Injuries

June is just around the corner. I've got a jar of sun tea on the wall in the backyard. This means that the heat is in effect. This also means that any trail runs will have to occurr in the mountains. I haven't been there since December. I'll need to go check things out soon to see how much snow is still in effect. I'm pretty sure I want to run to the summit of Mt. Charleston and back before I leave here. That will be a daunting 16 mile run for me. 4000 feet of elevation gain peaking just below 12 thousand feet.

This month I upped my workout schedule by adding cycling. Some of it road, some of it off road. My legs actually felt energized after an hour of cycling and an hour of running. Something tells me I will have to get in a pool soon. Near the end of the month I was pretty sure I could reach 100 miles of cycling and running, but last week my right quad was none too happy. I had to take a few days off with my thigh wrapped and nsaid consumption. So I'm going to fall short of my 100/100 which is a bit of a bummer for me. More like 94/80. I just have to remind myself of my overall effort this month and not get too caught up on random numbers.

Truth be told, it's not a surprise that my legs got pissed. If I convert the cycling load into a conservative running equivalent, and on top of that factor in speed work done prior to angry thigh? It's really no surprise. It's an ongoing learning experience to listen to your body and balance that with your experience and what the experts say is good advice. I can recall talking to an ultrarunner at the shoe shop one day, and he was saying that he's been running for 15 years and it can still be fuzzy as to when to push it or lay off. Risk versus reward rules that day perhaps.

I was recalling the injuries I've had over the past few years. I can't even remember if it was 08 or 09, but I thought, "I'm going to start getting in shape." I picked up my 3 yr old tennis shoes and headed out the door to run in my hilly Nebraska neighborhood. A day or so later, the bottom inside of my foot hurt like hell. Liz said congrats you have plantar fasciitis. I don't even remember how long I had it. I think I just quit for a while and later got new shoes. I feel for people that get that condition.

Next I decided to ride my bike again, because Omaha has the most awesome network of cycling trails. This time my left inside ankle burst into flames. I could barely walk. The doctors were stumped. I got an ankle brace and chalked it up to many years of ankle issues.

Next I was running on the snow with ill fitting snow shoes while pulling my daughter around on the sled. It didn't help that our backyard was at 30 degree incline. Hurt the top of my left foot somehow. This only lasted a few days though.

By March of 10 I'd been injury free for a while and was just begining to get my running groove on. I was also trying the 100 push up program found online. I found myself being inconsistent and being stuck in a rut, so I decided I would try some plyometric type push ups with clapping. I can't be certain because of delayed onset, but that combined with all the house work I was doing caused my impinged shoulder to develop. It's just over a year since I've had that and it's pretty much put to rest, but it will remind me from time to time in the strangest ways. Oh you want to pick up a pair of socks? Pooop! Pain shoots out from nowhere. Strange.

Of course there was the groin injury earlier this year in Feb. It was only a first level strain, but it still took 2 months to get back to normal. So hopefully my quads will be happier sooner rather than later. Should I rest today or run? Guess I'll decide that later in the day.

Pink Cocaine Ramblings

Was spreading pink icing on a sugar cookie this morning and for some reason, I was thinking about time travel. I found myself scrolling way back into the data bank to a time that has become full of question marks. I'm thinking it was 10th grade math class. Algebra perhaps? What was the teacher's name?

The teacher was a short man whose hair had left long ago and been replaced with several prominent brow wrinkles. He wore round spectacles and was maybe slightly hunched in his stance and definitely overweight. He would smile only when referring to his big tan sponge, his upgraded chalkboard eraser, as David (as in Copperfield). He'd thank David for helping him out while putting up that pesky quadratic formula.

Our math teacher had some character to him though. He was quirky and though he could be a hard ass, so long as you weren't the intended target, well it was kinda funny. A few years later as a busboy working at a seafood restaurant, I had the pleasure of conversing with my math teacher. He was quite drunk and the restaurant was empty. I don't even remember the conversation in detail, just that it made me laugh. A few years after that, I learned that he had passed away. I like to remember him happily eating and drinking away telling me crazy stories about his real life. Strange to think how your life may be recorded in the minds of others.

