Nervous jus' thinkin' about it

Those of you who have ever gone through conditioning for a sport or who have run track or cross country can probably relate to how my legs feel right now. Oh sure, today was an easy day; 5 miles, no time. But, theoretically the past 3 days have been hard days. I ran a 10 miler on Sunday (the first during season), at 4-mile tempo @ 6:15 pace on Monday, and then a fun (seriously, it was) ladder that consisted of 1200, 800, 600, 400, 800, 400, 200 yesterday. However, none of that really amounts to anything.... compared to tomorrow's workout anyway. I dunno what it is exactly, but when I glanced at the paper is was something like 4x800, 4x400, 2x400, 2x800, and then some more; but, I wasn't able to see it. So I'm playing it smart. I'm going to bed early, eating more than just Multi-Grain Cherios (the real breakfast of champions) for breakfast, and I'm gonna eat more than my PB sandwich and banana for lunch. Even with such preparation I'm pretty sure this is gonna beat the hell outta me; then again, isn't that what it's supposed to do? Oh well, anyway my Dad's kicking me off the 'puter because he has to work. So I'll catcha later, and tomorrow... well, I'll have to talk about how the workout went, cuz this is kinda serving as my training log right now too, but I will be sure to rant about something that does not involve running. Later~ Rich

Specious Beliefs

Most people don't understand me and they never will. I'm sorry if I come off in a bad way. I can't really explain why I do some of the things that I do, and when I try to explain why I do them it's not listened to with open ears: contrary to whatever might be believed by the analyzing party. Meh....... it happens. I've got my music and that other active thing that I do to keep me from totally flipping out about stupid crap though. Speaking of music, I picked up The Smashing Pumpkins Adore and Siamese Dream from the library last week and have been listening to them quite a bit. Both CD's are really good; and thus, I give them my seal of approval. The Hives seemed to have finally recreated their site. The new album comes out soon... when? I'm not sure. But when it comes it will probably be getting my seal of approval shortly thereafter.

So many thoughts....

I've got quite a bit going through my head right now. In fact, I've got a number of things that I would like to write in here, but I honestly don't see the point. This is due to the fact that many things that I write in here people don't understand. Which is perfectly fine, but to then think that many of the things I write about are a laughing matter just totally pisses me off. People enjoy doing a lot of things that I think are stupid. But, I typically do not call those people stupid or insane for doing them. So why is it that those people think they have anymore of a right to criticize what I enjoy? They don't, and furthermore, most of them do not do anything more challenging or exciting anyway. And if they don't like what I write about, then read someone else's blog. There are plenty of them out there dealing with a variety of topics. Oh and by the way, practice (and by practice I mean track, or running, practice) kicked ass. Four mile tempo run was just a little slower than expected but we did 400's afterwards which I totally tore up. I haven't been able to play bass for a few days because of all the crap I've had to do lately, but it's all good I guess. I'm probably heading up to Valpo on Friday which promises to be fun. As for school it just kinda chugged along fairly quickly. I've got less than 60 pages in my book and I'm done. Speaking of done, I'm done typing. Later~ Rich

It just keeps on going and going and going...

Greetings to all. This weekend has been a very good one. I believe I shall start with Saturday. Alexis and I went out for a casual jog around town. We stopped over at Coach's (Mr. Walker) house talked to him for a while. What was even cooler was that Bill Centifanto (91' Hebron, mile record holder) stopped by and I got to meet/talk to him. He ran for USI in college and currently lives down there and said he'd be happy to have me stop by sometime when I'm at school, which I thought was really cool. This guy is amazing though. He's pushing 30 and still runs 16:15-30's for 5k: faster than me. Anywho later on that night Alexis, Joe, and I made a run up to Steak n' Shake.

Today I really didn't do much of anything. Got up late, shot some hoops with Joe. Layed around for a lengthy period of time. Finally, I got up and decided "hey, today would be a nice day for a 10-miler." So, a few minutes later I was off and running. I intentionally tried to take it easy after the killer week I just had; I had started at 2:30, and that's a conservative estimate; I got back at 3:40 flat. A 7-minute/mile pace (if not faster) is pretty good for an easy day of more than 8 miles. In fact, that's the first 10-miler I've run in a long time. That made my day. Later on I read for a long time. I've got less than 150 pages left in my Tom Clancy novel, which is tits cuz I've got other stuff I wanna read, not to mention the homework I'm gonna have when we start school up again tomorrow. Later ~ Rich

50 minutes and 3 sand dunes later....

