To the Brink and Back?... Fall Sports Update

Well we are about half way through the fall sports season and the kids' teams have not performed as expected.  Peach's team is 4-8, and Sampson's team has actually done really well, but the way they are finishing is all over the place.  In the smaller meets they are winning them because they have 7 or 8 guys finish before most teams get 5 across which I though would happen, but the order of the top 4 or 5 has changed every race, which is unusual for cross country.  Normally guys finish in similar order and one or two guys will switch spots every now and then depending on the course, weather, prep, etc., but this team will have one guy finish first, then fourth, then second and the top 4 is just a shuffle and see what happens.  Sampson has been hampered by some breathing issues through about 3 races and cramped up in that first race, but has finished first for the team twice, and finished second overall once.  He hasn't finished outside the top 10 in any race, which is impressive as the last race had about 243 kids...approximately.  Overall they have done well, but still haven't been ranked.  I think if they do well at the next meet they could crack the top 20 team rankings but they need everyone to run well.

As for Peach's team it has been a little rougher.  They started out 3-3 and they were doing the little things to pass the ball and hit it over that they didn't do last year and eventually I thought it would translate to wins, but instead it was a lot of close losses because they weren't really hitting with power or to the open spots.  Also the servers are pretty even talent wise and we don't have one dominate server, but we do have one weak return rotation that always seems to get put up against the other teams best server and that is when we give up the majority of service points to the other team.  Anyway, Peach's team was in the midst of a 5 game skid and during the last 3 games they had kind of fallen apart, especially the last game.  I would say Peach probably played her worst game on the road at the Huskies.  Everything she hit was weak, or hit incorrectly and the coach was laying into her pretty heavy on every point.  Well she ended up getting taken out for a 7th grader and this kind of sent her over the edge mentally and she kind of checked out.  Well she was so far out of it that the coach decided to give her a call and talk to her.  Sophie also had a talk, but that was because one of the girls Mom's had passed over the weekend and she was trying to give her a heads up... for 40 minutes or so....  Anyway I was prepared to throw in the towel thinking the season was lost, I have even given up line judging as I was extremely agitated.  In the past I have seen teams fall completely apart and usually they are just done, and mail it in the rest of the season and you might see one or two kids have some individual success, but you never see the team really put it together to pull out a dub in a tough situation.  Well the game last night may have changed the out look yet again.  We were playing the hated Jets (I mean it is junior high girl volleyball, so hated or rival may be a little overstated) and they had beat us in 3 sets in their house during the 5 game losing streak.  Basically that game was 1 set a piece and it was anyone's game and they made a huge momentum play to get the ball over the net, got the mo, and had a server fire fastballs over the net for 6 straight serves or so and every other time she has served was no more than 2 before she netted it or hit it out, so that was extremely unlucky, at least for us.  So we won the first set in a close manner, and the second set was not going our way (bad rotation first I think), but about midway through the set Peach started playing out of her mind.  She had 4 or 5 kills in a row (which at this level is crazy) and everything that was coming over she was hitting and making passes or hitting it over and she finally got a jump ball at the net.  It was crazy!!!  Her team was totally fired up and they just kept feeding her and she kept making plays.  I was very happy for her, and I think she figured out if she just plays things will go better.  That is the trick for young kids, getting them to actually play, rather than just execute A, B, C or X when Y happens.  Playing to me is just reacting and letting instinct take over and the instincts result is good plays without overthinking.  It is a hard place to get to, and we will see if she was just in the "zone" once or if her playing style is changed as they play again tonight, this time against the evil empire.  So that name may be harsh for junior high, but the school has totally earned that nick name, plus they are Sophie's old rival so she definitely has no issue with that name.  Hopefully we are trending up the rest of the season, time will tell...

The Streets are running yellow with rage!!!

So yesterday I hear from Peach that Sophie got yelled at and honked at on the way to school by the paper delivery guy.  Apparently Sophie didn't have her lights on and this guy thought that was entirely unacceptable and bordered on unsafe.  So he proceeded to tell her that she need to turn her lights on and honked generously at her apparently to reinforce the idea.  Well Sophie tells the whole story over dinner that after she dropped off the kids she saw him again on the way home.  This time he was stopped in the middle of the road and Sophie being the ever kind and gentle soul that she is, decided that "no matter how small the space was between the car and the side of the road she was going to squeeze in".  I didn't say she was patient.  Also on the way through she rolled the windows down and informed him that "It would be nice if people didn't park in the middle of the road."  To which he responded "Were do you want me to park?"  I don't think she replied, but the obvious answer is not in the middle of the road.  Anyway Sophie says she saw the guy later at Kroger, but he apparently didn't recognize her.  Perhaps his vision was blurred with rage during the earlier encounters.  This morning Sophie is looking out the window and she sees him delivering papers to the neighbors... and some urine to the bush in front of his business.  Well the neighbor has some cameras, so Sophie is going to check and see if the cameras got anything. 

Brooks Ghost 12 - A review

So I recently got the Brooks Ghost 12 shoe for running.  I've run about 15 miles in it so far and the shoe is really comfortable.  I would say the shoe is versatile for running on pavement or track or even a little off road.  I wouldn't necessarily use it for a trail run or something like that.  It didn't feel like there was a break-in period for the shoe as it felt ready to run in right out of the box.  So here is the good and the bad.  Some of the details first - the shoe has a 12mm offset or drop from the heel to toe.  It should help lessen fatigue in the legs on long runs.