But I digress from my time travel thoughts! I recalled one day taking a test. Everyone with their heads down furiously calculating away. So quiet, that if you stopped maybe you could hear an eraser rubbing or a pencil scrawling. Then, one guy has the audacity to raise his hand, with just a slight exhale to get the teacher's attention. His request was to use the bathroom! Surely it would be denied. After 3 seconds of a stare that was either penetrating or completely vacant, the teacher said "go ahead."

After about 10 min, this student came back from the bathroom. Chad was his name. He actually had a hair style more inline with what's popular today. He came back in flipping his bangs to the side in a way that said, " man I got way more serious shit to take care of." Again he let out a slight sigh upon sitting down. Later I was told by a fellow classmate, that his bathroom trip was to snort some coke. Who knows. Trying to picture a 10th grader snorting coke in the bathroom now? That just seems insane.

At this point, I am half way through my test. You're prolly thinking well you're way too busy watching people go to the bathroom, but in fact, I feel like I'm breezing through this test with ease. It's at this point, that my friend sitting about 4 seats in front of me slams his pencil down. He might as well have yelled out "done bitches!" at the same time. He turns in his paper and receives a questionable stare from the teacher that again is unknowable as to whether it was respect or pure boredom.

After class I interrogated my friend as to how he could've finished so fast. He had no explanation. I said to him, "I think you time traveled dude." He thought about it for a couple of seconds and then pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows to say, "maybe you're right!" And that was the end of it. I'm pretty sure he's been keeping this secret for years. Well played sir..well played.

Tweaky Meat

Is this next for me?



Maybe I could try it for a month, but no popcorn? no salt? man that's gunna be hard.

This week has been kinda blaah for me. I had a pretty intense workout on Monday and I've been feeling tweaky since. Hopefully, I can have a strong day tomorrow to cruise in on the weekend.

Moog Memories

I grew up listening to this album. I totally forgot about this song. It's awesome in that it mixes real brass with old school moog synth. I'm certain this album still exists at my parents house. Time for me to take your record player Dad!!

ok I can't embed it as the poster has disabled that option. I don't blame him though. Copyright freaks abound. Here's the link then, I know, just a link? jeez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrOxN-nZl-U

Meta Beta

This is an obscure post for the random or chance visit of a fellow bubblemod soul. I was Meta Beta, loved and detested all the same. I was going to tell you the story of how Meta Beta came to be. I still might at some point, but right now I'll just leave it as it is.

Didgeridooz

I was wondering what music or band my long time friends thought of when it came to me.

One of my friends who just came off a 3 day streak of listening to Neal Diamond said he thinks of me listening to Rush and Michael Stearns. I go through a Rush phase every year or so, but only with the older stuff. Michael Stearns??...not so much these days. Michael Stearns is considered new age space music. I just don't do much space music these days unless I have a craving for Steve Roach. However, Michael Stearns will forever be stamped in my brain for his soundtrack to Baraka which is just as compelling as the amazing photography of that film.

Another friend who I associate with Flogging Molly said when it comes to me and music , he always thinks of electronic music in general, aka Daft Punk's score for Tron or old skool Kraftwerk. It's interesting how electronic music developed so many different genres over the years. I have eventually labled myself as one who listens to IDM.

One of my closest friends I met in college through a guy who lived in my dorm by the name of Anthony. Anthony said hey, I have a friend who listens to Skinny Puppy, you guys should hang out. So simple it seems, and we've been friends since. Our musical tastes were so close for quite a while, but have diverged over the years. He says I still think of you listening to didgeridoo music! Dude! Really? That's what you think of?!! It cracks me up though. He is currently into Arabic drumming.

Here is an example of didgeridoo music.

and here is a clip from Baraka because it's awesome!

Stiffness

I am without a book! Kinda feels good though. 2 books in 7 weeks for me, not bad. Even Liz finished up The Year of The Flood, the second book to Oryx and Crake. Now we'll just wait for the 3rd book to come out in a few years. Meanwhile, I'll just spend the rest of the week soaking up the Beginners Special Edition for Triathlete magazine that I picked up.

So let me tell you briefly about Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It very much satisfied my expectations to learn interesting factoids about the way people die in cars, planes, land mine clearing, and crucifixion. I found the chapter on the forensic study of purposefully decaying bodies to help solve crime cases gruesome and yet fascinating. Of course the chapter on how people really die in plane crashes will most likely cause me some anxiety later, but the idea of an experiment throwing clothed guinea pigs out of a plane did make me chuckle.