Got up at 9-something today. Decided to go with the breakfast of champions, that being 2 slices of left-over pepperoni pizza from Bronko's. After that I had to clean up around the house (except for my room, which shall remain in it's unorganized dirty form as long as I occupy it). I next had a wonderful drive up to the dunes on what had been an exceptionally wet day thus far. After hearing the rain fall pretty hard last night and looking at the "beautiful scenery" off of 49, I was fairly sure the trails would be a mess. When I got there however, all of the sand was on the flat trails was packed down oh so very nicely :) . Sand dunes, however, never really change.... they are always a bitch. The run started out with a pleasant 20 minute warmup on the beach followed by some stretching. It was then time to hit the hills. Although trail 9 is quite challenging with its rolling dunes, it's nothing compared to the short but oh so very sweet agony and pain of Trail 8. Trail 8 is only about 1.5 miles long, yet it manages to easily be the toughest trail due to the fact that it is situated on 3 of the tallest sand dunes: Mt. Tom (192ft), Mt. Jackson (176 ft.), and Mt. Hidden (184). Even cooler, After climbing each of them, the trail takes you all the way back down to the base of the next one so that you can run all the way again, yay! Mt. Tom is really fun because you get to run up the longest set of steps I've ever seen outside haha. So I somehow managed to get through the entire trail, and took a little break to get back down to resting heart rate. After that I started off on my cooldown (or so I thought). As I was coming back from the cooldown I ran into Mark Fisher, former Morgan runner turned Portage runner. So I ended up doing all of the Trail 9 loop out to Furnessville and back at a decent pace most of the way. Now my legs are dead, and I am quite happy.

I've been reading up alot on the habits and training regimens of many of the great runners throughout the 20th century and many of them such as Lindgren and Elliot rarely, if ever, did interval training. I like interval training and will not give it up entirely; however, the much more simple and raw training philosophy of running yourself into the ground in a natural setting, such as the Cerutty's coaching method for Elliot, is even more appealing to me. Plus, I think that dune sessions that I have been running do a lot more for my legspeed than the majority of intervals that I typically do. We shall see in two weeks I guess.

After I ran I went over to Joe G.'s house in Hobart. It was a little too wet outside to play basketball. So we shot pool for a while and after that headed up to B&N. Saw an interesting book up there about Roger Bannister and Herb Elliot; now I have to find $24. The other book I'm looking to get is The Art of War by Lao Tzu. It's a book full of military strategy written hundreds of years ago. The Chinese, mind you, were the inventors of gunpowder and many other handy weapons. Got home after Joe's house, picked up Matt, and then headed back up to Valpo for some fine-dining at Fazoli's haha. Had a good time there with LP, Mike D., and Skippy (and Matt; obviously). We then went to B&N (my second time at one today, this time in Valpo). Found a book that just made me wanna puke. This sorry excuse for a "runner" who goes by the nickname of "Penguin," ironically enough, wrote the biggest load of crap for a runner's guide I have ever seen. Basically, his book was unintentionally written to strip running of all that makes it good and worth doing. The guy is a total wimp and believes that it is "OK to be slow and be proud of it." My favorite chapter of the book had to be the one dedicated to "avoiding the bad four-letter word: pain." Well buddy, I'm sorry, if you were a real runner and knew what real running was, there is a far worse five-letter word you would be trying to avoid: being called a "p-u-s-s-y". And that's my two cents. I'm now spent. Hope you enjoyed winding through this lengthy post. ~Rich

Rainy day

Got outta bed at 10:00. I'm lazy. Ate lunch, read for a very long time, and then ran. It was a recovery day, but after running up and down the sand dunes yesterday the town course was a cakewalk. Finished four miles in 25:55 (a little under 6:30 per mile). After that the team lifted. I really need to get some sleep tonight. I'm heading up to the dunes again tomorrow, then to Hobart to ball it up w/Joe and some other people, and then Fazoli's in Valpo with the team. That's all for now.~ Rich

