Day 6 on the stix and a weekly summary...

Remain calm. All is well. ~ Chip Diller

Finally getting some snow up in the zone. We got a couple at my house but it pretty much hammered the whole time we were at Eldora today so that was refreshing. In typical Rock fashion it was blowing about 7 billion miles an hour too so that made it extra special. Fun day on the boards, though with Pete, Edy, and Caleb. Pete was feeling super sexy as he donned Edy's underthings for the day and borrowed my goggles because apparently his ski bag isn't big enough or something. Not sure what made him feel sexier, the goggles or the frilly undergarments. I am guessing the goggles.

Ok, so I have flailed on the weekly updates for a bit. My apologies. Things have been a little funky and I have been remiss about updates. Here are the last two weeks in summary:

• Sunday (11/16): Half a good road run in Boulder, 17 miles, 2:13ish. Well, I was awesome for about 13 miles then got stopped by a light and pretty much blew up. I did the first 13 at an 8-minute pace. Up the creek path to the end, back to 4th, over to Kalmia and down to the Foothills path. Good stuff as this isn't very hill-free. Really suffered for the last 4 but overall, I felt pretty good about the effort. Need to work on the "finish strong" thing a bit.
  
• Tuesday (11/18): Sanitas adventure, 6.5 miles, 1:30. Hit the trails with my buddy, Stephen. He showed me a cool, back way to the Sanitas summit. Really steep in spots so I had to walk a little bit but it was nice to be on trails. We descended the west route and my right knee started feeling a bit bunk from the steep drops and lack of miniscus. We then headed back up the valley trail and I called it at the top and ran back down in near darkness down Dakota ridge. Overall a fun run.
• Wednesday (11/19): Abandoned Broomfield run, 6 miles, 00:55. Well, I had every intention to run about 12 miles but did not feel well at all so I bailed about half way through. Super sore from the day before and my knee was bugging me so I thought it would be best if I bailed instead of pushing it.
• Thursday (11/20): Swim, 00:30. Hit the pool to see if that would make my knee feel any better. It didn't really.
  
• Friday (11/21): Recovery run with strides, 4 miles, 00:31. Hit the track for a bit then swam. Felt okay during but not super afterwards.
• Saturday (11/22): Supposed to do a 6 mile race/run but wasn't feeling it so I skied again.
• Sunday (11/23): Was supposed to do a 17-miler but took the day off instead.
• Monday (11/24): Ski
• Tuesday (11/25): Track run, 7 miles with strides, 00:54. Fast track run. Felt a bit wonky but was able to spin some fast laps. Swam afterwards.
• Wednesday (11/26): Ski
• Thursday (11/27): Ski
• Friday (11/28): Track run, 5 miles, 00:38. Did some strides and kept a steady pace throughout. Actually felt pretty solid, which was nice.
• Saturday (11/29): Ski

Overall, I am feeling pretty beaten up right now but that is getting better. I am going into full taper mode at this point and am even going to bail on some of my scheduled training to see if I can get feeling injury free by next Sunday. The plan for this week is to do a short run tomorrow (probably about 5 miles), a short run with a serious effort on Tuesday (7 miles or so with 3 at super max effort), rest Wednesday-Friday (well, I will probably have to toss in a few laps at the local slopes but rest is relative). I fly to Vegas on Saturday and will probably try to get in a 3 miler then game on Sunday at 6:00 am.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Day 5...

Badassmofos.

Has anyone actually ever seen a live Cornish Game Hen? ~ Rach

Hit the Basin this morning with Pete after skiing by myself at the Rock yesterday. So that's day 5 which gets me within hucking distance of last year's mark. I would prefer quality over quantity but since that is an impossibility with our current temps and snowlessness, I'll take the latter.

I feel like I am skiing pretty well overall. A few items on which to focus but I was finally able to get my carve on thanks to Larry at Larry's Bootfitting (thanks for the tune, Larry!) which felt pretty solid. Now I just have to get through the next week and a half then hit it for real.

Pete gets his turns on.

~stubert.

Couples' night...

