Red Dirt Harriers

$3 burgers at McNellie's last night with a good crew including Sacker, Kristi, Mike, Stuey, Jordan, Spencer, Jerry, and yo. We had our first opportunity to try a couple beers from the Coop brewery, the newest local brewery. I was mightily impressed, they were truly flavorful beers and I look forward to their additional offerings, in addition to the Native Amber and Belgian Style Golden Ale we encountered. I would say it was a pretty relaxing day by all accounts, as soon as the highly abrasive 14mph treadmill workout was completed. Jordan and I were trying to imagine what this intensity would be like for a legit miler/5k type and we were basically calling it like a 5x800 w/ 1' recovery at like 1:52-4 or something. I imagine it can be done but I don't know if even the guys that have more leg speed than I do would be able to actually complete the workout, because of the recovery. I thought I would be able to do 2' on the last repeat but once I went over the tipping point, ...

I had some fatigue in the quads this morning, which I didn't really expect because yesterday was a medium day on the treadmill, but I've been stringing together some good days and every once in a while the quality takes it toll. I feel generally good though running the miles right now. I did just that this evening, but made the mistake of eating the darko choco bar prior to and paid the price at about the hour mark. Stomach started talking to me but I made it home, only felt rubbish on the few strides I actually pulled off. It was a very windy afternoon, but temps were great and I bumped in to Jenny Graef and legged out some miles in good company, after we stopped to let her new pooch out for a whiz. I got into my promo beer this evening, my version of pepto, I had the Southampton IPA and Gordon Biersch Golden Bock. The IPA needs more IBUs albeit having a nice floral aroma, it lacks some punch and the bock was sweet scented and curiously higher alcohol but sort of low on anythi...

Had to attend to some court proceedings yesterday, amounting to a little inflation of the old blood pressure. It was all fun and games while we sat in on a fairly serious case but then when we had to jump up and down a few times while the judge entered/exited on a whim. All very exciting. The lessons learned outweighed the penalties inflicted. Such as: don't get in a brawl in a casino with a casino guard, don't jump town without paying the bail-bondsman and then come back to town and get arrested, etc. The title of the post actually refers to the Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon I've settled into tonight. Larry David IS George Costanza. At first you get annoyed by him, but then he gets in your head like a jingle- CO-Stanz-A. AND I like his thoughts on the weatherman, their a front building over the land spewing bs. Regardless of this crap weather, I got a good jog in with my buddy Jason, there's no way I was tough enough to run 90' outside solo, but it was very doable ...

Tomorrow is the most intense treadmill session to date, kicking off at 8am. If you're unclear basically what my spring running campaign has been based on, I'm taking this supplement, Gametime, prior to my workout which contains a few stimulants, some protein synthesis stuff, artificial sweeteners, and some mushroom derivative that has yet to be fully explained to me. This thing is so clearly destined for weight lifters and their ilk, because it is lacking in carbs and sits kind of heavy on the stomach. I usually have to use the restroom immediately upon ingestion, as it triggers some digestive reflex, but otherwise I'm on board with it man, if it just came in more exciting fruity flavors. I need to get in a good one tomorrow and then I'm willing to basically can the intervals, because I don't really care about running faster than 4:20 mile pace, it ain't going to happen and it's pretty severe on the old hammys right now. I admit I like the treadmill though a...

I'm still kind of lacking in the long run department, but on other fronts the training is pretty strong. I'm neglecting the tempo runs a little, and I don't have much choice for the next couple weeks but all of the sudden Jerry has put this bug in my ear about the 10k at the Kansas Relays. I'm not sure how realistic it is to do the full thing, maybe just pacing duties. I am leery of running 25 laps and 50 left turns but it's a possibility. I finally got my day off today and it has been ideal. I got in a medium interval workout on the treadmill and then headed outside for a steady 6 mile cooldown, which tested the fuel reserves a bit. I was pretty famished by the time I hit Plaid, but their peanut butter/Choco granola bar and El Salvadorian coffee got me through. I am curious why it is the tendency to light roast a lot of the centro american varieties. It leaves them very beany. Probably more interestingly, I was getting out for a run in the evening and I happened to...

It looks like I've let a week get away from me without blogification so here goes- Training was nice. I've been able to get in some doubles, mainly because I need an easy jog in the afternoons after I do these treadmill tests but as long as I stretch and stuff, I've been feeling good enough. I'm running pretty steady on my runs and as a result having a little trouble building the duration of my runs, but the fitness is coming along and I'm not that concerned with an official long run at this point. I got a nice run in with John on Monday, hit the Vo2 on Tuesday, where I went significantly farther on the test, but got a lower reading than last time, 74. The ex phys kids were threatening to increase my critical velocity to 4:00 pace but I told them that was ridiculous and they relented. I backed that up on Wednesday with 2 minutes at 14mph, big break, then 21 minutes at 5:10 pace, which took some concentration but I could have knocked out a few more minutes. I'm c...

This will be the blog post for the day dealing with things other than my trepidation regarding the ex phys. research project. Jordan and I went up to see the Oscar nominated short films at the OKC art museum. This was the 3rd year I've caught these films and there are usually some pretty memorable pieces this year was kind of a disappointment. We missed a couple of the animated shorts, which marked the first half of the grouping, before we headed to McNellie's for a interlude and a pint. We missed Oktapodi and Lavatory Lovestory . Have I ever told you guys the story of how my great-grandfather came up with the name for the USC mascot. His name was Owen Bird and he was a journalist for the LA times sports beat. He actually was also a trackster formerly, though of the sprint variety. Anyway, the story is alluded to here . I bring this up because although I dreaded nearly every minute that I watched of the Grammy's, the few minutes involving Radiohead and the USC marching ban...