Good:
 - Comfortable and versatile for different styles of runs
 - Nice amount of padding - use the Brooks DNA foam which feels soft but responsive.
 - Easy to run in - shoe feels very efficient, not necessarily fast but doesn't seem like it wears you out.
 - Good amount of tread - should hold up for a while.
 - No rubbing in the toe box

Bad:
 - The laces are kind of short - wasn't able to lock the laces without skipping a loop.
 - The heel rubbed me when I was wearing short socks - with long socks was not noticable.
 - There is a lot of fabric in the heel area and the upper is a double layer so it may hold water.
 - Heavier shoe - listed as 10.4 ounces - I think this is for a size 9.

Overall I would score the shoe a 8.5 or 9 out of 10.  If you are just starting out, it would be a great shoe as it is very versatile.  I wouldn't recommend it for a race necessarily because it is a little heavy, but would be a great daily trainer.

Cecil and the Sorority?

Well wonders never cease.  You see just as I was getting ready to turn 42 and turn the page on my college life, finally, I was asked to join a sorority.  Well technically not asked to join, just asked to try out or what ever it is they do.  I know what you are thinking...hasn't it been like 20 years since you were in school?  Well 19 actually, well 19 years, and 3 months and 3 days to be exact.  And aren't you a dude?  Well yes, but all I can assume in these new times is that gender identity and age discrimination are no longer apart of the Sorority way of life.  Alas with the kids and wife and job, it just isn't the right time, so I had to decline the offer...for now.  In a few years, who knows.

First 20 mile week

I was able to run 21.2 miles this week, plus walked 3 and went to 2 cross country meets.  So pretty busy week, plus there were 2 volleyball games.  I was pretty psyched for this and even though I didn't really feel like running last night, I knew I only needed 2 more miles to get there, so I ran 3 just to be safe.  I did have to take a vacation to do this.  Not sure I could pull this off with the kids competing in sports and things during a normal week.  It may be a while before I get another one...

Beginner Running Tips

So I have been running for a while and it dawns on my how hard it is to become a runner / jogger and all of the advice out there isn't necessarily geared towards or applicable for someone who is just starting out.  You see I never ran before, not in high school, not in college and not for fun (didn't even think this was possible), and it is really hard to go from the couch to a 5k or even just running to stay in shape.  About the only running I did do was playing basketball in pickup games.  Needless to say I wasn't in great shape to start, in fact I was probably in the worst shape of my life, tipping the scales at over 220 lbs. and just hating the feeling.  So I decided to start running, well mostly walking at first.  I didn't look too much for tips or tricks to start running, but after I got into it I started looking a little harder.  Wouldn't you know it, there are tons of people out there offering advice to start running, but there was one little problem.  Most of these people were far removed from when they first started running, and most of them were runners when they were young.  There is a big difference between starting running at 10-12 years old, and starting in your 30's or 40's.  When you are young you don't have all the mental hurdles, someone tells you to go run 2 or 3 miles you really don't know any better and because young people are usually in better shape or at least able to push themselves to a higher level they don't know they can't do it.  Fast forward about 30 years and if someone tells you to run 2 miles an expletive may come out.  Or at least your brain will will start swearing at your body telling it that you need to stop or else you risk death.  Basically it takes a while to break down all these hurdles if you are starting later.  My favorite piece of advice is that you should run "at conversation pace" to start out. Well if you are out of shape, and you start running there may not be a "conversational pace".  It is basically 0 to struggling to breathe, right out of the gate.  So here begins my tips to go from not being able to run to hopefully running a 10 minute mile without much struggle, and how to get there by by-passing some of the mistakes I made.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice.  As always you should seek medical approval or advise or however that gets worded, before beginning any exercise routine.

1) The basics - Get a comfortable pair of shoes that can support the effort you want to put forth.  I wouldn't advise spending $200 on shoes to start, but if you can find a pair of good running shoes, that can maybe double as shoes you would just wear on a day-to-day basis where you can get some good value out of them that is best.  I wouldn't advise getting a ton of running gear to start, because then it could become cost prohibitive, or you fell like you have invested so much into it that you "have to" go do it, and running shouldn't feel that way.  It is literally the cheapest cardio exercise out there if you don't over complicate it.  I mean all you need are your feet and outside.  Some people don't even run in shoes (I wouldn't advise this, I would say you likely have a form issue if running in shoes bothers you or some type of chronic issue that maybe you shouldn't be running anyway).  As running starts to become easier I would highly recommend a device that can give heart rate feed back when you are training (more on that later).

1b) When starting to run, if you want to run for an extended period, slow down.  If you go out and think "I am going to go for it and just take off running", it likely won't go well.  You can do this and try and do it in spurts of 100 meters or 200m to start with, but you will run too fast.  If you run slow, it can feel like you aren't really "running", but if you haven't run before your heart will physically not be able to sustain the effort.  Start from walking and gradually speed up, if it becomes unsustainable slow down.  The more you can run the more it will help.

2) Start on a track.  This way if you are feeling good you can go an extra mile, or if you are hurting or the weather gets bad all the sudden, you are no further than a quarter mile from being done.  (Vin Diesel would be proud).  The only bad thing about running a route out from your house is if you get 2 or 3 miles out and you hurt yourself or cramp badly, you are 2 or 3 miles from getting home.  I would wait until you feel a little better about running, until you are more into it, before venturing out a couple miles from home base.  Vin Diesel may still be proud.  If it is convenient to go in a loop around your house, say a block or so, maybe trying doing laps at home if you don't have a track available.

3) Stay on your feet.  If you run a little and need a break, that is fine, just don't go sit down and take a break.  Walk if you can, so that you stay moving, or stop and stand if you have to.  This is called active recovery.

