#suebrokethetry

To save her from the wrath of the entire northeastern United States, they called this hurricane "Sandy", but we all know better.  This had been in the works ever since #suebrokethejeter.

I've been waiting out the forecasts and hoping to decide that TRY could go on.  And, honestly, it doesn't look like it will be THAT bad at TRY time, but due to winds expected at 20 mph or more and rain likely, I am going to cancel TRY.  It will fall under the clause of "why bother".  It's not going to make for even decent running weather, so instead of forcing something, I'm asking you all to take the night off.

This will set up the following couple weeks:
Next week, November 6th, TRY will start at 5 PM.  (Time changes this weekend, so it will actually be finishing in the dark.)
The following week, November 13th, we will run through Lights on the Lake (at a group run pace), starting at 5:30.  Plan for a 5 mile, group paced run.
That same week, on Wednesday, November 14th, we will WALK through Lights on the Lake.  This will give people that can't handle the five mile run on Tuesday night a chance to experience the lights.  (Note that this is the dog night.)
Both of those nights, we will meet in roughly the same place we always do.

I have heard nothing back on people interested in doing the Buffalo Tough Mudder with TRY next year.  So, I can only assume that there is no interest.  There will be chances to sign up later, but if know you are interested, it would be ideal to sign up this fall instead of next spring.

To provide some useful content to you all, here are three interesting articles from Runner's World that have come across my twitter feed in the past week.
An interesting discussion on making multiple race goals so that you are more likely to finish happy.
Not as useful as the other two, but a short discussion on how to handle portions of a race where you find yourself running solo.
Finally, a discussion on breaking some age old running rules.  There is stuff in here for beginners and advanced runners.  I am having trouble advocating some of them, so I'll just leave it to you to read and decide for yourself.

TRY a Mudder?

Timely stuff:
The schedule for Lights on the Lake has finally been announced and just like last year the motorized portion will start the Thursday before Thanksgiving.  With Thanksgiving being "early" this year, that means that we are down to THREE weeks left of TRY, counting tonight!  That's right, only two more weeks of regular TRY left after this.

That's the bad news, the good news is that this years Lights on the Lake Stroll is scheduled for a Tuesday, so there will be one final, special, TRY group run through the lights on the lake on Tuesday, November 13th.  More details to come, but please plan on joining us for what has become a fun tradition to end the season on.

That Wednesday, November 14th, we may do something again as you can bring your dog (or not) to the Lights on the Lake Dog Walk.

Tonight's workout:
Included in tonight's dynamic warm-up will be a very quick covering of some of the Good Form Running technique thinking points as described in some detail in a newly published More Meat entry.

Then, during the warm-up half mile I plan to demonstrate a couple different cadences, just to get your mind thinking about that and what your natural cadence may be.  Playing along is optional, of course.

The suggested workout itself will be half mile intervals.  So, 3-4 of them for beginners, 5 for the advanced.

Reminders:
On Facebook I put an appeal for some of you to come join me at a happy hour Thursday night to learn about a local "giving circle".

Last week, I re-published my marathon-marathon story.  Since the events of that day are rooted in the spawning of TRY, I do recommend that everyone read that, eventually.

Looking ahead:
Escalade really wants to do another Tough Mudder next year.  The event picked out is "in Buffalo" but they have not announced the actual location, so at this point it is promised to be within 1 and a half hours of Buffalo.  The event weekend is Saturday, July 27th and Sunday, July 28th.  I believe the day picked out for us is Saturday.  You can currently sign up for $105 which is quite the bargain, actually, compared to later prices.

There has been a few entries this year dedicated to gimmick runs or obstacle course runs.  Notably, Jake's review of a Warrior Run, Escalade's review of her Tough Mudder, and my teaser summary of a Tough Mudder.  At some point, we may even have an insiders take on a Warrior Dash, but for some reason, that report has turned out to be the hardest thing to write since the Warren Commission?  ;-)

I have mixed emotions about doing another Tough Mudder.  I went into the one this spring only knowing Escalade on my team.  And I came out of it with about a dozen friends for life.  In less than 24 hours (team dinner, followed by the Mudder the next morning) we went through the ultimate team building exercise.  I think that part of it would be awesome to do with people that I already know.  It would bond us TRYers in a way that weekly runs never will.