Today was one of those days that I don't wanna have ever again, but I know I will. My cat, who has been my greatest companion for the past 14 years, had to be put to sleep because of the pain he was going through due to kidney problems. He was just such an awesome cat... I can't really explain it; he was just always there and made everyone in the family feel good. Don't really have much else to say. We had already planned for today to be the day, so it was nice to get out to the dunes before it happened and just clear my head of any conscious thought. Did a 40 minute run through trail 9 and part of trails 7 and 8; basically just tore myself apart. I really wish tomorrow wasn't a recovery day because I'm up for doing it again. Later~ Rich

The Dunes tomorrow... again :)

As you may have already gathered from the title of today's post, I am gonna be heading up to the dunes again tomorrow. Monday I was a total wimp when it came to the hills. I doubt the difficulty of getting up the hills will have lessened any more for me tomorrow; however, I will be sure to ascend all of them even if I have to freaking crawl to get up without stopping. This is supposed to be hardest week yet, and thus far I'm not very impressed with myself. Today was just a recovery day, which was run in Lake County. It was a sunny 50 degree day, which called for a run w/o a shirt (cold my @$$, wait 'til April when it's 50 AND blowing rain sideways).

Friday it looks as if the team will be heading up to Fazoli's to "officially" kick off track season. Because we all know that no season is truly official until we have all consumed pasta at the same table haha. Other than that I'm making a kiling in my painfully long book that I'm reading for english. So far I've read about 760 of 1130 pages (yay). Once I get that out of the way I'll be able to read much more entertaining books (In my opinion, anyway. I know most of the books would bore the rest of you to death). That's all folks~ Rich

Hey everyone. Got an IM from Henry and Matt last night @ 9-something asking me to give them a ride over to Meow's house to hang out with Mao and Meow. So we went over there and hung out til around 12, then they wanted us to go cuz they needed to "get some sleep for practice;" lightweights. Anyway, I got up @ 9 today, ate a light breakfast, and headed up to Chesterton. It was 36 degrees in Hebron, but after driving 45 minutes north, it was 29 degrees up there. The Dunes were absolutely beautiful and peaceful today. It looks as if there was a light dusting of snow earlier this morning up there beause the north side of all the hills were frosted with snow. What made it even better was that I got in for free (I wouldn't wanna freeze my tail off just to collect 4 dollars from the 5 cars that would come either) and no one was there. I decided to take Trail 9 to get some nice hills in, which turned out to be both a good and bad idea. The hills totally kicked my ass, and I actually had to stop a few times; but, I'm gonna go up there a few more times this week and I'm thinking it will work out to be quite beneficial. Probably gonna run again later on today; don't know how far yet. Other than that I dunno what I'm doin' yet tonight. Later~ Rich

I hope everyone is enjoying this semi-snowy Sunday, I know that I am. Last night, I went with Angie to see 50 First Dates (the Adam Sandler flick). As usual, Sandler and Barrymore did not dissapoint; I thought it was a good movie. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be making a trek down to E-ville. I got a lot of shit I need to get done around here; plus, my cat (17 years old) is probably gonna be put to sleep this week. However, the good news about staying here is that I'll probably be doing something with Angie again in the next few days. On that note, I'm outty~ Rich

I like Saturdays

Ahhhhh Saturday, one of my favorite days of the week. Today looks to be a good day. Probably gonna go hang out with Joe for a little while. Then, I gotta run cuz I'm a lazy bastard and I didn't get up early enough this morning. I was gonna do some circuit 800's, but a 5-mile fartlek run on the country roads sounds a little more fun. Was gonna write more, but I gotta go. Later~ Rich

Why I run.

Just a warning to those of you who read this. Some may find this boring, others may like it, and yet others may even be so bored out of their mind that they don't care either way. I shall now proceed.