4) Warm up. At least a little. Sometimes for me this is a mile or so or maybe less, then do some light stretching or some dynamic stretches.

5) Learn the difference between soreness and being hurt.  Sometimes you can run through some soreness, again this will be your brain telling you to stop, not you being physically unable to run.  If there is a shooting pain in some part of your legs or body every time you step, this is more likely an injury.  If you are injured, you may only need rest to feel better, but if you have severely injured yourself you may need medical help.  If you are having pain every time you try and run or if you run and are unable to run for 2 or 3 days, you may have some form issues.  A search on youtube may help you find proper running form techniques, I would suggest filming yourself too, so that you can compare what you are doing versus what is correct.  Fixing the problem could be a bigger challenge, because you are probably running how it feels natural and you are going to have to change.  I have changed the way I run a good bit in the last 3 years and feel much more efficient even if I am not appreciably faster.  I am faster, just not super fast. yet...  I have had shin splints, sore calves, some knee pain, sometimes shoes can cause pain if you are switching between high offset shoes to low offset.  (Offset is the difference between heel height and toe height.  A quick search of your shoe can tell you what the offset is.  Going more than 3 mm down in offset did cause me issue for about 3 weeks until my body adapted to the new shoe.)

6) Ignore too much quick start advice.  Good thing I saved that for last ammirite? There is a lot, and I mean a lot of tips and tricks out there, but like I said before, it has been a long time since these people were starting out and likely they don't remember or haven't even encountered this issues that you are when first starting.  Look at my levels of running post, and try and avoid taking or trying to implement tips from people that are more than 5 levels away.  When you are just starting don't worry about cadence or pace, just stay on your feet and keep moving.

Slightly More Advanced Tips

1) Learn the difference between the aerobic and anaerobic systems.  When you are running long distance you want to try and use the aerobic system, because there is a steady flow of energy.  The anaerobic system is more quick energy and it can get depleted fairly quickly.  You also won't lose a lot of weight if you aren't in the aerobic zone, that is were fat stores are used.  Think marathoners use the aerobic system to convert the fat to energy for most of the race and use the anaerobic system for the kick at the end.  If they were running with the anaerobic system they probably wouldn't be able to get over 10 miles.

2) Monitor your heart rate while running.  Your heart rate will determine what energy system you are using.  The rule of thumb for max heart rate is 220 bpm minus your age.  So for me this is around 180...okay fine it is 179, but this is the max rate I should ever run at.  And I can tell now if I am in that range, I start to breathe really hard, and I can feel the blood racing.  To stay in that aerobic zone you want to be 70-85% of the max rate. For me this is between 125 - 152.  This is where I will be burning fat and can run for an extended period of time.  If I shoot up to 160 or higher that effort will likely be unsustainable. It maybe ok for a 5k, but anything longer I will need to whoa up.  If you heart is racing, you are going too fast, slow down to get your heart to slow down.  Once you build up the aerobic base, you can run longer and get more out of your workouts.  This is why I said get a heart rate monitor.  Usually a smart watch will give you the feedback you need.  Also the max heart rate calculation is just a rule of thumb.  That means it works for most people, but not everyone.  If it doesn't seem like it is working for you, then you may have a much higher or lower max heart rate.  You can get tested (VO2 max test) but it is costly, listen to your body.

3) Use a run tracking app.  It will help you be honest with yourself about your miles and your frequency and intensity.  Plus it makes it easier and more rewarding when you see the increase in pace or distance in your training.  I use the Under Armor Map my run app, but there are tons out there.  Samsung has one that comes on their phone, fit bit has one (but on this one I couldn't get it do the GPS without having my phone), Garmin has surprisingly sophisticated watches for tracking runs, and there is a thing called Strava.  I haven't used this but there are some neat features I have seen other people use.

10 Levels of Running

So I started running about 2 years ago, or 3 years ago, well this is my 3rd year of running so how ever that works out.  Anyway I have noticed that some more experienced runners have much better form, and much better technique and tons of aerobic capacity.  When these people are trying to give advice to new runners some of the stuff doesn't always ring true.  What I have found is if you have never run there are quite a few mental hurdles that you have to get through to be able to run for any distance or amount of time.  People who have run in the past and are maybe getting back into running have a distinct advantage because they don't have to convince their body that what they are doing won't kill them.  When you start running in your late 30's and 40's you have to break through those barriers a little at a time and sometimes the advice from these higher level runners doesn't always translate or are so far from being attainable that people may not stick with it because it doesn't come easy.  So I am going to layout what I think are the 10 levels of running and add that advice given from more than 3 or 4 levels away should be taken with a grain of salt.  Most of the time if an elite level runner is giving advise you need to be level 5 or higher to be able to incorporate what they are saying into your training. 

Level 1 - Novice - just starting out, never ran before, never been coached.
Level 2 - Some running, but probably not more than a mile or so at a time, low aerobic base.
Level 3 - Somewhat serious, maybe 5 to 10 miles a week or 2 or 3 sessions of running
Level 4 - More serious about running, has purchased shoes specifically for running maybe will run a 5k or local race (I went through the first 4 levels in about 3 months)
Level 5 - Somewhat competitive - Targeted training maybe 15-20 miles a week, 3 or 4 sessions, has some goal times set and works on form or target areas (Me now)
Level 6 - Higher mileage - 25+ miles a week, 80-100 miles a month, good bit of gear, tracks workouts with apps.
Level 7 - Low end racer - Will race competitively in 5k, maybe up to half marathon. I would say most high school runners are in this range. Capable of low 20 minute 5k times.
Level 8 - Competitive racer - will challenge for 5k wins in smaller events, maybe a capable half marathoner or even marathoner.  Serious training 40-50 miles per week.
Level 9 - High end racer - Can compete at harder events, BQ (Boston Qualifier) at marathon level, lots of training, lots of miles.
Level 10 - Elite Racer - Best of the best, top 10 at majors, ultra runners.  Crazy talent and crazy miles.