The Mudder beat me.  I blew out something in my abs about 2/3 of the way through (doing a very innocent thing) and had to coast from there.  The competitor in me wants to train better, and show that Mudder who it's daddy is.  Plus, now that I've been through it, I think I could help you train for it better than I did and we could have some workouts (perhaps on Thursday nights) that would be very boot-campish that would be a fun, group way to build up to the event.  (Emphasis on crawling!  Lots and lots of crawling.)

And as I wrote up in my teaser summary, it plays well on TV.  If you want to look tough, feel tough, and have a great time doing so, the Tough Mudder is for you.  And since it's still the granddaddy (grand-mudder?) of all obstacle course races...why not do the best and the hardest?

So, for those positive reasons, I encourage you all to think about joining in next July.  You'll have an experienced coach (me), an inspirational teammate (Esc), and a short drive to do one of the events that everyone is talking about.

I almost forgot to mention the start: It had the best start to a race that I've ever been a part of.  The announcer led us through 15 minutes of: chanting, inspirational talking, emphasizing teamwork on the course, birthday singing to a military women he knew should be in that wave, and I was blown away at how well that was done.  And we were just 1 of about 12 waves of people going off that day...I don't know where he got his energy from to do that for each and every wave...but it was goose-bump-inducingly awesome!  :-)

The neutral side of my mixed feelings:
I'm not sure who the Mudder is for?  There are too many delays and things in your way for it to be a run.  There are too many long gaps in between obstacles for it to be an obstacle course.  And the trail we did was too treacherous to even be considered a trail run.  Plus you get shocked a time or two...so I'm not sure that pleases anybody?  My only take away is that it really isn't for anyone.  It's a hybrid event that is going to test almost everyone's limits.  It takes endurance, it takes strength, it takes teamwork, it takes almost all that you have to give.

The negative side of my mixed feelings:
It's an environmental disaster.  I find it hard to believe that they are even able to stage these things.  They put antifreeze in dumpsters to keep them from freezing (and to make it look more fun in photos?), they dig holes randomly in the ground, they pump water down hillsides just to form mudslides, and they light hay bales on fire and have you run through them.  Not to mention that at ours it was cold to start with, so foil blankets were being handed out and then let go of so they were blowing all over the place...clothing was discarded all over the place and despite their claims that they pick everything up and donate it to a local clothing place...I just find it hard to believe that they got everything and certainly not all the foil blankets.  So, where does that now tainted water with anti-freeze go?  What happens to that now torn up hillside when it rains (more erosion?) and why the heck would I ever pay someone to have me breathe in fumes from lighting hay on fire?   Not to mention that is going straight into the environment.  When I totaled it up this spring I think I guessed over 20,000 people took part in the event in the Poconos...not counting volunteers and workers and such...and had guess that well over a million dollars had been spent in entry fees.  So, I couldn't help but think that 20,000+ people spending a day's worth of time and with over a million dollars at their disposal could have done a hell of a lot of good for the world.  Instead, we did that all in the name of entertaining ourselves so that we'd have a fun story to tell at the office and a great set of photos for Facebook.  Who cares if we contributed to lung and air pollution, erosion, water pollution, and other sins against the Earth?  Our instant gratification is worth it!

Ok, I ended on the negative side of the ledger, but I'm asking people to sign up and do this with me...so it couldn't have been too negative of an experience, eh?  My personal thought is that this is most likely my last Tough Mudder, and I want my people there beside me.  I want to do this up, TRY style, and hug you all as we are wet, muddy, and smiling at the end of this Mudder-fluffer!  Who's with me?  I can't hear you?!!  WHO'S WITH ME?!!!  (Let me know because it is a team sign-up and while you can switch it around afterwards, it's easiest to sign up with the team side of it already set.)

(No time to proofread...I hope it's ok...and I'll fix it later.)

More Meat Volume 9: Good Form Running

Adam and I did indeed attend the New Balance Good Form Running seminar at Fleet Feet sports last Thursday night.  This was completely independent of each other and the face that we both were wearing Making Tracks for Celiacs shirts (different years at least) did prove that our ongoing tribute to the Ace and Gary cartoon will not be denied.



I've heard about and read about this good form stuff for a while, but having it demonstrated live (and having us go through it in person) finally made it sink in for me.

