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Group Hardesty run

November 27, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s -> low 40s, steady rain and wind

Comments:
Was thankful for an early to bed last night, since I was up early for this group run.

Opened this run up to a big group of folks, so we had quite an eclectic group:

- TNHers: me, Emily, Lewis
- Kelly Woodke, a former Thornley-era ultarunner (and my LMT), who's getting back into ultras
- Kelly Powell-Smith, one of my former-slash-current patients, who's an avid trail runner and skier (nearly 50, but really fit)
- Ann Petersen, one of my newer patients, who emailed me a month ago for gait and coaching advice. She's been in EUG at the UO for a few years and runs a bunch of crazy long shit (mid-30s)
- Callie-Alice!
- her friend, Morgan Haws, who's fast as shit, and another Team Run Eugene'er

Everyone was doing different things, it seemed: the Kellys, Lewis and the young ladies only wanted up and down, while Ann and Emily wanted the big loop. Since I rode with Emily, I agreed to go long. And since there'd be widely variable speeds -including Emily, who's running SLOW MAF pace - I let everyone get a 10+minute head-start, while I jogged around in the parking lot.

I ran what I felt was a pretty honest pace up. I was still clearly tired from the weekend, but felt pretty strong. Focused on PLANTAR-FLEXION - getting reasonable power from my ankles+calves - as well as the other "HAPP'D" concepts. Felt pretty good, and the trail was in solid shape.

I caught Emily just past the two-mile point, then shortly after reeled in Ann, KRW and KPS, just before the three-mile mark.

Splits were OK...and I thought I'd have a good shot at running a low 60s...but as they have for the past year-plus, things seemed to erode away in the 4th mile.

I kept thinking that I'd catch the young gals and Lewis, who I assumed were running easy, but I didn't. I pushed it a bit on the final half-mile, and just 400m from the summit, down they came, flying at me. I gave 'em quick 5's, then kept shuffling to the top.

I don't blame 'em for not hanging out up there. It SUCKED: low 40s, rain and wind! Yuck! I sat up there, myself, for a minute, lamenting that I split a mediocre 65:40. Not sure yet what the HR was. I'd say it was average - low in the front end, but over 170 when I was pushing it.

Side note: while a lot of things are better being truly areobically fit and fat-burning, my climbing is still maybe only 50% back. Shit, back on Thanksgiving in '12, I did a "relaxed" climb in 62:30. It's just different - while I know I'm more sustainable, I've still yet to recover the muscular strength (and lactate tolerance?) from those grinder days. My hope is that, in '15, my MAF will continue to improve, allowing me to **sustainably** rebuild that grinder gear so that my climbing ability and tolerance returns to it's dominance that was so critical to my WS '12 success.

After sitting up top for a bit, I jogged back down, to keep moving and stay warm. I ran into KPS and KRW fairly quickly, then a few minutes later, Ann. The K's went up and down as planned, then Emily showed up.

I guilted her into only doing an up and down, since ALL my stuff was in her car, and she didn't want me to stash her key. Ann continued on for the big loop, and after we summited, Emily and I descended.

Fun, easy descent: random chats about stuff, about balance, and how it helps running performance. I talked about how much Max King has changed, since I first met him back in the summer of '08: more relaxed, more perspective on adventure, fun and self-exploration, versus the "I HAVE TO run fast" mentality that we all get into. We also talked about how volunteering and doing non-running things creates a lot of positive vibes and energy to be used on race day (and how Twiet probably benefited SO much from having FRIENDS at every AS at Western States!). Good stuff...

Got back down to the TH. The fast ladies had left, and Lewis and the Kellys were about to depart. Lewis said he and the girls did the summit in about 70, which seemed right, and that neither Callie or Morgan were working very hard, which is cool!

Drove back to EUG with Emily. Had some good chats, where she volunteered some background on her family.

Good day! A little weird, but I'm glad everyone got together. Ann was happy to meet KPS, and I think it was good for Callie to meet some other (slower, less pressuring) folks in the run community.

PM: napped, then made my cauliflower mash and headed to Hammer's. Eclectic group of folks - about 15-20, including little tykes. Fun times, and a good, quality group of people. Hammer's sister, Lisa, was there, as expected. She was looking GOOD - she's a beautiful, curvatious woman, for sure, and I got a few eyefuls. But ugh, I just don't feel like I'm ready to go there. I think I need to read her out a little bit more: always more complicated and risky engaging with immediate family of your friends! But we were perfectly social, and enjoyed each other's company.

Had a few texts back and forth with Callie Alice. She and Morgan killed that climb, which is cool for non-ultra trail runners! A couple times over she said she wanted to run again, and go farther.

I'm not sure what her angle is at this point. Does she like ME, or is she simply craving something new, and some nurturing? Either way, I'm doing my best to be supportive and build her up. As I texted her today, she's just scraping the surface of her potential. As a runner, and a person.