In running you absolutely can't skip steps (no pun intended) and you can't skip levels.  But I think people who are more that 3 or 4 levels away have a hard time relating with some of the challenges people at lower levels face.  I'm not sure that an elite racer really understands the difficulty of the novice runner who is struggling to catch their breath after about 200m of medium effort running.  That is why I am going to try and put down some ideas to help people starting out, because I am much closer to that end than to being an elite runner, and I think I have a better handle on the struggles of early running than an elite ultra marathoner.  I will reference this in the future, but from what I have seen I think this is fairly accurate.  There may be some other levels, but rather than having 14 levels I think most runners can squeeze into one of these categories pretty easy and it keeps the comparisons a little simpler.

Fall Sports - Off to a hot start...

This is more literal than figurative as the first week of school and sports is in the books.  Sampson ran on Tuesday and it was about 91°F outside with the sun blazing so that is where the literal hot start comes from.  Anyway he was able to hold on to second place for about 2 and 1/2 miles and then he cramped up.  You see, this kid is about 170 lbs. and 5'11", which is very big for a high school cross country runner.  I doubt that there will be anyone finish in front of him that is heavier than he is, until we get to maybe regionals or district.  So he went out about 5:24 in the first mile, which is about 16 and half for a 5k, which is smoking for the first race.  Well the second mile was about 6:38 and the third was another 6:40 or so.  He ended up 8th overall which is good, but 5th on his team.  Like I said, his team should be really good, and the boy who finished first was the 8th runner on the team last year, so good on him for really putting the work in.  I could tell Sampson was a little deflated after the performance, but I think he felt good about how the team did.  He was ok the next day, and was able to race on Saturday.  The meet on Saturday went a little better.  He finished 10th out of 138, and finished first on the team this time.  The team got second behind a team that finished second in the state in division 3 last year, so that was good.  This time the kid that finished first for the team on Tuesday finished 3rd, so this year it looks like it is totally up for grabs how guys will finish.  This weeks race is the home race, but there is no home court advantage for Sampson.  So far he didn't run the race as a freshman and finished 4th on the team last year, but was hobbled a little.  This will be his second time running it competitively so hopefully he can finish without an injury.

On the volleyball side, I was hopeful that Peach's team was just going to be world beaters and come out of the gate and just jump on teams, but so far they are 0-2.  They have only won 1 set, but the 4 they have lost have been by like a combined 10 points.  I think they are playing the right way though and just need to be a little more confident when returning the serve.  That seems to be the biggest hole right now.  That and consistent serving.  They seem to be pretty good during the long volleys and setting the ball for each other.  I mean I don't know a lot about the game, but based on last year they are ahead technically of what they were doing, when they were just hitting it back over.  Interestingly the 7th graders are 2-0, but are doing what the girls did last year and just hitting it over.  It will be interesting to see if other teams catch up and can handle those easy balls by the end of the season.  On a side note, I did get to be a line judge for one of the games.  I won't say I was the best line judge ever, especially for someone who has never played competitively, but probably in the top 5 all time for the first game ever judged ;).  See if I can keep that momentum up on Thursday.  At the end of the game it was essentially game point for the other team and I was on their side of the court, and our girl served it and it was going out, but one of the girls on the other team took an ill-advised one-handed stab at the ball and just grazed it, so I made the little hand gesture that the ball was tipped.  I don't think the opposing coach liked it, but it was the right call and the girl that was serving didn't have to end her last game on a serve out of bounds. 

Fall Sports 2019

Odd to be talking about fall sports when it's like 90°F outside, but it is that time of year.  Sampson is heading into his junior year of Cross Country and Peach is playing 8th grade volleyball.  I watched the volleyball team scrimmage one game and they looked much improved from last year.  They did add a couple girls that are pretty good, and a couple of the girls have gotten much better from last year.  Also Peach got her first spike ever in the scrimmage so that was pretty cool.  On XC side Sampson's team should be really good.  They got every scorer from a regional team back and none of the scorers are seniors.  I think at some point they should be ranked in the state this year, if not, it is because they don't have a dominate number 1.  Sampson is trying to fill this role but will have his hands full not only from his team but from some local competition.  Honestly I can see his team getting 8 or 9 guys in before some teams get 5 guys across, and there is the possibility that they can have 3 sub 18 guys early in the season.  I think Sampson's goal is to get to state, be all-OVAC, and all Buckeye 8.  If he could sneak out a win somewhere that would be icing on the cake, but as long as stays healthy and is able to compete I'll be happy.  There are several guys that will be right on his heels for this season, but last year I thought he made some good changes to concentrate on the season.  From icing his legs before races, no cutting out certain foods.  This year he needs to concentrate on the training to have his best races at the end of the season.  The one thing he may be lacking is mileage, but he has probably run more than he ever has so I can't complain.  The coach said he needed to be in the 500 mile range for the summer and I don't think he got close to that, so we'll see.  For perspective, I have run 126 miles since May, and I couldn't even qualify to be on the team, but I'm also not 17.  Like I said I just hope he stays healthy and is able to improve from last year, if he does that he will be in a good spot and if the rest of the guys improve, they could be really good.

