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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Luxury of Hindsight


“Attacking the organism with a variety of aerobic stimuli” – paraphrase of famed coach Renato Canova in regards to his fundamental phase of training


I love racing. Umm, well, maybe I don’t love the excruciating pain during the second half of races, but everything else is a gift to enjoy and savor: the nervous anticipation and excitement on the starting line, the rush of running in a pack or closing gaps,  the relief of crossing the finish line, glancing at the time on the digital clock with sweat stinging your eyes, the satisfaction of running a personal best, the testing of your limits, proving to yourself that you still have what it takes to progress, the camaraderie of fellow runners, meeting new people, post-race parties, traveling to different locations =Pure bliss. This is how I like to live and feel alive.

On a side note: I also like to do some new shoe reviews: 



At Hansons I didn’t get to race as often as I would’ve liked. Sometimes I had to go 3 months or longer without getting my racing fix.  For me that was way too long, and while I see some benefits in doing a solid training segment of a quarter or a third of a year in duration without racing, such a strict training regime was just not for me. Often, I’ve gone long periods of training that lead to overtraining and/or and anemia. Without the essential feedback from a recent race performance it was sometimes hard to gauge how my fitness level was progressing (or digressing) during such training segments.  In retrospect perhaps I left some of my best performances out on the roads hammering workouts and trying too hard to hit impressive splits – such demands that slowly lead me down the path of overtraining instead of super-compensation. The irony is that runners usually associate over-racing with burnout and staleness in fitness, while now I’m starting to see how racing more often at different distances might actually help avoid over-training (and be more fun in the process!) In races you have to show all your cards, and that kind of hand just isn’t dealt from hard workouts.

I was always thirsty...to race more while training in Michigan: (l to r: Robert Scribner, Me, Chad "Nails" Johnson...Asst. Hansons Coach Don Jackson holds the water)



 So since variety is the spice of life (and running) I’m hoping to have the opportunity to show my cards more often at more races. After slowly coming back from my incident at Chuckanut I’m itching to test my fitness for the first time at this weekend’s Portland Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon. I guess Kara Goucher and Ryan Bak are going to be running there as mentioned in this press release by Mario Fraioli of Competitor.com. They will probably be wearing some slick Nike singlets; I’ll probably go shirtless and will be wearing some 6 year-old racing flats that I just found under my bed. Should be fun.

Adding to my racing schedule listed below, I’m now looking at doing a half marathon that goes from 8,000 to 10,000 feet before Mt. Washington next month, then perhaps Pike’s Peak or something later this summer (if I don't have chronic altitude sickness by then). I’d like to throw in a couple 50k trail races as well. I want to get into Sky Racing and I want to compete against the best trail/ultra runners. Any race suggestions?

In closing, I wanted to share this video from fellow Oregonian trail runner Timothy Olson. It highlights his race at Western States and I think it captures the essence of trail running. I never thought I’d say this, but it makes me want to try a 100-miler some day. The background music is from Michael Franti, and it has been stuck in my head for the last two weeks. Great song.


Hope your spring season is off to a great start. 
See you at the races!
-Sage

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