Running the World

Last week at this time I was running in Central Park before the NYC Marathon. Sometimes I pinch myself that I get to do this for a living. In the last 5 weeks, I have run in some amazing places: 

• Central Park New York City
• Lake Ontario Waterfront, Toronto Ontario
• Lake Michigan Waterfront, Chicago
• Illinois River trail, Peoria IL
• Kankakee River trail, Kankakee, IL
• Tiergarten, Berlin Germany

Workout Yesterday 

Run 62 min, 6.3 miles

Had to make it up as I went along. Hit the lagoon trail and the coast highway. 

Finished with drills and 4 strides. 

Yoga 15 minutes 

It’s a good life…..

 

Double the Trouble - Double the Fun

One week ago today we arrived home. Cooper {black lab} and I had spent 4 days getting to know each other driving from North Carolina home to California. In June of this year Cooper was picked up by animal control on the streets of Clarksville TN. After spending just 4 days with him Iˇve determined that before being picked up Cooper was a survivor. He survived living on a farm, in the back country or on the streets of Clarksville. He can dumpster dive like no dog I have seen, is quick to peel gum of the street and has a nose for anything edible. He also has a rather vicious protection mechanism that I found just after meeting him. 

None of that dissuaded me from brining him home. He is not 100% Lab but his general disposition is 100% Lab. He is sweet to the core and aims to please. 

The guy who picked chose Cooper from the shelter did a great job taking care of him. That includes training him. Less than two months after he had brought Cooper home he moved to Fayetteville, NC and had to enter the Army school of his dreams. He had to give Cooper up. Our son who grew up with Labs quickly decided to adopt him. The only problem is his young wife could not handle the pressure. Young Labs can be a handful and young nervous labs just overwhelming. He bonded immediately with our son but his wife told him she could not. Mary (my wife) was on the way to visit after a long stint abroad. When she arrived she fell in love with Cooper. Two days after she got home I was on a plane to pick him up. 

This week we have focused on the things he knows. Sitting, staying, heeling and come when called. We have also been training him on rules of the house. Because he aims to please he picks up on everything after once or twice. 

For me personally it has been a grind. Berlin and I were on easy street. Morning walk with friends and an afternoon session where she could run and play with friends until she dropped. Today the morning walk with both dogs is a half hour earlier. We are trying to avoid other dogs and people. It has been working fine but it is a half hour earlier. Then in the afternoon, Berlin and I do our normal afternoon play session. After I get Berlin home I turnaround and take Cooper out for an extended leash walk. 

Three walks a day plus my running or riding is really taking a toll. By the time I actually get to dinner I am fairly exhausted. I know this is temporary. We are working on giving Cooper a life he deserves. One where he doe not need to fight for his meal or fight to defend himself. Essentially give him the life Berlin has. There is a slight rush to all of this since I am leaving for Europe on September 1st for a week and then again at the end of September for 3 weeks. 

He is a special dog and I can`t wait for the day Berlin can share him with all of her friends. Double the trouble but also double the fun. 

The Swedish Way

 

Earlier this year I put myself into the best shape in a couple years. My main purpose was to race the 70.3 Oman. There I did not have the fastest time but given the long travel 3 days prior and the 12 hour time difference I was very happy. Most importantly I was energized after the race and no drained at all. Clearly I had done something right. I noticed through all of my work travel this year that the fitness carried as well. No, I was not and that supreme fitness but I was good. 

There was something missing though. Maybe it was all the travel or maybe it is my age, I could not recover like I used to. My sleep score on my Oura Ring said I was simply worn out. My resting HR rate would be higher than normal or my sleep would be restless. My body temperature would be high or my HRV would be low. 

My former coach Gordo Byrn said he was going to work on getting extremely race fit again. He was going to use the Swedish protocol of 5 days on and 2 days off. The more a read up on the benefits of doing this the more it made sense to me at my age. I have been on it now for two weeks. 

I will update more as I get into summer. Realistically I am training for life and the extremely busy back half of the year. 2 - 3 trips to Europe with one keeping me from home for slightly more than 3 weeks then a quick turn around to NYC. 