For Peach, her team was kind of up and down a little last year and as the season progressed I think other teams got more better (yikes) then they did.  If that makes sense.  Basically they started out better than other teams but they didn't get all of the passing and 3 hitting plays down by the end of the season where some other teams did and they could handle the ball if you just passed it over rather than having a good striker.  Peach says she wants to be the spiker and she has grown a good bit over the last 2 years (still no where near as tall as Dad, but way taller than Mom) so she could fill that role now.  They are also playing on high school nets, no more shorter nets for the jr. high. It will be interesting to see how this season goes as it looks like the summer work has them playing a little more like a team.  It will also be interesting to see how bad Peach can cut herself since she is growing out her nails and she refuses to cut them even though there is absolutely no advantage you can have in volleyball from having long nails, you can only cut your self.  So far she has cut herself twice.  Well here is wishing the kids good luck and good luck to my wallet to get into all of these games.

The Tractor Incident of Aught 19

So Sunday the 28th of July I had a bit of an accident.  Well let's start at the beginning of the day.  First we had church, (well I mean I got up, ate, got dressed and what not).  At church they were doing something different that day, open mic night or day or morning.  Anyway it was a chance to get up and praise God for anything or anything that has happened, and I didn't have a specific story, I mean I could talk about a lot of things, but it was important for me to just get up and say something.  I think when you have that opportunity to witness for God you have to do it.  At some point I will describe my path from college to where I am and how all of the little things kind of worked themselves out, but not right now.  So I said my piece, went and sat down, and Peach was with me and said that it was nice.  Like I said I don't know everything I said, it was just important to go up there.  Did I mention I followed the guy who was formally imprison and found God there, and also had a trachetmy at some point?  If that guy is praising God then I got to get up there!!  So we went out to Mom's after church and we were visiting with Bo and Susie for the kids birthday.  It was getting late, but I decided that I was going to go ahead and mow the grass, so that maybe I could take the next weekend off from mowing.  Well during the course of opening up the yard, I normally take about 4 laps around the house, then go to the outside for 2 or 3 laps.  When I started around the bank I was thinking that I let Sampson open the yard up last week, and there is no way he would get as close as I get, so I tried to get a little closer to the bank, because I figured last week he didn't get as close as I do.  Well he must have. 

Post from April on new Fitness Ap

So I have started using a new health app, the Samsung health.  It actually isn’t new and apparently I have had it for a while and just never really used it.  You see I had the fitbit alta and I really like it but after about a year and 3 months it kind of took a crap and isn’t holding a charge, so I decide to go all in on Samsung and get one of the fit pro’s.  Well Best Buy had one for $150 as an open box and it seemed like a super good deal.   I think I may have to add the 2 year protection though because I can see battery issues coming with this one too.  Anyway the app allows me to input the calories from every food I eat and it keeps track of them.  The best thing is it has some preloaded foods or pulls from a connected data base and it will save any food and nutrient information you put in.  So every time you eat a similar meal you can find it really easy.  So far I have realized that I was eating a lot more calories than I thought…oops. Well this is correctable, but Sophie is gonna be mad because I really want to limit my calorie intake so I can lose some weight.  Yes it is going to take effort, but I am ok with that.  I am *cough* in my forties *cough* so I want to take a little better care of my self.  I started running / walking about 2 years ago when I can and I am picking up my training this year to try and get to 25 minutes in a 5k.  That essentially means I will run the whole race, no walking.  I have been working my way along the local 5k course, gradually building up the distance so hopefully by the end of June I am doing the full course a couple times a week.  Anyway I think if I can lose about 10-15 pounds that will make the racing easier and hopefully help with the weight loss.  Sophie pretty much hates to hear about anything healthy though and has already threatened divorce just 2 days in.  I don’t think she is serious, but just to be safe I’ll try and keep this on the down low.  Hopefully it works and she will want to do it too.  I think that will make things easier if we do it together.  I’ll wait until the anger dies down a little though to introduce these ideas.  Also the Samsung watch comes with the “MapMyRun App” which I hope to try out today.  I like the fitbit app tracking of runs so we will see how this one works.  I also told Peach that if she got straight A’s we could pick out a fitbit at the end of the year. 

Cemetery First Run

So pretty pscyched for training after the race last week, and am picking it up to make up for that 2 seconds.  Anyway I am using the Map My Run app from Under Armor and am experimenting with the courses and training features.  Basically you can set up your own training program, set the days of the week and kind of what your goal is, plus it uses your past performance to gauge where you need to train.  I used it for my last race, but because my watch wasn't syncing the workout, I needed to run the phone and watch at the same time.  Anyway this lead to having duplicate workouts get logged, and I had to delete the one which was synced to the program.  I could always go back and resync the watch work out, but didn't always do it.  This time I am going to try and do better and logging the workouts so it can put me on the correct path. One other feature of the map my run is that you can create a route and load it to the phone.  Now I tried this with the cemetery loop and it wouldn't map the whole thing because there was no road to the school, so I had to do it in two parts.  Well the loop was about 5 miles and I wanted to step up the old training so I figured it would be a good loop to run up the cemetery hill and then back down all the way to the house.  My muscles said it may not have been a good idea.  See I had run the cemetery before, but I drove to the school, would run down the cemetery and then back up.  The difference on this run is I ran to the bottom of the cemetery, then ran up, then around the school and then down the big hill, back to the house.  I was reasonably pleased with the effort as the old legs were burning during the run, but this is probably the first time that was actually easier to run than walk that I have experienced.  I ran a mid 12 minute pace for the whole run (granted the uphill part was closer to 15/16 minutes) and it took about an hour, so I was really happy about that.  There are some other paths I can take as well to stretch the mileage out a little, plus if I needed to put a lap around the school in that would get me up to whatever mileage I would need.  I figure I can stretch the loop to around 6 and half miles if needed.  There is another loop around the same area that can do 8 pretty easier, but that is aways off.  Overall I don't feel bad after the run, like I thought I would, the weigh in this morning was also a low of 196.6 lbs. so that is good news.  The program I'm on I should take tonight off, and then test tomorrow for 12 minutes at race pace. We'll see how this progresses, but so far so good on the first big jump for me.

skyview app - A review

Downloaded the Skyview app for my Samsung S10 and it is the best star layout app that I have used.  I had trouble with apps in the past, but this one actually shows the stars, planets and constellations.  Pretty neat.  You can use it any time of day as well and snap awesome screen shots of constellations doing crazy things...