Does running with good form matter?  Not really.  But it is the most efficient stride and also puts less stress on your legs by cutting down on the impact caused by "heel striking".  So, if you truly want to get the most out of your races and with the least risk of injury, you should consider incorporating a more efficient stride.  It will take a while and should be eased into.  Attempting to change over cold-turkey will leave your turkey cold and you frustrated and perhaps injured from the abrupt change.  For those of you who are tempted by the siren's song of the minimalist running movement, this form is almost mandatory.  The minimalist shoes, or barefoot running, is much less forgiving to the heel strike running form and therefore this softer step goes hand in hand (foot in foot?) with the minimalist process.

As Adam teased on Facebook, there were four steps they emphasized:

1) Posture.
What you would expect here.  Feet shoulder width apart and facing forward, body basically straight up and down and shoulders not slouched forward or not thrown back.  The simplest check here is your feet.  Stand up in what you think is your neutral position.  Then look down at your feet.  Are they facing directly forward?  Mine are not.  My right foot toes out a little.  This is something I can work on just when I'm standing around. I tend to lock in a hip and flare out a foot.  This then carries over to my running in a negative way.

He also went into arm position and it turns out that he would claim that I hold my hands and arms too low.  (Much to Adam's delight.)  His neutral position has your elbows bent at a 90 degree angle (no chicken wings!), hands in a thumbs up position (no zipper lines!), and then a nice relaxed swing.  So, not a big change here from what you've heard before, but the 90 degree angle is an easier one to see for yourself or to pass along to others.

2) Midfoot.
Adam called this strike, but I think they officially called it by where they want the foot strike to start - mid foot.  This is the step that had never sunk in til Thursday night.  It is not toe-running as I suspected it was.  You do not strike mid-foot first and then continue to roll forward like you do when heel striking (heel, mid-foot, toes).  What you do, is hit mid-foot first, quickly followed by heel, followed by your push off.  He got us to get the feel for this by simply marching/walking in place.  Do it.  And sure enough you feel the pad of the foot go down first, followed by the heel, and then you are pushing off again.  It's very simple when done that way.  Translating to a running motion, doing this means that you are not reaching your leg out ahead of you when it lands.  You are letting it land almost directly underneath you.  I've ready before that it is like a pawing motion...pawing the ground like a bull does.  The foot sets down underneath you and then paws off the ground.  It makes for what seems like a shorter stride, but he emphasized to lengthen your stride back out BEHIND you.  Very little stride forward, longer stride behind.

It's certainly not easy when switching from stepping in place to actually running, but it game me an idea for the feel of it and it makes sense that you don't want your legs reaching way ahead of you, only to heel strike (which is a breaking motion momentum wise and a jarring motion injury wise) and have your body catch up to where your foot is.

3) Cadence
I may attempt to demonstrate this in groups tonight during the warm-up.  He claimed that a typical, naive, cadence (counting both feet, total steps per minute) is around 160.  Ideally you want this closer to 180.  As before, you should not just change this overnight.  If you do have a slower than ideal cadence, you should slowly adapt it.  There are watches, apps, and even music for your mp3 players that should have a cadence metronome built into them.  I'm hoping to have an app tonight and will have it playing a couple different ones tonight during the warm-up jog.

4) Lean
This one was barely demonstrated and while the example was useful, there was no way to truly get a feel for it without running.  So, I can't describe this one very well, yet.  I need to see if I can "feel" it myself when I do  my first practice run with all these techniques in place.  You are not supposed to lean back.  And you are not supposed to slouch or bend forward.  You are supposed to have your nice, upright, posture and then lean your whole body slightly forward as you lean into your stride.  I can have everyone repeat the same exercise he led us through, but as I said, this is the one that was harder to translate into what it will feel like while running.

And that's it!  Easy, right?  Just be careful if you attempt to change over to this more energy efficient and softer stride pattern.  Old habits die hard, so give it some time and test yourself with it starting with short portions of your run.

Short Post!

Terry is kind of busy this week, and so you get a short note here on the blog.  Make sure to check out his post on the TRY fb page, and I think you'll understand why he is unavailable :)

Congratulations to Erin S., Adam, and Aaron who all had fun races this weekend!  Did anyone else run a race this weekend?

For those who raced this weekend, I would recommend a nice shakeout run.  For those who didn't race, it must be time to go back to quarters.  We will figure out the details at the park tomorrow.

I hope to see everyone there!

Update:
Finally, the story that stated it all.

