Solid as K-Mart

 The week in numbers turned out like this.  I suspect if I am going to introduce faster pace runs then rest time will be needed.  Any effort to control food intake did not happen.

Mon: 6.1 at 10:41 pace which was at a good effort.  The weather and footing were suspect.

Tue: AM 5.4 at 12:06 PM 4.6 at 11:25

Wed: 4.2 at 12:04 at -17F temp

Thu: 5.2 at 13:40 w/ Dewey and Tim

Fri: 5.5 at 9:08 which was a good effort.  Went well and the weather was exceedingly better than Monday.

Sat: 12.0 at 10:27 which was eagerly accepted.  I tired last 3 and made a note to not push.

Sun: 9.0 at 12:49 with Dewey

Week: 52 miles

Some men you just can’t reach

 It was a good week.  Running was exceptional and not because of the few good days only, but because I loved being out there.  Few things are better than getting together and just jawing about basically nothing.  Quite frequently we talk about T&F from the 70’s era.  In fact today Dewey and I talked about Brian Oldfield.  He passed in 2017 and both of us guessed he was probably gone.  Tim and I covered Bob Seagram on Thursday, along with Pat Matzdorf in the HJ.  

 If age has done anything it has made me measure my steps.  I don’t want to take anything for granite and I don’t want avoid finding contentment.  That last one should be easy, but so many messages out there can make one second guess everything.  Could one function in our society without a cellphone?  Of course the answer is yes, but could one find a way that doesn’t make us feel like an outcast.  I’m not worried about what folks might think, I’m curious if the convenience is just way to strong for me.  If I don’t have a phone in the future then my wife becomes the conduit for that.  It’s not about anything else than getting a hair off the grid.  I mean come on, we are all on the grid even if we don’t want to believe it.

 Where my mind is at is the scene from Cool Hand Luke where they are out tarring and chipping the road.  Luke makes it a challenge to beat the man and after they all go ass over tin cup to do just that the truck just drives off and there is no more work.  Huffing and puffing they ask Luke what do they do now?  His one word reply, sitting on that turned around shovel is, “Nothin’.”  That’s where I am at.

 I want to have passion and goals.  I want to work hard and challenge myself.  And yes I might even want to believe I’m beating the man in someway, but it means nothing to me if anyone else sees the sense in all of it.  This is what my day is going to consist of.  You want to join along then that is awesome because sometimes I enjoy company.  On the other hand forgive me if I don’t want to do stupid stuff which may include being around people who want to entertain me, or think it’s fun to go to the Farmers Market.  I do those things with my wife and do enjoy them.  Beyond that I am tapped out.

 I’m looking forward to fishing.  Fishing for enough of them to eat.  Come back and cut them up.  Goof around and put together a basic meal with that using the grill.  Maybe even have a cold High Life with some salt in it. Maybe that takes up half the day and maybe it does not.  Either way that’s part of the plan.  You should come down.  Just know I’m a family guy and a big part of the day can be keeping the account clear.  When you go to the biggest dance of the year you dance with the one who brung ya.

That last line was an old quote from Terry Bradshaw.

Off to my right ride a dozen or more

 This week of running in cold weather has been slow and fast.  Thursday had me barely functioning on our slow jaunt and I was happy to get in 5.2.  I just do not have the same juice on most 4pm runs.  The morning is far better for me and I obviously enjoy running then.  The evening runs are social events which are badly needed from a mileage perspective.

 Friday was a flashback run as I covered 5.5 at 9:08 pace.  I really wanted to run myself further, but I pulled back knowing 2 hours was the Saturday run.  That came together well.  Up at 3:30am I had 4 solid cups of Pic ‘n Save instant black coffee and rifled out into the dark around 5:47am.  The fact that I held an average of 10:47 for 12 miles was a good sign.  More than likely my Hematocrit must be in the low 40’s.  I could tell as the bellows clearly were absorbing additional oxygen to burn.  Don’t know how long this will last, but hope to ride this magic carpet made of steel as long as I can.

 No solid plan.  Run every day if possible.  Get in 50 minimum with a couple good efforts and slowly raise the long run duration.  Don’t get too greedy and have days that are laughingly slow.  Hoping to bone chip about 8 miles tomorrow at Uncle Traveling Matt used to opine.  

 I may have already put this out there, but on a recent trip to Florida a t-shirt stated, “I used to be a people person until people ruined it.”  I’m working on not trying to ruin it for people.  On a final note I’m still baffled by people seeing me run on the shoulder of the road in the snow and won’t give any quarter.  There is no one else out here and you can see the road is clear.  I can only conclude they believe they own the right of way and I’m infringing on it.  It is a get with it pal message to me and I have no answer for it.  In the summer it’s the same with car versus bicycle.  Plenty of these knuckleheads.  

Twinkle toes

 I fell down the hole and ate 4000 calories, which when I make ham and bean soup can happen.  I’ll make another attempt today to be on target.  Never expected it to be easy.  It can be difficult to climb inside your head and work on changing behavior.  No need to preach to myself on here.  I’ll weigh in on Saturday.  Crawford not feeling well, but we may get at least a 2 hour effort in that day.