My Running Shoe Life

I’ve worked in the running shoe industry most of my adult life. I was once introduced the the entire running team at Reebok (about 25 people) this way “This guy for a number of years did everything you do by himself. He’s the only person in running who has worked every single job there is in running shoes”. I’m going to write often about that on Instagram. You can find me @superdavejewell. 

My current work in running shoes has been placed on hold by COVID-19. So far this year I made it to the London Big Half, a half marathon in London, England and to the LA Marathon. I missed out because of postponement or cancellation on NB National Indoors, Boston Marathon, the upcoming dates for the London Marathon, Brooklyn Half Marathon, Half Marathon of Gothenburg, London 10K, Westminster Mile and a few more events in June. 

I’m sure everyone is in the same boat. Last night we ordered dinner and had a picnic 6 feet away from friends. When I picked up the food I dropped a $10 tip into the jar. The girl behind the counter almost cried. I think in these times even though we are hurting it’s important to remember there are people hurting worse.

Rest and Recovery

As part of my daily routine I measure my HRV every morning when I wake up. In simple terms HRV is the variability in your heart rate. Basically what happens between heart beats. The higher the variability the better. Higher HRV shows better day to day recovery it shows less stress and in theory it will show healthier you. Since the COVID-19 shelter in place and the resulting canceling of my business my HRV has been plummeting. Funny thing is it’s still higher than what is considered normal. Doing a simple google search normal is 59. Mine right now fluctuates daily between 63 and 78. When I’m not feeling the stress of the current situations my HRV is consistently in the 80’s. 

I used to not worry about it. I would get a low reading and would carry on. Right now I use it as my guide that I’m tired. If my HRV drops below 65 I take the day off. No running, no riding and no strength work. Just walking the puppy. It seams to be working quite well. When I do that my HRV pops back up into the upper 70’s the next day.

Feeling really stressed. Take the day off of doing. There is no run or bike ride that is really all that important. As long as you are consistent over time, taking a day off here or there won’t hurt and it just may be the difference in your ability to execute the next day easily.

I have used the Sweet Beat app for years. There are many free HRV apps. Just find one that works for you and get started.

Running with a Hernia

Leading up to the last weekend in February the talk in running was all about shoes. Should there be limits placed on what shoe companies make for the elite runners? Rules put in place for all shoe companies to follow. How much did Nike have a say in those rules? Then finally at the US Olympic Marathon trials Nike gave every entrant a pair of their new approved Nike Alpha Fly Next %. 

We are now sitting here on April 21st one day after the scheduled Boston Marathon (since moved to September 14th) and no scheduled running or triathlon races at least until June and probably long after June. The shoe discussion has been replaced by social distancing. 

In the world of social distancing my running is actually increasing. I’ve run 31 miles the last two weeks and will probably hit 35 this week. I’m not necessarily trying to run more miles I’m simply running faster these days. I didn’t say running fast just running faster. My 90 minute 10 mile run is now 11 miles. Well Sunday it was only 9.6 miles at that’s party because I the run at 1200 feet of climbing and a hernia. 

Yes, on Friday I was out walking the puppy. I was standing on a slight slope in the grass the puppy was running around with her best friend. Somehow they got behind me with me paying much attention. They charged into the back of my legs (when they are charging they are usually tangled up together). They hit me and I fell backwards down the hill. For the rest of Friday and Saturday it kind of felt like I got punched in the gut. I couldn’t remember getting hit in the gut so I ignored it. Sunday after struggling up the hills I took my shirt off and looked down. Their protruding out of my belly button was a hernia. Apparently the impact did it. 

I took Monday off, drank a ton of water and pushed the hernia back in. I woke up today with no pain but I called our health provider. They said as long as I wasn’t vomiting or doubling over in pain I could continue my activities. So, I went for a run. 

My Intersection with Alberto Salazar

As most of you know I spent 12 years working at Road Runner Sports. During that time I was afforded the opportunity to build good relationships with many in the running and running shoe world. One of those relationships was with a running hero of mine, Alberto Salazar. The first time I met him he came to RRS for a Nike event with our very large sales staff. I was asked to give him a tour of our facility which was one of my favorite things to do. He was a regular customer of ours and it was fun to show him where his packages were put together. He bought some training/recovery things from us that Nike didn’t make or that he couldn’t buy in Portland.

