Tony arrived a little early for Thursday’s trail run. Prior to him arriving, I was thinking about running a 10 mile loop so I filled one of my water bottles with Gatorade and added a power bar to my Fanny pack. Tony claimed he was tired and sore from Sunday’s trail race. However, I noticed he had two water bottles and said he wanted to run a longer trail run. When he told me that, I said I have to go back and get a second power bar. So then we started on our trail run and took it slow and easy at first. Four trail riders soon approached from the opposite direction with Diane Marquardt in the lead. We said our hellos and proceeded onward. When we reached Browns bar we took the route that intersected with the Tevis trail. At this juncture, we ran about 7 miles. This route is the same as this year’s Way Too Cool 50 Km.
I was noticeably tired at this point as Tony is singing and telling me what a wonderful day it is today. I certainly am not cheerful or in a terrific mood. He tells me he’s singing to encourage me to run faster. He tells me he would sing to his horse in order to motivate him. It might have helped Rambo, Delite, or Tusk but it didn’t help me! Then we reached the steep, steep Maine bar trail. Tony asked me which trail to take and I replied “I don’t care” as it didn’t matter at that point. We took a longer loop and on we continued. So after a short while we crossed American Canyon Creek. He then took the lead. I did not catch him. About 4 miles later, I found him waiting for me at my house. So today we ran about 14 miles. This is a good example of one runner being too tired from a previous event or training, not enough recovery time, not having sufficient fuel. or not doing well because of the change in warm temperature. I was breathing heavily and that is clear.
With more training, would that have made the difference? For Tony, his recovery is better than mine possibly because he didn’t run yesterday. He told me he walked. I ran yesterday and possibly that is a mistake. I noticed that I was spending too much time thinking about how tired I was and attempting to figure it out. After a while, I stopped dwelling on that and began thinking about the trail and where I would run and when I would walk. Well, I made it home, got Tony a beer, while I drank my smoothie. I told Tony that today’s run is called “The Torture Run”. He laughed and thought that is funny.
Yesterday, I wrote a little about Paul Pierce. A few training tips are provided in the article without much detail. However, according to the journalist he uses a treadmill or bike, and performs 2 to 3 one hour total body workouts per week. He stretches almost every day of the week especially between pre-and post-practices and professional basketball games. He performs super sets for strength and that involves two exercises without stopping or may be 4 to 5 exercises with a little rest in between. His focus is currently on more repetitions per set (12 or more) with less weight. To further lessen the load on his joints, he performs running exercises in a pool. He also employs the Jacobs Ladder machine which is some kind of climbing apparatus. I’ll have to research that. This machine is for cardio. During the off-season he gets in a two-hour workout a few days a week involving weights and a run. He lives in southern California and likes to run barefoot up the sand dunes. His fitness tip: “Be consistent week in and week out. It’s about the diet and lifestyle. Make the commitment and have someone there to hold you accountable”. No one says that a lifestyle that includes diet and exercise is easy. Take it from a professional athlete who realizes this simple fact. Be like a professional athlete and make a real commitment to yourself. From my book prescription 5 “participating in outdoor activity to help nurture spirituality” might assist you in facilitating a commitment. Good news: I received a contract offer from a publishing company for my book. Yea!
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