You can see Orion just hanging out at the fire...

Or attaching Peach during the day.  I don't think he likes the sun...

WATCH OUT SAMPSON!!!! IT'S CANCER!!!!

Hey Aquarius, stop pouring stuff on me...

Sophie attacking a bear.  This is good stuff.  Anyway there is also some neat astronomy stuff too, and it links to the wiki for information on the constellation, you know if you want to use it outside.

2 seconds

This is what 2 seconds looks like in a 40-49 age group in a 5k coming to the finish line.  I mean if I knew that was my competition I would have stepped it up earlier, but looking at my UA map my run stats I was at about 212 beats per minute on the old ticker coming to the line so that was all I was giving at the end. Plus I ran like 90% of the race at my max heart rate.

Betty Zane 2019

So me and this guy - one won the race, and one got second in his age group.  Probably no reason to go into specifics, but I am proud of this kid for getting his first ever 5k win.  Pretty cool that it is at home and Dad got to be in the race too.  So even though I didn't win (spoiler alert, wait did I do that right? I mean seriously you should be able to tell from the pic) I did set a PR with an official 28:58 clocking.  The temperature was about 82° and sunny, it felt warmer than the 82 for sure.  I modified my race strategy to seeking shade when possible and stretching out the walking periods in the shade.  I'm glad I got a PR by about 30 seconds, but I was hoping for 25 minutes when I started training and trying to get to around 27 as a minimum (wait a tick if I change the minutes to seconds . . .that makes it a 24 minutes and 238 second run, so sub 25 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).  I have done more focused training this year than the past 2 years, but feel this result is a little disappointing.  I'm on the right path though.

Disclaimer: on Sunday I did wreck the riding lawn mower at Mom's house over the bank.  It ended up flipping up on one side, not sure how it didn't keep rolling over the hill, but when it tipped over I landed in some pretty tall weeds and apparently some poison ivy.  I have a pretty decent bruise on my leg and the poison was bad enough that I had to get a shot.  So no excuses, but that is not the best way to finish your training before a race.  I told Sampson this and he said "noted".  Love that kid. I may make a blog post on this event...stay tuned.

Anyway he was actually a little disappointed too.  You see the last 1/2 mile or so of the race is pretty much a straight shot to the finish and Sampson had been leading pretty much the whole race.  Well his buddy from last year, who had the bad race at the end of the XC season, came up to him and started chatting it up during the race.  Well Sampson was about out of breath and so I don't think he responded, but then his buddy went out ahead a little and even though nothing was said, Sampson said that he thought his buddy checked up a little bit and maybe... just maybe let him win.  I didn't see the end of the race, like not the first finishers, I mean I saw the end when I got there about 10 minutes later but... I told him that he should remember last year and how is buddy had his worst race of his senior season at districts and he thought he was done until the team pulled out a qualifier for regional with Sampson running a PR and placing number 8 overall and first for the team.  I told him, maybe he didn't let him win as much as he wanted to square up.  Or maybe he just cramped up or something and he got the dub out right.  Sometimes you can't over think things, I mean be glad you won the race kid.

Anyway back to my race.  So I have been training on the course pretty religiously this summer. I would say I have run the full race at least twice, but run the first mile or so about 20 times.  Last year there was a water table right after the first mile, so I kind of planned on hitting the first mile pretty hard, taking a little break at the water station, to wet the old whistle and then run hard to the rec center.  I would try and catch my breath a little before the hill and run up the hill.  Well there was no water station after the first mile.  This through my race into complete chaos.  Well maybe not complete chaos, but definitely had me thinking more, like were there going to be any water stations, and was I screwed, would I die of the dehydration like Bobby Boucher's Daddy.  Anyway I have been training without drinking water on a run, but it was hot and I was trying harder than normal and my mouth was really dry at this point.  Well the first station ends up being at the top of the rec center hill.  Which is actually a good location because you can take a quick break after the big hill, recover and take off on a pretty straight flat stretch, with a nice little down hill for about a mile.  Well once I broke the seal of stopping then it becomes to easy to stop and I probably stopped about 4 more times.  I ran a practice race on Saturday and finished in 29:58 and I only stopped 3 times, and the last little downhill from total sports I clocked a 6 minute mile for about a tenth of a mile.  This time though I wanted to meet that time goal so every time I ran I tried to run hard and with good form, but the endurance just wasn't there.  I think I have some good technique now, but no aerobic.  Anywho, I am happy with the finish, but I have some unfinished business.  Which is good in a way, because I am still motivated.  I do like running, but I need to figure some more stuff out, and do more speed work. I only trained at a max of 12 miles per week, which is above what I have done in the past, but the results are only sub 29.  I mean a tractor did roll on me 3 days prior so there was that.  But I think I need to run around 20 miles or so a week in order to break that 27 barrier, and if I can get the cardio, I may be able to get sub 25.  I'm not sure that I can or will ever be able to keep a pace of sub 20 starting this late in life running, but that may be wayyyyy out there as a goal.  More likely I will run a half marathon before I break 20, but it may be fun to see what can happen first.  Oh some more motivation, the guy who got first in my age group...beat me by 2 seconds.  But honestly I tried to run as fast as I could that last little bit, and I just couldn't get there.