For the most part, I enjoy talking to the people who surround me. Typically, my friends, acquaintances, and people who "see me running around town" all strike-up enjoyable conversations. However, there is always one question that bothers me, that being: "Why do you run?". It's not that it is an outright stupid question, rather, it is just too generalized, and the answer cannot be explained in as simple a manner as the question is stated. Certainly there are other simple questions such as Why do you breathe? or Why do you eat? that can be answered simply: I do these things to survive. However, running is not something that I do to survive. Obviously, running is something that I have chosen to do. Although, contrary to popular belief, I don't run just because I think it is fun. To me, running is a lot more than just fun or winning (though winning is quite an enjoyable experience). I believe that running is something that can not only enable a person to be a better athlete or attain a higher level of fitness, but it can also serve to better the person as a whole. This point is exemplified even more if the person is working towards some type of goal. Because for a runner to become better, they must deal with pain to get to the next level. Percy Cerutty, a famous Australian track coach, once said: "You only grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." Distance running is made up of continuous and repetitive motion; in fact, it is basically an analogy or model for how one can live a successful life. It's not whether someone tries and gives up, or for that matter, does not even start. It is all about staying focused and waiting it out until whatever the person desires to attain or excel at is accomplished. "Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to unlocking our potential. ~ Lian Cardes

The benefits of running do not stop there. The most obvious benefit of running is definately it's ability to drastically improve a person's health and fitness. After all, how often do you hear about a competitive runner or recreational marathoner dying of a heart attack at age 40? Oh sure, there are definately knee and muscle problems that might act up as a runner gets older. But personally, I'd take those problems over triple-bypass surgery anyday.

Every person has something that helps them relax, to think, or to just escape from everything around them. It may be music, computer games, TV, driving, or a number of other things. Personally, I enjoy music quite a bit. I find it to be a great aide for relaxing. However, running is what I like to do whenever I need to think about something bothering me. Thus, running is sort of an active meditation for me. When I run, I find I am able to think about whatever is on my mind much more clearly, without any outside disturbances. Plus, if something is troubling me, running can act as a productive stress reliever (running does not hurt as much as punching a wall or locker; and it's better for your health).

So there you have it, my reason(s) for why I run. There are more, and the answers I gave are still a little vague; but, I'd like to get a little bit of reaction from those of you that read this before (or if I should) continue. ~Rich

Aide

It's that time of the day again, aide period. The period of nothingness. The period where I have absolutely nothing to do except type out irrational, pointless, and completely stupid thoughts for your entertainment (you people make me sick). As you may have noticed, yesterday wasn't exactly the brightest of days for me. Because of that, I failed to tell you about my weekend. To make a long story short, PJ came over later on Saturday and we headed up to Steak n' Shake to catch up. On Sunday I slept and I ran. Now that we've got that out of the way I can start ranting about today. This is just another one of those mindless, boring school days that just keeps dragging on, much like this post. So, today I was thinkin' I'd do a 8-10 miler, however, I kinda wanna get some 150's in today cuz my endurance is there right now, but my speed is shit. Which means that now I'm thinking that 5 or 6 miles are in order. We'll see; I change my mind way too much. That's about it for now. I can't believe you actually read all of this crap. Shame on you.~ Rich

Untitled

Nothing happened today, so I have nothing to write about. School was a blur, track sucked, and I cannot wait until Friday or Saturday. Got the crucial call to make on Tuesday to get the ball rolling, we'll see how that goes. Later y'all~ Rich

Saturlazy

Sometimes it is nice to just lounge all day, which is exactly what I did. Ricky came over around 12'ish and we screwed around on our guitars, listened to music, and talked about this and that for the next 6 hours. I didn't run today. Yes, I know that sounds like heresy. But, I'm doing a 10-miler tomorrow for the first time in a few months, so the rest is probably quite wise. On top of the running the rest of Sunday is nothing special. Looks like I'll probably be going up to VU for the NCAA selection party and then coming back and finishing up some Economics h/w. I shall leave it at that. Later folks~ Rich

and I'm spent......