 It was difficult not going out for a second run yesterday.  I’d rather tally up the miles regardless of how I feel.  Trust me I was tired and had a paint project (one of many) that needed finished.  My buddy Pski is coming over this morning to put in baseboards.  Pski is famous for using and introducing me to the Beck Plan.  An all your eggs in one basket approach to running your best marathon.  At least that is how I recall it being titled.  In our first attempt we finished 7th and 11th respectively at the Lakefront Marathon overall and then danced around like we made the Olympic team.  The one thing we both remember afterwards was how quickly we recovered afterwards.  I believe we even did a cooldown.  As a side note, one of the 19 people who have attached themselves to the blog is Kevin Beck.  A true honor.  I didn’t say he reads the blog, but with a solid following of 7 readers it’s not impossible.

 The one thing that hit home training with Pski on the Beck Plan was we reacted different to the training.  I tended to fair better on the fast stuff and he recovered much faster than myself for the following workouts.  On the bread and butter 10-12 mile runs Pski could grind my bones to make his bread.  If you ever get the gumption to try and run a marathon specifically for time then you need to look at this plan.

 

 

Cripple Creek

 It was another cold one yesterday morning and as I often do on Tuesday the day was divided up into two runs.  The Achilles has not been a problem, so much so that I don’t even think about it.  Really looking forward to the daylight arriving sooner.  It can be tranquil moving around in the dark, but it can also be burdensome crossing over some sections of roads to avoid traffic.  

 Feeling like a weigh in was due I jumped on the scale an visualized 187 pounds.  That is robust and action has to be taken.  It is a discipline which avoids me.  Having always chowed down what I want does not work any longer.  For me it will become a math problem.  This means counting calories.  I’ve set the current line at 2400 calories.  Yesterday ended at 2300.

 There appears to be a sage strand of Warlock mice in the basement.  Sensing their presence I went with the true and tried mousetrap loaded with peanut butter.  For about 3 nights now they have found a way to clean off most of the bait without setting the damn trap off.  A couple weeks ago a pair of Northern mice under my sink posed no problem and were as we say, terminated with extreme prejudice.  

 It is a Wednesday today.  Tiredness is afoot.   After 3 cups of instant black coffee, I’ll sniff around and see about making an effort in the -14F temps.  Wind is low and as seasoned vets understand, that is the true nemesis.  It shall not be long before I live permanently again in Florida.  There is much to accomplish here prior to a move.  Somehow it will get done.  The running will not be as good in Florida.  Limited routes and through roads.  It will be an adventure none-the-less.

Deck of 51

 Well…I started the march to Ice Age.  Conflicting thoughts on preparation occur continually.  One moment things appear as if you could charge the gates of hell and sometimes in the same day you get chewed up by the events of the day.  It’s pointless to hash those events out on a microcosm of a running blog.  Sometimes it seems the more you aim to clear the deck of items the more you uncover to do, or at least you’d like to do.  This may be the ultimate calling of downsizing, clearing the deck, or I don’t want any stuff anymore. 

 In Ecclesiastes, Solomon summarizes the best things to draw from life are what you eat and drink and the work of your hands.  Chasing all the other things in life are vanity.  A time to cast away stones and a time to gather them together seems to be where I am at.  The older one becomes the less they bother with details because let’s face it, no one else gives a rat’s posterior.

 One goal I have is training myself to get off the damn grid.  I’m not talking about Tedding it up in the sticks.  I mean quit looking up everything on the phone.  It’s cool to look up the habits of the monarch butterfly and discover Pete Maravich was from Aliquippa, but moving forward at some time I just need to become a rat at the library.

Week of January 17 - 23

Mon: Off.  Travel back from Florida 

Tue: AM 3.3 w/ 1.21 at 9:08 pace, PM 5.9 w/ Robert at 11:37 pace

Wed: 5.0 at 12:11 pace

Thu: 6.6 w/ Tim and Robert at 11:48 pace

Fri: 5.2 w/ 1.63 at 8:53 pace

Sat: 8.0 at 12:25 pace

Sun: Off working on house stuff

Total was 34.0 miles

2021 tally

 2021 was a good year, though an Achilles problem limited the miles the final couple months.  I ended up with 2,911.2 miles for an average of a hair under 8 miles a day.  I had a decent effort at the John Dick 50k in February.  Ice Age was moved to September and as the temps rose into the 90s I was able to complete my 19th 50 miler there.  I finished up the year with another 50 mile finish at Glacial in October.  Both 50 mile efforts were very difficult the final 10-12 miles.  Though heat and humidity played a big part, there is no denying other forces are causing an erosion of my abilities to move over the earth at a pace slightly faster than a brisk walking pace.

 Below are the people I cruised the earth with.