Anyway it was great to run in a race with my son, who I never actually saw after about the first 1/4 mile until the finish line.  But I have some goals and look forward to meeting them.  I was think about running the Debbie Green race, but Sophie said that was a bad idea to run two 5k's in the same week.  Well it is also a bad idea to roll a lawn mower on you and get poison ivy, so why the heck not run two.  Well she never signed me up, so there's that, but maybe next year...

Valentine's Day Massacre

That title may be a little harsh for 7th grade girls basketball, but it totally fits.  You see yesterday was the final game of the season for Peach's team and the girls had gone undefeated all season.  The closest game was maybe 6 or 8 points (more on that later) but the rest of the games were double digit wins and the game before the finals was a 32 point blow out.  So basically all season the team had played the 10 girls on the team at some point every game and for most of the games the substitutions were quite liberal.  Now my opinion on the subject is that junior high teams and high school teams should sub frequently if they want to win... if you have the players obviously.  It is unlikely that a team has 10 players that are all of an equal level, but honestly there are probably about 2 or 3 that should get more minutes and the next 4 or 5 should be subbed early and often.  Also at this point in a season a coach should have developed a rotation of subs - basically if you have 1 or 2 people that you want to sub infrequently you have found a way to sub them at the end of quarters or at the beginning of quarters to get them some extra rest and the other players can develop some chemistry or a style with the big gun on the bench.  Because if you don't the team is going to get tired and you eventually lose due to attrition, and it takes one heck of a coach to pull the trigger for a sub with 3 minutes left in the game when they haven't subbed much before that, and one heck of a player to step into that situation cold.  The alternative is that you use timeouts to generate rest for the player, both of which Peach's team didn't do and resulted in a 34-31 lose to a very good team.  But a team that didn't play everyone, but did sub frequently with 7 girls.  Peach played for maybe 3 -4 minutes in the game out of 24.  Now let me say one other thing about subbing at the end of the season.  I think a lot of people think that as the season goes on you get more and more conditioned to play, but I think it is the opposite.  In the early season you focus a lot on running and conditioning, but as the season goes on, it becomes about practicing plays or game planning for a team and the practices become much more focused on strategy and most of the running a player will do is in the games.  So if you have played without subbing up to this point all the sudden loading players up with minutes in a game is going to backfire spectacularly.  This is how I envision Sampson's team losing this year in either the sectional or district, because we haven't developed bench players, and there are 2 guys that never get subbed unless they are in foul trouble. Any who, back to the massacre...
So Peach's team hasn't lost all year and most of the wins have been by double digits including one by 60 points.  Her team has probably shot more 3's than Sampson's team in less games.  Now traditionally with junior high teams if they are running the table and throwing up big point totals then they are probably pressing and getting layups, but Peach's team has pressed probably less than 5% of the time and plays almost exclusively man to man.  Most of  the time if a pressing team gets beat it is because the other team can handle the pressure and eventually get a layup on the other end because the pressing team is badly out of position against good ball handling teams, so a team that can dominate in the half court and dissect presses is hard to beat, which is what I would call Peach's team.  They also can go 8 deep, (qualifier here, the top girl is one of the better 7th grader's I have seen, boy or girl after that one girl can shoot, one can handle the ball, and the next two are taller, but the first 3 off the bench are versatile, short but fast and a good rebounder, strongest girl on the team) and have been giving more time to the 9 girl at the end of the year so the team is deep.  For this game though the coach didn't sub any in the first quarter or the last quarter, and only subbed once in the second and third for about 3 or 4 minutes total.  The bottom 3 starters have not experienced this kind of work load and to put them in that situation in a championship game was not well thought out.  If you play a certain way (and most of the time after 4 or 5 minutes it was sub 3 girls out) and win your games you should stay with that style and if you win, then you win playing your game, but if you lose, then you lost playing how you know how to play.  The girls didn't get that chance and when they were up 13 to 6 in the second quarter it really had that feel of "if we don't start subbing we are going to get tired and lose"... and that is exactly what happened.  The other thing that cost them is - if you aren't going to sub, you need to use timeouts to get players rest.  We left with 4 timeouts in our pocket.  Another thing they could have done was play zone.  While her team didn't normally play zone, it could have been very affective against the team they were playing.  They used a lot of screening action and back cuts to score that could have been neutralized, plus I don't know that they were a great shooting team, so packing in a defense and making them score over the top could have been very effective, especially after we had the lead.  A zone also helps your team rest, which if you aren't going to sub is kind of important.  But we didn't play any zone, and at the end of the game the girls were getting turned completely around, and couldn't find the ball on defense.
I felt really bad for Peach, because she is honestly one of the best 5 basketball players on her team, but she isn't fast so she gets over looked, even though she is a good passer, dribbler, and rebounder.  I understand coming in the first day of practice, looking at a team and deciding who the best 5 girls are and those are your starters, but if one person has a good day, or one has a bad day and you are too rigid to change your evaluation, then that limits you as a coach.  There was absolutely no way, that you can go a whole season and not see this.  Time will tell but I guess if Peach ever wants to have a shot, it isn't about basketball, it is about how quick they are.  Dumb.  If a kid has a skill set to a sport (good batter or pitcher in baseball, dribbling/passing/shooting in basketball) being super quick isn't the most important thing.  Good technique can make up for a lack of quickness or height in basketball too, but those have to actually be coached.  One last thing, just a coincidence maybe,  but Sampson's 7th grade team lost in the championship too.  They came back and won it all the next season and only lost one game...  No pressure kid.

