Week 14

The twinge in my calf turned into pain following last week's 22 miler so I shelled this week's second quality workout and moved around the other workouts to try and put as much time between runs as possible. Still managed 52 miles of mostly easy running against what should have been a 63 mile week. Legs feels better after an Epsom salt bath and a couple sessions with the stick. Easy 20 on tap tomorrow and I'll be running two out and backs on trail to give myself a chance to pull the chute if things flare up at all.
The rest of the week is easy running and a 10 mile tempo effort on Thursday.
Had a chance to preview some of the new music I picked up including the latest album by a group called Fanfarlo. They are from England and that's pretty well all I know about them. It took me a while to think of who it was they reminded me of but then I clued in: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, indie rock darlings circa 2005.
Three songs this week. One from Fanfarlo and a couple from C.Y.H.S.Y's self titled debut from 2005.

Week 13 Summary and quality workouts

Week 13, 11 weeks till race day. Biggest mileage week for me ever. Just over 70. Legs feel good. Bit of a twinge in my right calf that I'll have to keep an eye on but otherwise feeling good.



Stopped wearing the HR strap for the key workouts because it was pretty uncomfortable and giving me a spot of chafing on my sternum. Long run was tough, ran on a dike next to the Pacific, 11 mile out and back, with the wind on the way out and fighting it all the way back. It's a hill without a summit. Effort equal to about 20 sec/mile faster pace. Good for the mind. Toughen up...



With the internet comes podcasts, and with podcasts comes new music. I DL'd about 10 albums today and will throw up some more good stuff once I've had a chance to listen to it all.
Today, something a little outside my usual sphere: a Canadian/Somalian rapper named K'Naan and two singles from his latest album 'Troubadour'. He was raised in Mogadishu until he was 13 and then moved to Toronto. Powerful perspective listening to someone with his background.

More Music

Training is going well. Lots of comfortably hard efforts, working up the mileage, stressing form and core strength, all the important boring things that happen while building base and prepping for training later in the season.

Couple interesting tracks: Phoenix is a buzz band from France whose horribly titled album, 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' is a pretty good listen.

Metric is another Canadian band whose 2009 album 'Fantasies' was also shortlisted for the Polaris prize. Interestingly, the beat to this song is a perfect 90 cadence. Solid.

My Pick for the Polaris Prize

First two tracks from Hey Rosetta!'s Polaris prize nominated album 'Into Your Lungs'. It's my pick to win it this year. I put the first two tracks up so you can get a feel for the whole album.

Imagine if...

Imagine if this guy:
and this guy:
started a heavy metal band inspired by superheroes, fantasy role playing games, and of course, Battlestar Galactica. Jump on the treadmill, put on your headphones, and buckle up your chinstrap. This one goes to '11' !

Is it genetic?

Similar, hey? The top picture is my daughter, Violet. She's the one on the blog header trying to escape from my hoodie. The bottom picture is my wife Jamie at the same age, er, um, a few years back.

I think I have an idea what Violet may look like when she grows up!

Not a training post AT ALL but two cute baby pictures is a good cop out until I can get something put together.

I've included some more music as a special added bit o filler. This track is a song called 'Highway Patrolman' from Bruce Springsteen's watershed album 'Nebraska' released in 1982. It seemed a fitting choice considering the 'family' theme we've got going here. Between 'Nebraska' and 'Born in the USA' you can see pretty quickly why they call him The Boss. It's slow and haunting and I'm not ashamed to say the first time I heard this album I cried. Enjoy.

Not SMRT

I wanted to throw some music up here but when I went to my BOX account I had forgotten the password. Finally hacked my own account. For anyone who isn't familiar, Arcade Fire is a band from Montreal that became a pretty big deal around here a few years ago with their debut album 'Funeral'. Here's a couple from that release. Enjoy. Sorry southern neighbours, none of the usual maple syrup and dogsled references that you are used to hearing in Canadian music.

Pick it up!

20 minute WU with 4-30' pick ups at the end. Fast but controlled were my instructions. Then a three mile tempo in 20:30. Works out to 6:50/mi pace. I was up late last night watching 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' and I was soooo tempted to sleep through my alarm. The thought of having to explain to Lucho that I skipped my workout because I was 'sleepy' got me up and moving. Another intangible benefit of having a coach. Tempo chart below:

This run was tough. I did it on a track near my house that's not exactly flat. There's a drop of about 15' in the first 200m and a climb of the same amount in the last 200. It becomes more and more noticeable as the laps pile up. I made a deal with myself that if I wanted to stop running I would have to do it on the down hill stretch. No copping out on the uphill portion. And of course on the downhill section the legs got rolling over, it hurt a bit less and I didn't feel like stopping anymore. Around the back stretch, legs and lungs complain a bit more and the deal making begins again. It worked really well for me to break this run up into smaller portions rather than thinking of how far I had left to go in total. I just focused on running smoothly with good form to the next line on the track (every 10m?) instead of saying "OK legs, I know you're burning but we've only got another two miles". I've found that strategy to be about as effective for keeping me going as the spectator at the marathon who yells "You're almost there!" at the 22 mile mark! Good workout for both the legs and the mind.

Today, two songs jumped out at me. They sound totally different but both have a sexy vibe.

'Wolf Like Me' is frantic, insistent, overt and a little rough. It reminds me of a drunken backseat hookup. Except for a slow section in the middle, a pretty good song to run to.
Spoon's track has a seductive rolling beat but it's not really that great to run fast to. It's got a more laid back, bluesy red wine rhythm. It could be the soundtrack to a 'For Your Eyes Only' sort of photo shoot. For that one night a year when endurance athletes stay awake past 8PM. Click the player to fire it up or the song title to download. If you like either of these and want the whole albums (which are both very good) drop a comment and I'll throw them in the Box as well.

22 miler tomorrow should leave my legs trashed just in time to take the day off on Monday. Big shout out to Gunner who's lighting it up at the Grand Columbian Triathlon this weekend in Electric City, Wa.

It works!

Click the Link to DL. More to come. n