Red Dirt Harriers

According to wikipedia, Durango is the basque word for "water town," which is perfect because I plan to ice after damn near every run with the possibility of noodling for some of the massive trout in the area. This should be a hell of a nice trip and really my only trepidation is that upon returning to Nompton, I will have to readjust to the merciless heat here.

Planned workout: 8-10x 1/2 mile w/ 2:00 jog in 2:30 (maybe a bit faster the last 2) Actual: 4w/u strides, 8 @ 2:35, 4c/d This workout was very lackluster, just couldn't get moving and so I called it early instead of finishing a shitty workout feeling shitty. Naturally, I feel fine now. Now, I'm not much of a mystic but if I were, I would cite one or more of the following excuses for my performance to boost my street cred: -Dr. J's out of town visiting Hotlanta and I've come to appreciate his masculine escort. -As it turns out, today was the ascent of the Col de la Bonnette, the highest through road in Europe, so I should have done hill repeats or something -Le Alpe D'Huez is actually tomorrow so I was out of tune with the "correct vibe" that I needed. -I neglected to dawn my lucky hat and jockstrap this morning, opting for the sunny's instead -" Maybe I shouldn't have drank so much Absynthe? " -I had one of my somewhat lackluster ESB'...

Another week in the books, this one amounting to just short of 120 miles on the legs. That's what happens when you put 2 long runs in one week so not really any change in the mileage. I feel like I'm adjusting to the work and weather. Probably going to hit a workout manana as a prelude to watching what is set to be a hugely important and exciting ride up Le Alpe D'Huez. I caught Hellboy 2 yesterday, which was fine, and because The Dark Knight was being overrun but what was most disturbing was the selection of previews they aired before the film. The list included a Toby Keith film where he shoots up a bunch of Mexicans with some other country singer, then there was a horror movie ad called Quarantine where as far as I could see they just shot the thing in the dark and in this all to common jarring, jumpy manner. At this point, I turned my attention to my Milk Dud box because I was more stimulated by it than the freaking movie screen. Anyway, I maintain that Guillermo Del To...

Jordan and I put in some good work yesterday morning on the roads consisting of 2.5mi tempo loop, 2x mile, 2.5mi tempo with a minute jog between each. I had some rare morning GI issues and only managed to run 5:06 for the miles whereas Jokin was 5flat. I did feel good on the tempo portions though. I'm convinced that although I stayed up too late at McNellie's the night before, I was ideally fortified from a couple courtesy Black&Tans and accordingly able to grit through the rough parts. This morning I had some dead legs early on but loosened up alright towards the end of an easy 10. So, after the run I had to bike over to the tag agency to pay some registration crap and managed to bump into Todd Maycumber, who for those not in the know was the OU XC coach during some of the most unillustrious years of the program. I don't fault him at all for the performances and think he's a pretty good dude but the university only awarded the program like 1.5 scholarships at that ...

Jordan and I attended to the long run, which I voted to put off yesterday, this morning. I'm still feeling a bit rough and have been since last week but today we ran fairly steady throughout and I didn't fall to pieces. The main issue was traffic as apparently Monday is more or less the only day people in town get up early to go to work and everybody seems frantic to get going. I made it over 2:10, so we'll call it 19. Mainly struggled with fluids again as it was humid and sunny, but with a northerly gale. I guess this wraps up another 110+ for the week as I was hitting the miles early in the week and thusly left floundering for the second half of the week. I'm lucky I didn't wake up with skid marks on my face. No races in the plans really so I'm guessing we're going to try to introduce some specificity in the coming weeks. In more scintillating news, today marks Bastille Day, so I had to pay attention to the Tour in a most French manner, which means sitting...

Wednesday was an eventful one. To start, Jordan and I undertook a little more daring workout venture. THe workout was a 6 mile tempo run then a jog to the track and an 800,600,400,200 at 5k pace. I surprisingly felt decent when we started the tempo and assumed I would only feel better as the workout went on. However, the tempo proved to be a little tough by the last mile although I just more or less maintained 5:30s throughout despite some miles with slick turns or some strait down a flat road. The mile or so jog over to the track left us pretty soaked as the humidity was quite high. I always have trouble changing gears so I just pretty much progressed into the 800 in 2:29 and then was able to take off a couple seconds per 400 for the next repeats. Jordan was way out front as this is clearly the most glaring example of our inherent abilities. The track work left my legs feeling a little more responsive but by the time I got home, I was definitely a little depleted. A Gu might be a good...

I have been turned on to a choice bit of info from a former colleague in the Chemistry department. Evidently there is an unofficial beer brew-off that will conclude with judging on the weekend of July 12. Hopefully, I will be able to make the judging as the memo that I recieved mentioned there only being 5-7 entered brewers (you must be a current OU student). As luck would have it, my recent batch will be blossoming just about that time so I'm hoping to sneak a couple bottles through security and in front of the judges. I'm also hoping some of the old professors have themselves got some product to be enjoyed. This could be the beginning of a beautiful thing. On another beer related note, Jordan, Skolnick, and I enjoyed our first Cheladas yesterday at the behest of Gus Thompson. I think they are decent and although I wouldn't classify it anywhere near a beer in flavor, it would go well with some summer snacks or maybe poolside...