She was licking your neck?!?! ~ me

Couples' night ranks a close second to "date night" as my least favorite of all nights. Even worse than "pork chop night" in my book and you, dear reader, are about to find out why.

Rach and I moved to Boulder in the summer of '91 and I began work shortly thereafter at a local bike shop -- a serious McJob while I interviewed for positions in Med schools around the country. I quickly became somewhat reluctant friends with another salesperson whom we'll call "Phil" for no other reason than I would like to protect his anonymity just in case he would prefer it that way. Phil was dating "Evelyn", a Swedish transplant in the States via a fake green card marriage (to someone non-Phil) that was to be annulled later that week and Phil asked if Rach and I would like to join him and Evelyn for a celebratory evening on the town. Naturally, not knowing what lay ahead, and our dearth of acquaintences at that point, we accepted the offer with enthusiasm. Big mistake.

So the night of Evelyn's annulment started off with introductions, then drinks, then a few more drinks with a serious amount of awkwardness, hilarity and horror thrown in for good measure.

Evelyn was an attractive young woman with some serious, serious unresolved issues. Apparently, she thought of herself as a mystic of sorts with the ability to "read" people and their auras. No more than 7 minutes into the evening, Evelyn grasped Rach's hand, started manically caressing it with her thumb, looked into her eyes and said, "I get a strange vibe from you... did your father molest you?" This was the first of many awkward and fearful glances exchanged between Rach and myself that evening. Seriously? That's your lead in? Maybe they do things a little differently elsewhere, honey, but that is not your typical getting-to-know-you conversation here in the U.S. Evelyn then stated that she would like to paint Rach naked. Her English was actually quite good but we still aren't certain whether she meant the nudity for the painter or the paintee. Given the rest of the evening's events, most likely both.

Another round of drinks was ordered and apparently my number was up next. "Why are you so hateful toward your father?" she questioned me directly. I was trying to figure out if she had read too much Sophocles, Freud or both at this point and an interesting discussion ensued with me trying to explain that my dad is actually a great guy and her telling me otherwise. Phil sat quietly in the corner with a idiot grin on his face. Either he didn't know how to react or was so used to this kind of wackiness that he was unfazed.

Thankfully, it was now time for all the girls to go to the restroom. Phil and I quietly sipped our drinks and exchanged work stories. Good times.

Now Rach isn't sure how they do things over in the old country but we're both pretty sure that Evelyn then made a not-terribly-subtle pass at Rach. Unless of course she was trying to lick chocolate off Rach's neck that had mysteriously appeared during the course of the evening. Or perhaps she was a budding vampiress... or needed salt. In any event, we'll just call it a practice pass because when she and Rach returned to the table, I was next. At least that's what the foreign hand on my upper thigh was telling me. A couple more inches and she would be able to tell my religion... or find out I didn't have a hernia.

It was time for a new bar to see if the crisp, night air would cool the passions of our new companion. It did not. We tried several times to halt the game of sexual-overture-ping-pong without success and as closing-time approached were asked if we wanted to accompany Phil and Evelyn to their apartment for more drinks. Not wanting to spoil the moment (and thinking this might provide the opportunity for a wicked dodge), we agreed and headed back outside.

Shortly after departing the bar, a young man came towards us and Evelyn grabbed him by his jacket and attempted to shove her tongue as far down his throat as humanly possible. He didn't seem to mind too much and gleefully returned the favor. Awkward looks were exchanged and after a short pause, Gentleman Action Stu kicked and gently tried to pry the two new friends apart. "Back off, homeboy," came the lad's sharp retort to my efforts. Apparently, this briefest of pauses was enough for Phil's highly honed boyfriend skills to kick in and he was able to extract Evelyn from the stranger's embrace.

"So... I think we'll call it a night," I quickly stated with an eager nod from Rach. "It's getting late." Objections rang forth from the Evelyn/Phil camp but we were adament that we needed to get home and Rach assured them that we would get together again, SOON, with all the sincerity of Kathy with a "K" saying "We'll have lunch, soon!" too the departing Temp in a Kids in the Hall sketch. We exchanged hugs and were quickly on our way.