Not long after that we took a trip to Portland to visit the Nike Campus. It was his time to give us a tour. We spent the day with Nike product team and either before or after dinner we drove out to the Altitude house. By this time Alberto was starting to have some success coaching runners. Through was is today the NOP (Nike Oregon Project) he bought a house. He had each bedroom in the house set a different altitudes. He prescribed for his athletes which altitude they should be sleeping in. The idea was the well known method of sleep high, train low. An athlete slept anywhere from 5,000 feet elevation to 10,000 feet elevation. These were not altitude tents these were completely sealed rooms.

As we walked into the kitchen we saw a runner running on a treadmill that was submerged in the pool in the back yard. Alberto walked us out and introduced us to Galen Rupp who was I believe a Junior in High School at the time. Galen was dealing with an injury and was just coming back to running. The treadmill in the pool took the pounding away. Galen was running 12 miles that night. After his run we spent a good while talking to Galen in the kitchen.

These three stories tell us quite a bit of what we are hearing today. The purchases from RRS were for his athletes to help them recover from the training. The altitude house was created because the competition was living in Eldoret, Kenya situated at 5,000 feet above sea level. The treadmill in the pool was the precursor to the treadmills today that suspend you so that maybe you are running with only 50% of your body weight at foot impact. Alberto from day 1 was constantly looking for that edge that let his runners recover better so they could push harder during training. It’s fairly simple to understand.

There is a story from today where one of the doping agencies is quoted saying “no coach in our history has ever called us so much to make sure he was doing things legally”. That very fine edge of just being on the right side of the doping line. At some point during all of this according to the recent ban, Albert crossed the line and went from the right side to the wrong side. It’s a really sad tale for the sport of running. It’s a story we’ve seen too much. Some success breeds the need for more success. The IAAF (Track and Field) and the UCI (Cycling)  are full of these stories.

This is not over. The fall out of this one event this past week will go on for years. Mo Farah and Galen Rupp went 1-2 in the Olympic 10,000 in London. They were training partners working with Alberto. This week at the World Championships Sifan Hassan set the track on fire. On day one she won the 10,000 covering the last 1500 meters in under 4 minutes. To put that into perspective only 9 women this year had run the 1500 in under 4 minutes. Then this past Saturday after two qualifying rounds of the 1500 Hassan pulled 8 runners under 4 minutes. She won the 1500 in an astonishing 3:51.95. The 10,000/1500 double is unthinkable. The two races are completely different disciplines and then there are the qualifying rounds of the 1500 to deal with. That’s 4 races in less than a week. On the surface we should celebrate the greatness but Hassan is part of the NOP. There is a forever could over her double this week.

This is just another reason to respect performance but not worship. I met my running hero only to be disappointed. I once road bikes and had dinner with Lance. At the time he was a brash, gifted athlete on his first continental cycling team. He was just a guy. Many in the world hero worshiped him and look how that ended.

Big Weekend
I wrote my wife’s training program on a single sheet of paper. She signed up for the Marine Corps 50K which takes place at the end of October as part of the Marine Corps Marathon. In August she burned her foot really badly while she was off volunteering in Lebanon. She had to take a great deal of time off running. Her only request was to have at least one run that was 4 hours. She wanted the confidence. I built her plan to load up running on the weekends. Last weekend she had a 1 hour run on Friday, a 1 1/2 hour run on Saturday and 4 Hours on Sunday. She killed it. She ran 22 miles on Sunday in that 4 hours. She’s still nervous about making the cut off. Oh the coach-athlete relationship.

It’s a good life.....

July 2019

It’s been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. Time does fly. A few stats before I dig into the topic. I must report that Niki is doing great. I know a number of people reading this also follow me on Instagram and know our dog Nike had a big scare with rat poison. We almost lost her. Lucky for us she’s made a full recovery.

