Discovery

"When we run, discovery is the first objective. We discover the countries, we discover persons, we discover mountains, and discover myself."
A great quote from Kilian Jornet from the latest installment in the Salomon Running video series.

In that vein, some things discovered (or reminded of) returning to blogging and training.

-Life is full of paradox. I can get out of bed at 4:30AM to run during a 70 mile week and then struggle to get my feet to the floor at 6:30 during a 10 mile week.
-Momentum is powerful. The propulsion of routine is strong. Popping up when the alarm rings at 4:30 or 7:30, the momentum of the previous day makes a difference in how I approach today.
-The new normal is the old normal. Somehow, despite the gravity of momentum, with focus new habits can be formed surprisingly easily. This is both reassuring and terrifying.
-Racing hard hurts just as much fit as unfit. The pain just starts earlier and is less familiar.
-There is no substitute for doing the work. Success is the culmination of large periods of time doing small things well.
- I miss K. Wlad's blog.
- Inspiration is everywhere. Blog posts, changing leaves, tasty cupcakes. If you are looking, you'll see reasons to run.
- Mainstream pro sports have lost their appeal for me almost entirely.
-Listening to Lucho's podcast made me realize I didn't take full advantage of his knowledge while he was my coach.
- Running is fun!

Raced this weekend. First organized event in some time. 10K trail run in North Van at the Lynn Canyon headwaters. A beautiful day for a race; Sunny and cool. The course was an out and back,  mix of stairs and climbs and rooty, muddy technical flats. The flat rooty stuff was just my cup of tea. Very similar terrain to what I'm used to in the Watershed. I went off the front of the small group I was working with coming through the roots on the way back.
The climbs were a different story. Not a lot of power in the legs. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I hadn't been keeping up somewhat with the squats over the last little while. More lowr body strength work will help. I've been doing one legged box squats and feel they have made a big impact on balance and joint mobility as well as strength.
Finished in about 57 min, 21st overall and 6/18 in the AG 30-39. Overall winner was 42 minutes.

Calves were feeling pretty trashed the next day. Made me wonder about hill running form and ankle mobility. Question to any vert running readers: When climbing, do you keep a flat foot, bend your leg and flex the ankle or come up on the toes?
Anyways, the soreness put to bed my pipe dream of running 30 hours on the 30th of November in support of prostate cancer research. Maybe next year.