What I did not expect though was how the book has really made me think about how I want my dead body dealt with. Or perhaps what I want isn't so important as how my loved ones want my body handled. Hah! No you must make soup from my ashes and consume me. Anyway, cremation seems like a popular choice these days. But being frozen in liquid nitrogen and then broken down into small pieces by ultrasound for organic compost seems kinda interesting too. Or Plastination where silicone polymer is injected into my body which keeps it life like for around 10 thousand years!

In one episode of Human Planet, the Buddists living atop a mountain can't bury their dead or leave them out due to the altitude. They will only decay and increase the chance for disease. There is one person there who can help, who is not a monk, and who needs to down some hard liquor before hand. His job? To chop up the dead body for the vultures to eat. It is their way of helping feed these animals and returning themselves to nature.

To me that's actually not such a bad way to go. But there is the thought of giving your body to science. It's too bad you can't specify ( maybe you can now I didn't look) what you want done with your body, only what you don't want done. I think a couple of my friends would be up for some kind of ballistics testing or helping test equipment for landmine clearing.

But fascination aside, it's really hard to read this book and stay completely off the path of contemplating your own death....your finite-ness. That element is a bit of a downer and yet revives that saying "Carpe Diem" to a new perspective.

Ughhh

I do not recommend spending 200 dollars, eating a piece of velvet cake that fits inside the 70 lb USPS Priority mail box , and drinking a bunch of tequila after running 20 miles. cough!!! gassspp!!

Game Of Thrones

I wasn't really excited about this show when I saw a teaser for it on Hbo. Fantasy type shows aren't my cup o tea, luckily I found the Rotterdam marathon to be completely boring to watch because of all the pacers. So I fired up the first episode. By the end I was very curious. By the end of the second episode I can say I'm offically hooked!

Here's the intro for the show which changes a little bit each episode I think. A title piece worthy of the quality stuff on HBO.

Chi Weenie

And what is a Chi Weenie you ask? More than the mere and quite numerous Chinese Weenie, but in fact the name you get when you cross a Chihuahua with a Dachsund.

I saw a small chiweenie at an adoption set up outside PetSmart this past weekend. He was small and tan, and looked more dachsund than chihuahua as many of the internet pictures show. I don't know why but this dog is stuck in my head. I guess he simply reminds me of my childhood dog who was a dachsund mix.

It's a consideration that I've had before and practical thoughts always say no, but who knows! I'm feeling crazy. Liz is already crazy. My daughter has spoken to our current dog an insists that Finley wants a chiweenie too.

I shake my head and breathe deep. siiiiigggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Big Horns and Blazeman

This may be the last time I can run at Red Rock in mid day. The cool breeze made the day much more comfortable. If that breeze hadn't of been there though, it would've been tough. Especially for the route I chose today which had a lot of steep uphill. Somehow I even managed to get on the wrong trail for about half a mile. This is twice now I've done this, reversing a path I normally take. I took too much water a month ago when I was out here, and today I just had 20oz (just enough). Looking up, feeling really hot and realizing, "Hey this is not where I'm suppsed to be!" can put a spring in your step for sure.

Others must've sensed the weather today because the trail was packed with hikers. I could barely find a parking spot. The flowers were much more active too. Lots of small clusters of yellow, orange, red, and even some purple. The macro on my small cam is not worth the effort, but I did snap a quick shot of a rather cool new cactus bloom.



At one point, I was going downhill and concentrating on my footing when I noticed something big moving to the side of me. Hello! Whoah, some Big Horn Sheep were fairly close to me. Glad those guys ran away and not towards me. This is all the way zoomed out too.





In the morning while eating, I watched a recording of the Ironman in Kona from 2005. About a quarter of the way into the show, I remembered watching this when it first came out. There was a man named John Blais , also known as Blazeman or the ALS Warrior Poet. His story is pure inspiration! Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, he was driven to complete the Iroman and he did. So I looked him up and found out that he passed on May 27th 2007. Seeing him roll across the finish line on tv really just made me sad. That sadness kind of stayed with me for the rest of the day even. I'm pretty sure I will contemplate the Blazeman many more times this month. I know he's still inspiring people, including me.

Here's a youtube snippet from Kona 2005