1. 130,000 - That’s the number of miles I’ve flown since the last time I posted. 
2. 10 - That’s the number of pounds I added since the last time I posted and more importantly the pounds I’ve struggled to lose. 
3. 37 - According to Strava that’s the number of activities so far this month. Those activities include running, cycling and yoga. 

130,000 miles - It’s the work that I do. When I worked at Road Runner Sports I was the source of information for the brands. I would spend a great deal of time being prepared for every meeting I had with them. I wanted to be really knowledgeable about who what buying what and why. It turns out they wanted that kind of information too. When I left RRS and started working for the brands I still wanted that information but it was hard to come by. Nobody around the world could provide us that information. Yes, there were sell through reports from retailers but that was not the real picture. Just because a shoe is selling doesn’t mean the true end user, the runner, was buying. One year about 9 years ago I was heading to Kona for the Ironman World Championships. A friend of mine, John Duke asked me to help Newton with their shoe count at the race. I enjoyed that day and through the years have simply taken over the entire process. About 5 years ago New Balance contacted me and wanted to know if I could take my process and apply it to the NYC Marathon. That’s 2400 athletes in Kona spread out to 50,000 athletes in NYC condensed. I figured it out presented my ideas and they hired me to do 7 events the next year. The process today is not even close to that first year. The data is deep and rich. In the last year I’ve been to the following events, 5h Ave Mile, Bronx 10 Mile, Reebok Women’s 10K, Ironman, Kona Beijing Marathon, New York City Marathon, Shanghai Marathon, New Balance Indoor Nationals, London Big Half, New York City Half, LA Marathon, Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Brooklyn Half Marathon, Westminster Mile, London 10K and the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. The database is not in the millions of runners and the clients are the whose who of running shoe brands.

10 - At the end of last year I stepped on the scale which I rarely do. It said 160lbs. That kind of scared me. When I did my first Ironman which happened to be in Kona I weighed 129lbs. When I had my best string of years between 35 and 40 I weighed 145lbs. I was comfortable at 150lbs. I was not comfortable at 160. Over the last 6 months I’ve done a great deal of “training” and feel myself getting faster but I hadn’t lost a single pound. 3 weeks ago I made a big change in my daily diet. Low Carb/High Fat. For that three weeks I probably went too low on the Carbs. I could feel in in my workouts. My weight however reacted. I dropped 7lbs. It’s a work in progress but I’m quite happy with where I am today. I have a plan, my wife is bought in and I feel better today than 2 months ago.

37 - My fitness is a funny thing. When you get to a really high level of fitness it’s very difficult to feel fit. I like to feel fit. When I’m traveling around the world I do my best to keep that feeling. I save most of my running for the road, ride indoors during the week to save time and swim when I can which is usually twice a week. I maintain my 15 minutes of yoga ever day. Now that I have more time I’m able to up the workload which brings me to 37. My week right now looks like this, 3 runs with one on the track, one long on the trails and one off the bike. The bike is the big time consumer so I’m choosing frequency over single ride distance. This past week I did two rides of 2:15 or so and 3 rides of one hour. Swimming is where I feel my fitness good or bad. When I’m swimming well it feels really good and I feel quite fit. Right now I manage 3 swims. All three are master’s workouts between 3,000 and 4,000 years. One is done at the local 50 meter pool which I love. I’ve been in the 1:35 per hundred lane and it’s beginning to feel too easy. I’ll move to the 1:30 lane for one or two workouts next week to see how fit I’m becoming. When I’m really really swimming fit I can comfortably swim in the 1:25 lane.

That’s it after a year. I’ll try to stay a bit more current.

It’s a good life........

High Intensity on the Bike

Today I went out on the bike during the eclipse to do some high intensity work. We have a great flat section of road in Fairbanks Ranch to perform the work. The overall ride was 2 hours and the workout looked like this:

8 x 30 seconds max effort.
2 on 4 min rest
2 on 3 min rest
2 on 2 min rest
2 on 1 min rest

I was absolutely cooked by the last one. I hit 174 on my heart rate on one of the efforts and 170 on all the rest.