Today was an exceptionally good one. School was a breeze, especially 4th hour. Fourth hour consists of me going into the computer lab and then reading, surfing the net, sleeping, and/or talking to anyone who decides to drop on by. After school I headed out to the country roads behind Stoney Run. And now, having returned from a 5-miler finished in 32:34, I am competely dead. True, it was a recovery day, however, when one's lunch consists of a gatorade and some peanut butter cookies there is not a large fuel supply for strenuous activity (i.e. running). Anyway, I've got quite a bit of homework to do over the weekend. My little break comes tomorrow when Ricky I possible coming over for a while. He's bringing his guitar too, which means I have to try not to suck. More later tonight or tomorrow.~ Rich

Yaaaaa......

Greetings. Today was a very fun day which, at its conclusion, seems to have opened up new and exciting possibilities. However, much to the dissapointment of the many (sic) readers of this blog, I am not willing to go into details at this time. Although I shall tell you how the rest of the day went. School didn't seem to be very bad today. Classes were easy and just kinda flew by. I just wish that practice could have been the same. The weather today was probably the worst that I have had to endure in over a month. Hands down the wind was the best. My favorite running buddy Mike D. (actually he's tied with Matt) accompanied me on this most enjoyable of runs; and by enjoyable I would especially like to point out the ability to barely move forward when going directly into the wind. But hey, this is what we get for running outside in Indiana in March. Moreover, I had run in weather much worse only two months ago. Tomorrow I've got morning practice if I actually find the ability to get up.

After track I headed over to Kouts for Acedemic Super Bowl competition (those of us on the team don't beat around the bush; we just call it Nerd Bowl). It was quite fun, I was on the social studies team. Unfortunately, I think the questions they asked actually made me dumber. For example, what was Sputnik? a.) a space vehicle b.) a nuclear submarine c.) an atomic bomb d.) your mom. OK, so the "your mom" choice was not actually on the quiz, but it gets the point across. It was all good though, we tore it up. The only questions we really missed were those involving 50's television shows (we didn't even know that was part of the material that we needed to study). Oh well, I'm tired. Later~ Rich

Yaaaaa......

Greetings. Today was a very fun day which, at its conclusion, seems to have opened up new and exciting possibilities. However, much to the dissapointment of the many (sic) readers of this blog, I am not willing to go into details at this time. Although I shall tell you how the rest of the day went. School didn't seem to be very bad today. Classes were easy and just kinda flew by. I just wish that practice could have been the same. The weather today was probably the worst that I have had to endure in over a month. Hands down the wind was the best. My favorite running buddy Mike D. (actually he's tied with Matt) accompanied me on this most enjoyable of runs; and by enjoyable I would especially like to point out the ability to barely move forward when going directly into the wind. But hey, this is what we get for running outside in Indiana in March. Moreover, I had run in weather much worse only two months ago. Tomorrow I've got morning practice if I actually find the ability to get up.

After track I headed over to Kouts for Acedemic Super Bowl competition (those of us on the team don't beat around the bush; we just call it Nerd Bowl). It was quite fun, I was on the social studies team. Unfortunately, I think the questions they asked actually made me dumber. For example, what was Sputnik? a.) a space vehicle b.) a nuclear submarine c.) and atomic bomb d.) your mom. OK, so the "your mom" choice was not actually on the quiz, but it gets the point across. It was all good though, we tore it up. The only questions we really missed were those involving 50's television shows (we didn't even know that was part of the material that we needed to study). Oh well, I'm tired. Later~ Rich

Spring Break

As mentioned in an earlier post, I got "fandangled" (Ricki's word of the day) out of my trip to New Hampshire. However, there is no need to be too disappointed. I called my good friend Laura down at USI and, if all goes well, I shall be down in Evansville over spring break. I imagine it should be great fun, as it was when I last went down there in October/November. It's lookin' like I shall be making my excursion out to NH/VT sometime in the summer, details to revealed at a later time. Seven mile run today... should be fun. 'Tis all for now. Later kiddies~ Rich

Just wasting time.... here's my list of favorite guitarists, in order of significance:

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Eric Clapton
3. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
4. John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
5. John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
6. Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine / Audioslave)
7. Mike Einziger (Incubus)
8. David Pajo (Zwan)

more later
9.

Sweet weather!