Some Color For Autumn

I've always been closer to being autistic than artistic, but sometimes something comes along that can even make me look good.  So, stay tuned to the end, if you'd like to see some fall foliage.

For tonight's workout, I once again have a class and will only be there to lead the dynamic warm up and then  will need to skedaddle. I was thinking...that it would be "interesting" to do the warm up with our eyes closed.  It would certainly test our balance!  So, think about that, and if you are brave enough, do the individual exercises, or at least the 3-4 simpler ones, Escalade style.  :-)

For the workout itself, I think we are due for mile repeats.  So, a couple of those, with either a quarter or a half thrown in at the end for good measure.  But, since I won't be there, I'll leave it up to whoever steps forward with a specific interval idea, to dictate the group run.  Just be kind and watch over the less experience yoggers, please.

The weather is supposed to be good, so I encourage someone to coordinate the post cool down core workout.  This week I was going to do the set of 4 at 30 seconds each and then repeat them for another 15 seconds each before finishing with the plank.  But, as with the run, whoever wants to lead it can use their judgment.

What's in a name?  I suppose, it's an 'n', an 'a', an 'm', and an 'e'.  But it's also more than that.  It's a simple and colorful way to have a common and non-ambiguous description for things we come across during the TRY season.  Which leads to all these sort of random descriptive names:

The "Ally Loop" is the final circle that we almost always run around to finish counter-clockwise towards ground marker 0.0.  It's named in honor of a 'former' TRYer named "Loopy" who insisted on adding the extra several steps to our runs once upon a time.  It's also sounds like "alley-oop" and brings to mind basketball.  Quite coincidentAlly, Loopy always had a soft spot for basketball players. Particularly if they were significantly older than her.

"Mr. Mister" is the misting station located between the playground and the skate park.  It's no soul sister, but it can help cool a hot sista down after a run on a warm day.  After we named it, there was even a somewhat popular song created by a fringe TRYer named "Train", who got a kick out of our silly names for things:



(Attempt replacing the "tonight" lyric with "at TRY" for the original version that he penned before he left Syracuse and hit it big.)

"Faith Hill", we've been all over lately.  And it certainly has its ups and downs, leaving us no choice but to Breathe and hope that we don't Cry. (I can't help it...It Matters To Me!  And since I know the site password you have to Take Me As I Am!)

Our cool down walk location was once called the "Bermuda TRYangle", but was rebranded "Angela's TRYangle" once a bench in tribute to Angela Lynn Harris was coincidentally put smack dab in the middle of it.  Read about her sad story at angelasplace.org.

Beyond the 2.25 mile ground marker, we have the newly coined "Treeasure Island" and "Treebsure Island" (I think you can figure out what those are), followed by "Floppers Falls" at the turnaround in front of the old bathroom and snack building just after Long Branch Road where I once almost gave myself a concussion by slipping on ice and doing a cartoon like fall onto my back and head.  (In retrospect, my peculiar behavior has gotten much worse since then, so it may not have been 'almost'?)

Finally, way at the end of the West Shore Trail, if you cross over 690, you can have the pleasure of running up and down "Fitzpatrick's Hill".  Named in honor of Mark who first sought it out and recommended it as a good hill to train on, it leads from the pedestrian bridge up to State Fair Boulevard.

Speaking of the West Shore Trail, be sure to read about the extension that will be added by the end of next year, if you didn't see it in the paper on Friday.

And speaking of Fitzpatricks, I wanted to take a paragraph to welcome Katie back to TRY!  She snuck in on me so I didn't do a proper introduction, but a former favorite was able to return to us after becoming a mother for the first time about 11 months ago.  Hopefully next year works out better schedule wise and she will be able to prove to us that you can indeed get outran by a mother pushing a toddler in a running stroller.  (If Claire herself isn't outrunning us by then.)

Alright, enough colorful names, let's move onto colorful pictures.  I've been playing around with the "Color Splash" app for the past few days and I just can't get enough of it.  I call it finger painting with an un-do button.  And not since finger painting in elementary school have I created something so worthy of hanging on my momma's fridge.