As I was riding home I was trashed and zoning out. My mind was on other things. A cyclist came by me on one of the hills like I was standing still. It snapped me out of my thoughts and over the next mile I kind of chased him. I caught him and we started to chat. His workouts made mine seem casual.
He's training for the masters track worlds.

Friday he did motor pacing on the track at 45 miles per hour. Each time for 500 meters.
Today he was riding 85 miles at 18 miles/hour.
Tomorrow he's back on the track. From a standing start he gets up to speed. The moto comes by and then sits in. He chases it for 500 meters. They repeat this often. He's 53 years old.

It's a good life...

Mountaineering Skills

I'm a huge fan of mountain climbing stories. Stories from famous climbers fill my book shelf. When I saw on the latest Mt. Whitney hiking update that this week you'll need crampons, an ice ax and mountaineering skills to make the top I was a little dismayed. I may love to read about high mountain adventures buy I'm in no way prepared to climb in high mountain conditions. Whitney is rated as a fairly easy climb. Not this year. Heavy snow fall this past winter has left a heavy snow pack and a slow melt.

The goal has changed. On Saturday we will hike as high as we can safely go.

It's a good life....

First Vacation in Almost 3 Years

Never again will I go this long without taking real time off with the family to have fun and reflect. It was way too long and the stress that built up over that time became "normal" and that's not good. Everyone needs down time from everything. Down time from "training", down time from work and just plain old down time from the day to day grind that can be living at home.

Mary and I headed to Oahu, Hawaii to visit our USMC son Marco. It was so good to see him, it's hard to put into words. For the last year when I felt like I was having a tough day I tried to remember that my days are not tough. A tough day is being a US Marine Infantryman. PT is at 05:30 and then the training get's hard. Most days finish at 19:00 but there are times like an upcoming training block that will be 24 hours a day for 6 weeks. No bed, no showers and average of 3 hours of sleep a night.

Back to the vacation. I generally don't run or do much of any typical exercise when we vacation. The main reason is we walk almost everywhere. For instance on the 4th of July we walked 10 miles with 2 of those miles in deep sand on the beach. I do have one rule especially if vacation is on a tropical island. I must get wet every day. The only reason I'll usually run is if one or both family members runs with me.

We stayed in Kailua, Oahu and there are some similarities with Kailua, Kona. There is one main road along the beach that stretches for miles. This was our run course for our family run the day after we arrived. It always feels great to feel that Hawaiian heat building on your body as you run. You sweat so much trying to cool your body down and it's really difficult. As you can tell we had a great run. 

 Cockroach Cove

 Cockroach Cove

Cockroach Cove

 North Shore

The best day by far and the best 4th of July we've ever been a part of was Tuesday. We started day with the parade. There probably isn't a better parade on 4th of July than one in a military town. It was really fun. Then we went to the best beach in Oahu which was only 4 blocks from our house. Kailua Beach is a must see if you have time. White sand, warm water and not the crazy crowds and traffic of Waikiki. At 6 or 18:00 we were back at the beach for the fireworks celebration. We knew the Marine Corps Band was playing and wanted to see them. What they showed us was the best part of the entire day. It was a 7 member jazz band, dressed in full Marine dress walking down the beach playing their music. Think Mardi Gras Jazz band on the beach. They were outstanding and having a blast. The beach is narrow and it was packed with spectators. The band came down the beach in the white water of the waves. So much fun. 

The sad part of the 4th was at the end after the fireworks show. We had to drop our son off on base and say goodbye. He had to work a 06:00 to 06:00 duty shift. 

Mary and I went hiking on the 5th. We hiked up to Maunawili Falls. The maps said "Easy Hike" and advertised 1.5 miles. I didn't wear my GPS but it sure seemed longer than 1.5 miles and if this is what Hawaii calls easy I'd love to do one that was difficult. The falls were not the big falls you typically see on Hawaii promo videos. They were decent size but not the big ones. What made them fun was jumping off the rock face into the pool below the falls. There were two jumping off points. One was 10ft and the other 15ft over an outcropping on the rock face. Really fun and the water was really refreshing after the hike. 

No, Mary didn't hike barefoot. She took her shoes off to cross the river. I of course didn't care about my shoes so I just went right through. No harm done to the shoes or my feet. 