Ya, it's like 40 degrees and we have 25-30 mph winds; hell yeah! This weekend was so boring, and as usual, I didn't end up getting anything done that I had originally intended on doing. I gotta get my spring break revamped so I'm not stuck up here the whole time. Tis' all for now.~ Rich

Bad Day

Today started off well. I got out of econ in order to give blood. Moreover, I drained a pint out in less than 10 minutes, a new record for me by far. The rest of the day was crap after that. Practice sucked because, not only was a winded easily because of the lack of blood in my system, but I am also starting to strain my calf again. My guess is this problem is arising from the constant road/track running. The simple solution would be to run on trails, but of course it apparently happens to be monsoon season right now in NWI, so Stoney Run and all my other favorites are out of the question as they are washed out like no other. Anyway, I went to the game after practice only to watch our team drop a close one to Washington Twp. Probably the worst thing to happen today, though, was the wonderful news I received when I got home: "Sorry son, we can't go to New Hampshire." Oh..... goody. No skiing. No mountains. No running in the mountains. No humorous comentary about life from my uncle. Crap. It's not like I've been looking forward to this since summer or anything. I don't even want to really talk about it now. ~ Rich

What a nice crappy day we had!

Gotta love the rain; especially when it's 40 degrees at the same time. I had planned a 5-mile tempo, and the rain sure as hell wasn't gonna stop me. Unfortunately, mixed with the wind, it was able to slow me down. I ran the Winfield course I just mapped out which is exact. My finishing time of 32:09 equated to a sub-par 6:25-6 per mile pace. But, it will suffice for now since my legs were still kinda dead from the 300's the other day. Mr. A asked me the other day if I was putting in too much mileage each week. I didn't laugh, but I felt like it. Afterall, I put in over 450 miles in the summer and my current mileage per week is a little over half of what I was doing base-training for cross.

As for life: it's good. After I got home I just kinda layed around because I was really tired. I still am tired. Although I've kinda forced myself to stay up. There were a few licks on bass I wanted to figure out (John Frusciante's new stuff), it was pretty easy to figure and fun to play. In my opinion, it's kinda sad that people know who Chad Kroeger of Nickelback is, but don't know John Frusciante. Kroeger has been on the cookie-cutter rock scene for what, 4-5 years? Whereas Frusciante started playing for the Chili's at age 19 and has accomplished a load in terms of helping the band. For example, Blood Sex Sugar Magik was the album which made RHCP what they are today. Throw in Californication and By the Way to get the complete Frusciante experience. What is truly magical about Frusciante is that he is a very unique guitarist. Instead of trying to imitate Page, Hendrix, or Cobain, like countless others try these days, he combines a little of everything to make a different sound. No complex riffs during the verse usually, just three simple chords that he knows will bring out the emotion he wants the listener to feel in the song. The guitar solos are absolutely breathtaking too, and no shredding (for the most part) is involved. I'd highly recommend watching Throw Away Your Television on the Chili Pepper's "Live at Slane Castle" DVD to get a lesson in Frusciante Guitar 101. On top of guitar, he has also turned into a very, very good vocalist. He does backup vocals for the Chili's, but you can hear him do lead on his solo albums (the new one is probably the best example of his talent). Frusciante credits his ability to create a number of layers in his music to his love for 50's and 60's doo-wop music. Many people have compared his new album to Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds. So maybe someday, just maybe, people will really listen to Frusciante, put down that Nickelback CD, and listen to something truly creative.

Tired

Hey all, today was, for the most part, a good day. Somehow I made it through yet another boring day of school. Track practice was a wonderful little hell I created myself. I decided to do 12x300, which was fun cuz I was able to hit pace, but it's taking a little while to get used to running myself into the ground. Moreover, I also need to get used to getting up early enough to make my lunch. Today was the one day that I did not have a decent lunch (no bananas, thus no pottassium). So, after running 1 lap of my cooldown I started getting leg cramps (grrr....). I think I'll live tho. When I got home I screwed around on bass for awhile. Even just shredding up and down scales is oh so very relaxing. Still can't put Frusciante's new CD down; I think I'll have to force myself to put it down in a day or two. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll get sick of it. I really don't feel like typing up a storm tonight so I'll leave it at that. Lataz~ Rich

hi

Hello everyone, track practice today. Probably doing a workout... 300's or 400's..... really tired, need food~ Later