Tim - 67 with the 2 time state champ

Dewey - 46 as a bum Achilles took him out.  Looking like he’s back in action in a couple months

Robert - 28 for Da Coach and classmate of Dewey ‘80.

Crawford - 13 for the former 3 time Ice Age champ who also battled injuries this year

Jeff - 13 makes a strong effort on the back end of 2021 as we torched the Monches segment of the Ice Age trail

Donna - 9 for the wife and first time on the list.  We walked some good miles out West 

Chef Mike - 8 tallies for Da Chef earlier in the year before other commitments curtailed availability 

Angela - 4 before she up and moved to Missoula.  What a beautiful area.

Clarky - 3 primarily from just running into him “out there”

Bartz - 3 enjoyable efforts mostly after a big event for him.  Otherwise his candle burns to bright for me

2022 will look completely different as we transition back to Florida in the next few months.  I’m retiring from my current job I started at in 1984.  It will be the wife, our 15 year old dog and the 2 Guinea Pigs making the break.  Come see an old man sometime.

Forget it Jake

 Starting to get really cold.  At -7F this morning, along with the knowledge that I’m old, getting motivated is hard.  Now I have been up since 3:45am so 4 cups of coffee helps.  It has been a long journey and as often as I am still churning out breakthrough training plans in my mind one can also feel the futility of it all.  

 My aim is to average 50-60 miles a week annually.  Not a big number, but always enough to generate the feeling I could launch into something right away if necessary.  Lately some of those miles have included walking which is easily justified when all you really do is try and get in 2-3 ultras a year.  About a week or so ago I finally absorbed the reality that I am way average.  My watch disagrees with me stating that my workouts are in the poor range for my age.  Lately my fitness age was 78.  Thanks…for that.

  But the watch doesn’t lie they say.  Looks like I’m finally going to have to consider moving around less outside.  I do see the advantages of cross training, but that has zero appeal.  I am a runner, despite what that all looks like now.  

 I’m going to work on somehow completing my 20th Ice Age 50 mile under the cutoff this year.  It is the approach I must take.  Somehow I will have to face these realities and coach myself to a goal that is formidable.  It’s not just the running.  Some day, if you have ran most of your life you will share the same experience.  The big question every day is if it is worth it.

Winter 2022

 It was zero today on the morning effort.  Managed 6.5 on the walk and saunter.  Surprisingly the average was 13:17 per mile.  I’d like to get in over 4 later.  We have a holiday today so I am off work.  There are still a couple items to manage.

 Busting down the road ahead with the wife and covered the topics of pets, finance, moving, and getting the basics set up next week when we are in Florida.  There is only so much one can do until we list this house and sell it.  I had 5 items in my conch and they were put in the retirement date (need to discuss with boss this week), buy a house (done), sell this one (open), look for new employment and depth of commitment (couple months out) and funding all this along with the healthcare piece.  There are other significant items like hiring a mover and downsizing, plus acquiring a vehicle for me.  If you are attached to someone then you probably realize the operation runs in concentric circles.

 The 100 probably won’t happen, but it makes me work towards a goal and all that goes with it.  It keeps me wore down enough so I am generally passed out by 7:30pm.  How I would enjoy tearing down the road one more time.  If I ever get fixed then I just might.  Until then I’ll continue to log thousands of miles in hopes of one magic day.

How bazaar how bazaar

 I used the internet for all the knowledge it holds for training to complete a 100 miler.  Quite comical.  If one hadn’t been running for 45 years you just might get suckered in to believing less is probably best.  

Dust on the scales

 In theory it is busy in the Dehart household.  We bought a home in Florida and close January 10th.  We have work to do on our current residence and hope to put it up for sale in February.  Which means I will be retiring soon from my current job of 37+ years.  This seems odd, but that is how it works.  Not sure how the timing will all work out, but time is marching on.  It is time for us and if I had to give one main reason that would be for reasons of health projection.

 I have started a project I should have started 20 years ago.  I had amassed about 120,000 sports cards.  The thrill of opening packs and sets was a big deal to me for 30 years.  People recognized this and many of these came in the form of gifts over the years.  Been chipping away and have probably given away or donated 20,000 cards the last year.  Essentially anything from the 80s and 90s is worthless and that is where the bulk of it is from.  I did list my basketball cards for sale.  I’d should get this down to 30 - 40 thousand cards by the move.  

 I have started doing a little running.  I still cover a good 40 miles a week walking and shuffling.  It makes absolutely zero sense that I am looking at a 100 miler at the end of March, but I am.  Getting out has never been a problem.  Like sports cards (primarily baseball), running has always been easy to get involved in.  Once I grew old, worn, and slow it seemed like giving it up would be easy.  It has not.  The 100 I am looking at is pancake flat.  It seems like a challenge.  The biggest being staying in one piece and the other is the timing is terribly poor.  

 Put in 6.2 on 1/1 with a few folks.  Mostly all running. On 1/2 I managed 8.4 at 14:18 pace with walking.  Again, my problem is me.  It’s hard to hold back.