A great 5 days with the family. It wasn't all smiles and hugs like most vacations but we sure made it as fun as we possibly could. So good to have the little family together again even it it was for such a short time. 

It's a good life.....

I'm Back for More

Here's the set up.
1. Personal and Mind dumping - Endorphin Fanatics
2. Running Shoes - shoeranger.com next posting on shoe ranger is the costing of a running shoe. Shoe prices are going up and the brands have been reacting by cutting some costs.
3. The Running Industry - runningshoeinsight.com - Last post was a shout out to Hoka. They are the new kid on the block and really have a thing but they are not trying to change the block they are falling in line.

This picture was just that, a picture I took while out on a bike ride. This is my typical 1 hour easy ride. This is the beach in Del Mar. It's a beautiful place to be any time of the year. It's one of the few beaches that has a park full of grass just before the sand. You can literally go the to beach and not get sandy. 

The summer between my Sophomore and Junior year in college this beach was a daily visit. I worked as a life guard. A dream job in California. I was not a beach guard, I was a pool guard and swim teacher. I worked at a pool in central Escondido. Most cyclists in this area know Escondido as the town you have to go through to get into the mountains of San Diego. On days where we weren't teaching swim lessons, three of us would drive down Del Dios Highway to this beach. We would body surf for an hour or so, have breakfast then get to the pool in time to open it for the day. That was a great summer. 

Now that beach is simply on one of the rides. It's 6 miles from the house and unless I'm riding, I rarely go there. Body surfing is done at Moonlight Beach these days. 

It's a good life.....

20 Miles on the Legs

Last week we took a break from normal beating training and went hiking. The goal was two things:

1. Father/Son time - He was on spring break and we needed time together. Only 4 months and a few days until boot camp. 
2. He needed to put miles in his legs in combat boots to break his feet in. 

The hike was 20 miles round trip to the top of Mt San Jacinto (slightly over 10,000 feet) and back. The trees on the bottom of the climb were beautiful. 

We found snow early in the climb and Marco could not resist. 

This is one of the more beautiful hikes in Southern California. Views of the Temecula Vallley and Riverside are spectacular! 

We found lots of snow. In fact most of the top 3.5 miles up and 3.5 miles down was on snow. It wasn't too bad going up. The occasional post hole was more fun than anything. 

Going down through the snow was a different story. Often we were one slip from sliding 100 feet through rocks and trees. Post holes in the later afternoon soft snow became an annoyance. It seemed to take a great deal more time to get through the snow going down. 

Stats

Distance: 20 miles

Time: 10 hours

Elevation Change: 5,000 feet

Reward: The great thing about Southern California is there is almost always an In and Out Burger on the way home. 

We broke his feet in with 3 blisters. My legs felt like I ran 20 miles. 

It's a good life...

Barefoot Drills and Strides

It was kind of strange to hear my name called out on the Endurance Planet ATC Podcast. The question was from a woman who wants to get down to barefoot running. Tawnee mentioned my process of going out once a week doing drills and strides barefoot as a way to get used to barefoot running. I've been doing a great deal of research on runners recently. Asking them their process. How many runs a week, what kind of runs each week, how does running feel and what's hurting. In the running store most people are in a hurry and there's no time to do a full analysis but I always watch runners with a full analysis in mind. What I see and hear is a trend that I'm trying to undo.

Ask any runner who started the activity as a sport in school either on the track or in cross country and you'll here the same thing. Every workout or race started with a warm up, drills and strides and then the workout or race. Depending on the type of athlete especially track athlete the drills may be different and the amount and effort of the strides would be different but essentially that was the process.

Now ask any adult runner who didn't start in high school and most of them have no idea was running drills are. Then watch the runners like I do and you'll see form flaws that could be fixed by a regular dose of drills and strides. The biggest form flaws are lifestyle. People spend so much time sitting at the computer or with a phone in hand and the flaws look like they are still sitting at the computer.

Go to youtube and search running form drills.