2018 XC has reached the Finish Line

Well it was a really successful season.  Both teams ended up taking a ton of hardware to the house and in the end they both made it to Regionals!!! So Sampson had probably his best race at Districts this year and helped pull the team through.  Our senior that had finished first for the team all year, cramped up and finished 7th for the team and everyone thought we were toast and that he had run his last race and it was really sad because he had done so well all season and had probably his worst race of his career on his last race.  It was really similar to how Sampson ran last year, like so similar that their times were within 3 seconds of each other.  Anyway when I saw that he was hurting and fading back I started running around and telling Sampson that he was going to have to pick it up and it was up to him to help the team, well all the boys really if they were going to advance.  And wouldn't you know it, it was crazy the way they picked it up and finished top 4, with the top 6 moving on to regionals!! Sampson actually qualified on his own and the boy who would have been 6th for the team end up finishing like 45th overall and that was plenty to move on.  Our senior got to redeem himself at the regionals and took the top spot back for the team, but no one was able to advance to State :(.  On the bright side we did get experience at regionals, oh and the boys that did score in the district, well they are all sophomores and freshmen so the future looks pretty bright.  Oh and one other thing, Sampson got named to the All T-L team for the news paper.  Anyway here is a link to the end of the season video which was pretty sweet.  Coach's husband made it (Coach is a woman so its cool) and she never lets him hold the trophies and stuff, but like he totally should and it would have been awesome if he snuck a pic of himself with all the trophies at the end, but he didn't.  Just would have been cool.

 

Also here is my view of the Parade.  It was pretty cool and you can see it in the first video, but this is what it looked like when they passed me.

The Tale of the District Race of Aught '17

Well it is almost District race time, so it seems like a good time to recap the race from just last year.  You see it was Sampson's first district race last year and it is really good for a freshman to run as a scorer for a high school team, but it may not be the best thing.  You see (man used that two in row to start a sentence, no worries, I'll fix it next sentence) he ran really well for most of the season.  He was hurt in the first race (which I didn't get to see because I had to go to New York for business, and I actually moved the trip back so I could see him run, but it was too muddy so they moved the race back a day and I ended up missing it.  And then we ended up not doing the project at work anyway so it was a complete loss.  Going off topic a little here) and he set out the next 2 races then scored in the 4/5 spot for the team basically the rest of the season.  So the make-up of the team was 2 seniors, 1 junior and the rest of the scorers were freshman.  Yikes, right?  Well they were pretty good last year even with the inexperience, but the inexperience came out at districts, at least for Sampson.  You see (hey it been a couple sentences so it's cool to go back to the old stand-by) he ran his best race of the year the race right before districts a PR of 17:34 (which stood until this last race, now it is at 17:12) so he was feeling really good.  His prep for races wasn't the best though.  We never got overly involved in the prep side of the races, we just kind of let him do his thing and just tried to make sure he didn't over do it the night before.  Well for the district race we did the same thing and he looked fine when he got there.  He started out well, in about 4th for his team probably somewhere around the top 30 or so (top 24 qualify for regional)  and I'm watching him go up the hill and around the school, so I hustle to the side to see him come around.  I get up there and I see the kids he was with and no Sampson.  So I'm like did I miss him.  Then the other freshman on the team comes through and still no Sampson.  So he would be like 5th for his team.  I keep waiting and waiting and now I start getting a little worried.  I can't remember if the other kid came through or not (also a freshman), but when I finally see Sampson he is like gassed...bad.  He grabs his chest and says his chest is hurting like he is really cramping badly.  So I go around to the front of the school and he is really slowing, Sophie is closer to the finish and she is waiting there and getting worried and she sees a kid collapse.  Well he finally finishes, but he does get passed and finishes 6th for the team a little of 20 minutes and ends up at like 103rd in the race.  Well the team finishes 11th or so and he tells us his prep for the race.  He drank a cup of milk.  For like 18 hours.  That is all he had.  No water, just one cup of milk.  That is not efficient to be at top race form.  So this year he is hydrated regularly, and he is taking his race prep a step further.  He is doing ice baths the night before.  The team is similar to last year, but the seniors are gone, the junior has stepped up to the lead spot, Sampson is probably the number 2 guy (he has finished as low as 4 for the team, but not lately), there is another sophomore that is 3 (and has finished no lower than 3rd for the team), 2 freshman and another sophomore for the next 3 spots.  I don't think the team is as top heavy as last year, but I think as a whole they are much better.  Our 7 and 8 are also a freshman and sophomore.  So the future is bright, but they did win the OVAC and have won about 4 meets this year, so there is a chance they can make it to the regional.  I hope they do, but last year there was only one team from our area that made it, and they have their whole team back this year.  Sampson's team has beaten them this year, but last race they actually tied and it came down to the 6th man.  Which our guy was better.  But one thing I am sure of.  Sampson will be hydrated before this race.  Well I'll try and check-in after the race and let you know if the season continued or not.  Hopefully they do.  Also I'll give you a update on the girls team.  #TheFive.  Totally made for a movie.  Hey maybe I could get a bit part in the movie.  I could be the guy at the race that brings the staff.  You know "Race Staff Guy".  I have the staff already, could be pretty sweet.