This is one of those evenings that you pretend never happened upon next seeing your workmate. Or, if your job is expendable enough, you may never even go back to work at all. But two weeks later, Phil actually invited us out again. We respectfully declined, citing a prior engagement.

So if you have invited us out for a couples' evening, or are planning to, keep in mind that this all comes flooding back into our consciousness upon hearing the offer and we are immediately terrified. Our couples' night PTSD kicks in and we dive for cover under the nearest coffee table.

~stubert.

Day three...

Three days was the morning. My focus three days old. My head, it landed to the sounds of cricket bows... ~ Jane's Addiction

Hit up the Rock with Caleb this morning. One run, variable conditions, but a morning of skiing is better than a morning of not skiing.

My knee has been bugging me for about a week (but skiing didn't seem to bother me at all) so I am heading down to Boulder this afternoon to see Mark Plaatjes and have him check it out. I am sure he will use his 7th sense for pain points and focus all his attention on trying to jam his thumb through my leg at that point. He and his wife, Shirley seem to be the only two people with this unique ability.

I'll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Irony...

With its faltering economy, the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity it once was for Mexican immigrants. ~ Bruce Finley

Well, that is one campaign promise the leadership of the last 8 years seems to have kept.

~stubert.

Fast. Furious. - Weekly summary...

Yo tengo un pato pedorro. ~ Pete Sabin

What a week. Way WAY too busy with work. Made me grumpy as hell but eager to get my runs in. Spent most of the week indoors but laid down some fast laps and felt pretty solid about it all by week's end.

• Sunday 11/9: Horrendous half, 13 miles, 1:53. This was not the workout I had in mind as I just pretty much suffered through most of it. Felt friggin GREAT on the downhill then things got windy, cold and ugly fast. I find it virtually impossible to run slow enough up hills at altitude to keep my heartrate down. By the end, I couldn't keep it under control on the downhills. Plus I got nipple chafe. How lame is that as the proverbial cherry on top of a miserable run?
• Monday 11/10: Recovery swim, 30 minutes. Good to get in the pool to wash away yesterday's tears.
• Tuesday 11/11: Wash Park runstravaganza, 7+ miles, 00:57. Now THAT's what I'm talking about. Was down in Denver for meetings so decided to head to Wash Park for some laps. Was feeling pretty solid so I decided to step it up and lay down some good times. I have come to the conclusion, however, that I am an ugly runner. Who's that lump plodding down the road over there? Oh THAT? That's stubert.
• Wednesday 11/12: Indoor half, 13.3ish, 1:44. Ok, I felt the need to really put the hammer down and had a 12-miler scheduled so I figured why not turn that into a half marathon and see if I can get my target pace for the full dialed in? So that is what I did. Painful? A bit... but I felt okay afterwards and am now feeling pretty confident about adjusting my raceday target to something below 3:30 since I won't be at altitude. I'll keep you posted on that.
  
• Friday 11/14: LT 9-miler with some barefoot then swim, 9 miles, 1:09. Hit the track again because work kept me busy until after dark. Spun the first three miles at a steady 8-minute pace then turned on the heat for 5. Tried to keep a 7-minute pace for these but was redlined after 2.5 and had to back off for a little bit then crank it back up. Ended up finishing the first 8 in 1:00, which for me, is awesome. Then I did 1/4 mile slowish jog then 3/4 mile barefoot. All in all, a great training session. I then swam for a bit to cool down.
• Saturday 11/15: Day two on the planks at the Basin, 1:30. Pete, Edy and I headed up early and made turns until it got crowded -- which didn't take long. The snow was decent and a morning of turns is better than a morning spent sitting in front of the computer.

Total mileage for the week: 42.5
Total time for the week: 8:15ish (including swims and skiing and whatnot)

All in all, a bad start with a solid finish. Starting to feel fast and definitely more able to manage the heartrate at higher speeds. Good stuff.

~stubert.

Holy moly finally a weekly update...

Stay on target. ~ Gold Five

Aw crap. Did I just quote Star Wars?!?!

