A MishMash of Blah

Tonight: there is a chance of severe storms in the area, so check your weather app before you drive out and choose wisely. If storms are eminent we will be wise and run Angela's TRY-angle loops to stay near our cars.

I really thought I could pull together an interesting and useful post today but the articles I was stockpiling really disappointed me as I looked through them in detail. So, I'll still post a few links and let you glean what you can from them.

First, not related to running, but related to TRY since I push local baseball on you a couple times a year. The Syracuse Chiefs have made the playoffs for the first time in my era here (first time since 1989) and will be starting their playoffs on the road on Wednesday, against the Pawtucket Red Sox. It is a best of 5 series, with games 3 through 5 scheduled for Syracuse. They are guaranteed a home game on Friday at 7 PM and then can have up to two more this weekend depending on how the series goes. It is a bit of an odd way to do it, but they are being rewarded for being the higher seed by only getting one guaranteed home game. The other oddity with minor league baseball playoffs is that they will not being putting their best product on the field. The parent team - the Washington Nationals are in a playoff push of their own and starting in September can expand their rosters for a month. So, as major league teams tend to do, they poached a lot of good talent from the Syracuse roster. Syracuse can in turn grab some players from the level below them to help them out, but it makes for an odd mix of players that haven't played together all year, but now will be fighting to get through up to three playoff rounds. Syracuse.com has some recent articles, but nothing I could find that was playoff specific yet, so just go to syracusechiefs.com if you need a baseball fix or want to order tickets ahead of time.

Now, running related, here I have culled through some of the most recent active.com articles to see what was worthwhile. Nothing groundbreaking, but good reminders and proof that TRY somewhat keeps you on the right path.
10 "secrets" to take your running to the next level - includes mixing up your runs, doing some hills, changing your pace, using partners, setting goals.
A quick read about when it is time to switch your shoes - the only surprising thing here was how sometimes a new shoe may need to be given up on right from the start. (Remember that a place like Fleet Feet typically takes shoes back if you instantly have buyers regret in the form of pain or blisters - one of the benefits of buying local.)
Here is a set of simple (can be done at home on the floor) core exercises good for runners and triathletes. Some planks and variations. Nothing ground breaking - but simple enough to start or restart your core training with.
Finally, a slightly more complicated one - a little more involved set of three exercises that can help improve your running form. You need some partner help with this one, but one thing I can do is get out my cadence app and remind people what 180 steps per minute feels like. Hopefully I remember to do that in the next couple of TRY sessions - let a few people at a time hear it while we do our warm up mile.

That's it. Hopefully Katie rescues this blog next week with stories from her foray into the world of rowing.