Now the process is this:
1. Do the drills with perfect form - Relaxed shoulders, neutral head (absoloutely critical) that is looking out not down.
2. Speed of the drill is controlled by form. As soon as you look down or hunch your shoulders slow down. Form trumps speed.
3. Finish each drill set with a set of strides (4-10 strides) - 20 seconds in perfect form. I was taught to picture athletes. For the first half (2-3-4- or 5) of the stride set run like Edwin Moses for the second set run like Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson or Pick your sprinter. Recover fully which should be 30 seconds to a minute. You are not sprinting these you are using form to control. If form breaks slow down.

Now to the point of this. My goal for everyone is to get to as close to barefoot as possible in doing these drills. I've thought at length about this. What's more important, going barefoot or doing the strides? I think barefoot is more important. I see so many older people with foot problems I rank taking care of your feet above all else and the best way you can take care of your feet (in my opinion) is spend time barefoot on a soft surface. Everyone has a patch of grass close by. If you don't do drills and don't do strides at least go to that grass surface, take off your shoes and walk around. Once you are comfortable walking around, jog around. Once your comfortable jogging around start incorporating drills. Once you can do all the basic drills (high knees, butt kicks, AB skips, Carioka) then add strides slowly. Start with 4. when that becomes comfortable do 6. Get to 10. Put this process at the start or end of a run and you'll begin to undo all those lifestyle things than screw with your running form.

Barefoot Ted says barefoot running is a mindset. I fully agree with that idea. Once your mind clicks and you look forward to your once a week session in the grass you will begin to feel what natural running form is.

All Twisted Up

For the last week or so I've felt stiff and twisted. No workout seemed great or bad but every one felt odd. I realized at some point it was time to go see the chiropractor who has kept me straight for years. The first thing he says, "It's been since August since you last visited". I said "I feel that". He measured my hips and said I was off balance by 2 degrees. Put me on a scale and 2 degrees translates to just over 10lbs more weight being carried by my left side. He adjusted me and said "You are going to be dizzy". I was the rest of the day. Nothing felt good. Not sitting, not standing and certainly not talking.

I woke up feeling totally new. I often wonder how people go around feeling like that their entire life. I'm so grateful for my friend CM who introduced me to Dr. Kenny who saved my running years ago. He's been fixing me ever since.

It's a good life...

Sunday Long Run Then Rest

Sunday I went out for a run. Because of some mid morning commitments I ran early. I woke up at 5 and was running at 6am. We were out of coffee so I ran on a half a banana and water. 70 minutes into the run I felt like I was barely moving. I had a bottle with an electrolyte mix in it (no calories) and I had one Hammer Gel packet. I downed the Hammer Gel put my head down and started running. It was a hilly local trail run and I wanted to work the down hills. I ran the uphills telling myself to stay engaged in the hill and I ran the down hill open free and as fast as the hill allowed. The miles started to click off and before I knew it I had covered the same distance 12 minutes faster. The back half of the run was purely float state. It was enjoyable and it set me up for an outstanding day.

5 Things I am Thankful for On This Thursday January 14, 2016

1. 23 and Me genetic results - I've always been on the healthier than most side of life. It doesn't matter that I'm healthier than you what matters is that my health continues it's strong trend. A few blood tests ago my Iron (ferritin) levels were high. They continued blood test after blood test to remain high. The only way to reduce them is to give blood which I've been doing. But the cause was yet unknown. It's ether genetic or it's lifestyle. 23 and Me confirmed that it's not genetic. That's good because I don't have to give blood every 30 days now. The future says continue to give blood and to monitor through blood tests. 
2. My big sister Cyndi - We've not had an easy 6-7 years. First our father passed away abruptly on the 17th fairway one November morning. Not much longer after that we (my sister) had to put our mom into a total care facility for her Alzeimer's. Then just over a year ago our brother Bob passed away from ALS. Now the money has run out and my Mom needs to move to a county facility. My sister Cyndi is taking care of all of this over the weekend. Words can't express how thankful I am to have Cyndi as my sister. She raised me and she's still showing me how to live. 
3. Dr Phil Maefetone  I was lucky to meet Phil years ago at a function we held at Road Runner Sports. Listening to his interviews on Endurance Planet remind me just what a visionary he has been in such a kind soul. The endurance community is lucky to have a guy like Phil. 
4. David Bowie - What and influence in my life. Music is the one absolute constant in my life. It's on in the background or in the foreground most of my waking day. I love all music. There are certain threads in the music I listen to most and David Bowie is easily threaded through much of it. 
5. The place where I live. I sometimes forget that that I live here. I get busy doing stuff and sometimes forget as Gordo says "This is far more than I need" I can't agree with you more Gordo. 

