for the spring and summer. But all of that makes sense only in light of what happened last year.
So, last year in a nutshell: I ran three major ultramarathons, two of which (Mad City 100K and World Cup 100K) went badly and one of which (White River 50) went well. I also did a bunch of shorter races, where my performances were generally hampered by my preparations for and recovery from the ultras. On the positive side, I improved my trail running technique and, I think, (re-)learned a few more things about myself and what I need to be happy.
What exactly did I learn? I'm glad you asked.
Lesson #1 was that I need more sleep. This one sort of snuck up on me over the course of the year, as Phil started going to bed later and also became more demanding and thus more stressful to take care of. I always used to stay up after Phil's bedtime to work on the computer or watch a movie with my wife or whatever. But I'm a better person the next morning if I go to bed shortly after Phil does, even if it's only 9 PM.
Lesson #2 was that I should think twice about flying to a race for which I feel inadequately prepared. The disappointment of the World Cup race, in particular, was magnified by the fact that the trip swallowed up a lot of money from sponsors (SRC and PNTF) as well as several vacation days. I'm not ashamed of the decision I made at the time, which was to try to put my training difficulties behind me, make the trip, and give it my best shot for the sake of Team USA. But I won't necessarily make the same choice in the future.
Lesson #3 was that my training should be less "scientific" and more enjoyable. I'm a strong believer in the training principle of specificity (meaning that one's training should specifically simulate the demands of the goal races), so I practice for 50-milers and 100Ks with 25- to 35-mile training runs at race pace over race-like terrain. The problem is that I've come to dread these runs. Even worse than the physical stress is the frequent psychological stress of discovering that my planned race pace feels unsustainable. I'll continue to do race-pace workouts, but I'm going to experiment with different formats (e.g., doing only the second half of the run at race pace) that should offer more variety and less stress.
Lesson #4 was that short races can be a nice reprieve from many of the unpredictable aspects of ultramarathons. Too often these longer races resemble a sadistic game show where I'm doing well until I land on the "Leg cramps; walk to finish line" square. At a 5K, in contrast, I usually get the time I was expecting, more or less. There's comfort in that, even if the time is not one I'm particularly proud of.
My little corner of the Van Voorhis lab is about to expand again! We're looking for a full-time entry-level research technician who can assist me with biochemical experiments (such as enzyme activity assays and thermal melt assays) designed to expedite the discovery of new drugs for malaria.
If you know of someone who might be interested in this position, please send them to the UW Employment website for further information. The opening to which I'm referring has a "Req #" of 51928.
The job does not require an interest in running, toddlers, or other topics discussed on this blog.
In a good science fiction movie, the usual laws of science may not apply, but the world is not completely nonsensical; it is still governed by certain rules. We may not always understand them or approve of them, but they are there just the same.
As I see it, watching a toddler is sort of like watching a science fiction movie. The rules of toddler behavior can be hard to grasp and even harder to accept, but at least there are some rules, a fact that I find comforting.
My latest video of Phil, while not necessarily as entertaining as some others in the collection, nicely illustrates this aspect of toddlerhood. Phil's actions in the video are, to an adult observer, ridiculous, but they aren't random. He operates according to a protocol -- one that he uses before every bath, I might add. Whether this seems cute or annoying to me depends on the day.
I guess some nights you're in the mood for a sci-fi film and some nights you aren't.