The first one, proves that TRYers really do stand out in a crowd:

 

Production two gives a look back at the 2011 version of the Centipediatricians:


Project three, was payback to Duerr for pretending that his cousin was him last week.  So, here is a more appropriate tribute to OUR Adam Duerr:



And a bonus, for "AA" who is too busy training her dogs to be a synchronized swimming doggie duo (that's the only thing that makes sense to me from the pictures she's been posting) to make it out on a Tuesday evening.  So, this is my final attempt to bait her out for one night before the end of the season.  It combines two of her favorite things.  Wedding photos.  And Jeep Mac:



These all were done quickly, with little thought, and without playing with the other tweaking options available in the app.  They are just my attempt at colorizing or not colorizing parts of the photos.  I can only imagine what a truly artistic person could do with such power.  Join me, do some finger painting yourself, and let me see how your projects turn out.

A TRYer or a "Do-er"?

I don't know how many people are going to have time to read this after spending all that time reading Jen's details about 'Escape from Fright Nights'.  But, for those able to read both, I appreciate the time you put into keeping up on all things TRY.

This week: I dunno...half mile intervals, I guess?  We did short last week, so it's time for a medium length interval.  The post run core workout seemed to be "enjoyed" last week, so that is something that we will continue to do on weeks that people are up for it.

I looked, but did not find this years Lights on the Lake schedule yet.  But, I know from past years that we are down to 5 or 6 weeks left of TRY before our winter hibernation.  It's always sad to think about the end of the group running season, but it is getting to be that time.  We'll keep the start up time at 5:30 for a couple more weeks, and then we'll have to start shifting it earlier to avoid finishing in the dark, until, finally, the start of Lights on the Lake, ends our season.

While we're together, we might as well keep learning:
I snuck in the most bizarre More Meat ever.  Be sure to check that out by using the link or just scrolling below this entry.

Some more TRY lore:
Did you know that our mascot is a beaver?  Do you know why our mascot is a beaver?  Well, it is the state mammal of New York state, certainly, but it is also my school mascot that I passed along to TRY.  So, why not read all you wanted to know about the second largest rodent in the world?  There is plenty to learn in the wikipedia entry about castor canadensis, but the fact that the phrase "beaver testicles" appears at least four times is worth a look in its own right.

I've been given beaver shirts, beaver hats, big beavers, little beavers, etc.  The most recent gift, a pink beaver, became a coxswain for my Great Race adventure a couple months back that you all should have seen in a blog entry at that time.  But, the most prevalent beaver related to TRY is this guy (with his car insurance selling friend):

It's marked multiple Relay for Life events, picnic location from Oneida Lake to Green Lakes, to places I can't even remember.  It even marked a special event in my life early this summer.  It has been said that any time TRYers are gathering, this beaver will be there:



Thank you little beaver, for all you've given to TRY over the years.

Did you know that I used to give out "I TRY Harder" awards?  It was a prestigious and highly sought after award.  But I've fallen out of the habit for at least the last couple years.  Partly because I'm lazy.  And partly because it's tough to signal out an individual without leaving out other, just as worthy, individuals.  But since I've been looking back at things, why not dust off an old tradition?:

It's time to recognize someone for all the hard work they've been putting in.  They used to just be the crazy person who showed up til the end of each season, regardless of the fall weather, even though they weren't preparing for a race.  But eventually they started racing and the last couple years they really started working their butt off and the result is some very impressive gains in their performance.  This year, they've done the Mountain Goat, won hardware at Paige's Butterfly Run, done the Boilermaker, and now done their first hyman.  And not only have they transformed themselves as a runners, but they completely transformed themselves physically too.  Check out this facebook profile as proof:



Congratulations, Adam.  Your dedication to your craft the past couple years and your willingness to completely change your look and your ability to life weights mean that you have won an overdue "I TRY Harder" award.  You are both a do-er and a TRYer!  Well done.

More Meat Volume 8: Let's Get Down To Business

I really had my eyes opened up to me this week.  And while this doesn't have anything to do with running, I feel this has to be shared with the world.

Did you realize that the modern toilet might be the reason for hemorrhoids, constipation, pelvic floor issues, and colon disease?  And, that all of these can be helped/fixed/prevented by squatting?  But, let's say you don't want to travel to parts of the world without a modern toilet?  What are you to do?

Buy a squatty potty!  That's right, buy a squatty potty to line everything up correctly and you'll feel like #1 every time you take a #2.  As they say, healthy colon : happy life.

Get all the details here at squattypotty.com.  But since I can't trust you all to click on links, here is the least you should do...watch the youtube video from their site:


Is anyone else amazed by this?