Ok... the last couple of weeks were just nuts so I am finally getting around to a weekly summary. It is spotty, at best, so bear with me a little.

Anyway, needless to say, I have been pretty stressed. Working the campaign, several client projects, and trying to get back in the groove of training. "Busy" doesn't begin to describe... So here is a feeble attempt to reenact the last couple of weeks -- for your reading pleasure:

• Sunday 10/26: Obama rally in Denver.
  
• Monday 10/27: South Beaver run, 8 miles, 1:08. Felt like hammered crap. Couldn't keep my heartrate down to save my life. Post race, I have really been struggling. I am going to lose the nail on my right index toe and my left index toe appears to have a bit of tissue damage that I am going to have to treat with rest and ice. It'll get better and there is nothing wrong with a little rest.
• Tuesday 10/28: Swim, 00:30. Just getting my low-impact on.
• Wednesday 10/29: SKI DAY #1, 1:30. Toe was killing me but Pete and I had a great time at the Basin. More swimming, 00:42.
• Friday 10/31: Halloween swim, 00:42. Not eaten by any zombie sharks.
• Saturday 11/1: Swim, 00:45. I am getting better at this but am not a huge fan.
  
• Sunday 11/2: Ran on the track, 2 miles then swam for about 30 minutes.
  
• Monday 11/3: Lifted weights and swam a bit, 00:45. Cold and windy up here so I went to the gym for a bit.
  
• Tuesday 11/4: Election day recovery run, 6 miles on the track, 00:48. Felt ok, not great. I was working the election for most of the day then did my run, swam a little, then worked some more and listened for the results. Needless to say, by the end of the day I was exhausted but thrilled to death to have a new President. Rach made phone calls to people all across the country to GOTV. I can't wait until January 20th.
  
• Wednesday 11/5: Aero run on the track with strides and barefoot, 9.5 miles, 1:12. Finally a great post-race run. Took awhile but I felt awesome and kept a solid 8-minute pace throughout. Did strides at every mile and then did 1/2 mile of barefoot. I think this is the fastest 9 miles I have run and running barefoot was actually kinda cool. Swam for a bit afterwards.
  
• Thursday 11/6: Sat in front of the computer. Ugh.
  
• Friday 11/7: Aero run with strides and a couple fast miles, 9+ miles, 1:10. Ran at the track, late in the evening because work took up the rest of my day. I felt great, actually, and was able to keep the HR down even at an 8-minute pace. Started doing strides at every mile then tossed in sub 7 miles at mile 7 and 9. Feeling really solid. Swam for about 15 afterwards to cool down.
  
• Saturday 11/8: Recovery run in the woods, 5 miles, 00:47. Didn't feel so red hot today but given the last couple of efforts, I am okay with that. First time outdoors for awhile and it was nice to get back out to nature.

All in all, I am feeling more and more recovered and am getting back in the swing of things. With the marathon in about 4 weeks, I am feeling fairly confident. I am not really looking forward to the aftermath but am hoping that my second foray onto the tarmac will be a little less painful. Very enthusiastic about laying down solid 8-minute miles without killing myself. Skiing is going to be a real distraction and work has been slaying me of late but I think I can manage to stay focused and do well at Vegas.

The Community Center has been a really awesome resource. Psyched I gave it a whirl. I anticipate spending some time there over the winter staying in good running shape.

~stubert.

44...

This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can. ~ Barack Obama

It goes without saying that today, I am one happy camper. But now the real work begins. We have taken the first step of what will be a long journey. It feels good to be on our way.

Americans stood up yesterday and spoke -- rather loudly in fact. They said "no more" to the politics of fear and hate. A wonderful sentiment that I hope carries on to future elections.

There is still a lot to do and this type of change tends to happen in spurts. I am proud to have been a part of history last night. And proud to have Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

Let this inspire others to greatness, encourage all of us to be everything we can be, and mark the moment when we can get back on track and foster compassion for our planet and all its inhabitants.

~stubert.

Election erection...

Can't blog. Geeking out on vote results.

~stubert.