It's a good life....

Resolutions

I was in a Starbucks yesterday talking to the two Baristas. They asked about my resolutions and told me there plan. The younger one said" I've made mine but they usually fall away after a month". The older one said "I didn't make any, I don't want to fail".

I work three different jobs. One of them is more passion than job because it doesn't pay to well just yet. I work these three jobs because of one big part of my life our Son Marco. I made a commitment 2 years ago to spend the most quality time with him I could and enjoy his last two years of high school with him.

With that I really only have one resolution with a huge amount of action items.

I want to run once a month with Marco until he ships out to the Marines.

The action items:

1. Continue to hack by body. It's been used and abused and although it's not broken it's of the age that stuff happens. 
2. Give Mary the first priority attention she deserves. Believe me when I say the relationship with Marco is great when the relationship with Mary is great. 
3. As my friend at work said to me just the other day "Dave, I have one thing to say to you, Breath Mother Fucker" I've been following the Wim Hoff breathing method for a few months now. I've tried all kinds of mediation and I've found this to really work. I test stuff daily and the two metrics that get tested are HRV (Heart Rate Variability) and Stress level. When fully engaged in the Wim Hoff method my HRV goes really high and my stress goes away. In fact yesterday the stress was a complete flatiline that barely registered on the graph. On  a side test I test blood glucose each morning. Wim sasy the breathing changes your body chemistry. Three times after crappy food the night before my blood glucose has been super high upon waking. All three times I did the deep breathing and dropped by blood glucose by as much as 20%. I'd love to find out if this is a fact. 

It's a good life....

Running with Power

Had the best run since starting back up. It felt totally effortless until I finished it with 6 x 30 seconds hard uphill. The Stryd Power Meter told me the run was easy. Although I ran faster than the day before I used 20% less power. I have a theory I'm going to test on this power for running.

In the afternoon I went for a swim and realized I messed up my right shoulder. At least right now I think it's my shoulder. The pain shows itself as fire in my right tricep muscle. But I can comfortable do pull ups which tells me it's not the muscle but the shoulder. I'll use the Supple Leopard and rest to see if I can fix the issue. It can't be serious because I've done nothing serious in the pool. Just a minor setback.


It's a good life....

Five Things to Keep Calm

My exterior is always calm. In fact a woman I work with called me quirky. I asked her why and she said " you are always calm". It's my exterior. Inside not so much. Inside my mind is always racing. Working three different "Jobs", raising a child and staying married for 22 years will do that to you. Finding calm to quiet the mind and quiet the nerves is always a challenge. This is what I've found that works:

One 

Dogs can add stress for sure but this one lowers the stress all the time. All I have to do is sit down on the floor. Her warmth and loving nature take over.

Two
Playing the Guitar - If you play an instrument you are lucky. It's magical the way music can change the mood and physically making the music happen is extra special.

Three
Singing along to music. I still love being in the car when one of those special songs comes on. Volume goes up!

Four

Stretching and mobility - If you are doing it correctly, finding the tight spots and working them out you can't do anything but concentrate on that instant. The daily 15 minutes is magical.

Five

We are lucky to live by the beach. Sitting on the cliff at sunset and allowing the warm of the Sun to warm you is good. You don't need a beach for this. Sunsets happen everywhere and just soaking in those last rays is special. The one thing we have is the motion of the ocean. Just getting out on or in the water is spectacular. You can't help but feel alive and calm. I love casually going out to the kelp beds with my fins and mask spending 30 minutes diving down to see all the fish. Everything else leaves your head 20 feet below the surface of the ocean.

It's a good life.....