trail love

I eat pain.
Marathons for breakfast
I go insane
Crossing races off my checklist

Muscles stay taught
But far from bulletproof
Injury battles are fought
While picking jerky from my tooth

I glide over green grass
And up the mountains high
Pulling wedgies out my ass
No matter who I'm running by

I'm a huge geek to running lore
Gimme rain, sun, and heavy snow too
As long as I'm stepping out the door
And not onto some doggie doo

I listen to that gangsta rap
While hurdling downed trees
Wearing my dry fit cap
Ignoring my bleeding knees

Roadrunner-like my legs twirl
Carry me over hill and dale
Not one to care for the real world,
Just get me on the trail

krp

switchin the steez

It's February still, but I'm declaring that Spring has sprung. First road ride today.
And because of this declaration, I'm pretty much going to be knee deep in training until November.
In planning my next few months, I will have a steady progression, where my scheme is to be training for future training sessions. Training for training. Hmm.

Basically, I'm following the same formula as last year, with regard to swim bike and run. Major run mileage through spring. Major bike and swim in the summer and fall.

New developments:
-Thanks to a good friend, I have medical clearance for the Quintuple. Still have to get my blood samples, so they know I'm not doping.
-signed up for a 24 hour mt bike race in August. That should be a ton of fun, considering I'll be doing 40 hour rides prior to that.
-speaking of which, planning a significant bike ride april 11-12. Its going to be epic...and perfect training for the bigger yet ride in june.

Overall:
-Some IT band tightness.
-Running base is fantastic.
-overall fitness is awesome...it is definitely time to be upping the ante.

Mentally, I am rekindled with todays road ride. Never again will I let someone tell me "you can't bike here until may". I will be out on the bike every other day, now that I've done it seen that the roads are fine...tornado, snow, rain, or sun.
Its just great to have something new to do....a zero impact aerobic activity that I can do a zillion times longer than running.

I'm so fired up.
All I want to do is train.

krp

I'm writing this on my crackberry, in an effort to supress the unbelievable boredom of an exercise bike.

I'd rather bundle up and ride outside. So, why am I here? Good question. Something about doing a ride then spending just as long cleaning my bike as I did riding it....

Interesting. I find it very difficult to type and maintain an even pedal stroke.

Ok, now the real stuff:
-race is officially in november. Saaaweeet.
-this is my first week back on the bike. I was nervous about the long hiatus, but it seems snowshoe running has kept my bike anatomy surprisingly fit....now I just need to build my "ass callouses"..or is it calli? Hmm.
-one more long workout. 2 shorter intense sessions, and then its marathon time. That really crept up. I feel goooood, except for a tight lower back. A massage and some hamstring stretches should alleviate that.

Mentally, I'm looking forward to the weekend. A party is happening, and I need a night out. I've spent entirely too much time inside my own head the last week. I can tell I need social time when I finish my training for the day and I feel kind of depressed.

All part of the game.

To the Hunt.

Krp

yup

I had another "frustrated" spell last week.
Some people must read what i write and think i'm the ultimate brooder.

If i blog it, it doesn't show as much in the "real world". So no, I am not a brooder.

That frustration culminated in a pretty awesome night workout the other night.
I ran, on snowshoes, with a 25 pound pack, to Mars Hill from Presque Isle via the railroad bed...about a 15 mile jaunt.
The idea was to do an out and back for 30 miles, but it just wasn't happening.
The pack was too much.

It was cool while I was out there- every so often seeing the red lights of the windmills atop the mountain. They never looked closer, even as i was chewing up the miles between me and them.

It's always really creepy out there for the first hour or so....your eyes haven't adjusted...the railroad bed seems narrow, and the forest pushes ever close to you.
It's like running down a tunnel.
I ran most of the trail with my light off...and every once in a while a down tree would look like a moose or monster or person waiting to jump me.
Ran into a groomer on the snowmobile trail.
It's always weird to come into contact with humans after you've been a nocturnal animal for a few hours.

I guess my goal now is to train myself into the ground this week and next week, then chill out until the snowshoe race on 3/6 so i can go well rested. I'd like to think I could do well at the marathon...but we'll see. I've never raced long distance on snowshoes, so it will be a learning experience.

i am so ready for spring.
krp

i need this

i dont wanna do this
don't wanna do that
there's a mile-long list
and it makes me feel flat

it holds me down longer
piling more on my shoulders
i will come out stronger
like momentum of rolling boulders

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

it's like a plastic bag over my face, the obligations.
i breathe harder to improve my situation
but it only makes things worse, and and me terse
i need to escape everything, get away from the curse
time to be severing, it's unsettling til i burst
a spaceship stews and simmers before the blast off
underneath my eyes glimmer, and i take the mask off
my thoughts go from scatter to clear cut
i'm going to train hard, no matter what

krp

puttin in work

Had a great visit with Nicole this weekend.

Friday night, my phone buzzed.
On my Crackberry, that means one of 5 things.
It wasn't a phone call, and it wasn't a text.
My battery was not dying, nor was I receiving a Facebook message.

It was an email from Jorge, race director in Monterrey.
Apparently, there's a good possibility that, due to construction, the Quintuple is going to be moved from November to September.
We'll know his week.
Kinda adds a new element of stress.
Good stress, I think.
It forces me to get all of these little details out of the way...the ones I've been putting off forever.

Details such as... planning my Uber workouts for the rest of the year.
It's gonna be a pretty awesome summer.
Think solo ironmans, monster lake swims, and crazy bike rides that make my PI to Bangor ride look like charity rides.
No more treadmill runs...I'll tell you that right now.

While I don't look forward to the sleep deprivation, I think it's cool to be in it- feeling your body just come alive the second you start working out.
Mentally, I want to start blasting off these huge workouts.
Really though, it's too soon for all that.
I'm not interested in getting to July and hating my training because I'm stale.

Next on my radar is the Snowshoe Marathon in VT next month.
26.2 miles on snowshoe will be...interesting. It's much more difficult than regular running. It's more like lunges and ab work all at the same time. I'm excited.

The first what I call "major" workout will be a multi-day training camp at the end of March...where I will train at an undisclosed location for 4 days with no phone calls, no technology, no obligations, and no distractions. That should put the finishing touches on my VT 100 or 150 Mile Run preparation, and give me an additional boost to 5x fitness.
I guess at the end of the camp I'll decide whether I'll go with the 100 or 150 in May.
I feel like the training camp is one element I did not include in my training for the VA Triple last year, and that may have made the difference from injury to no injury.

I dunno what else. I'm feeling good.
The lifting is paying dividends in the pool.
My legs are sore from plyos last week, but it's a good sore.
Time to get some rest.
This is a big week of training.

krp

confessions

Demons say
I'm only trash
Sometimes, its not ok
In my mental cache

I'm full of no's and cant's
It's never good enough
Distance is my only chance
To keep my head above

Tiny remarks, the unsaids
The eyes and body language too
Sink my heart like lead
Until I fire it up as fuel

The question's always why
Why do you what you do
You know where my heart lies
Now, you have a clue

i cant eat enough "clean" food to supply my metabolism. an ode.

Always hungry
I look at the menu
I want it all
To the kitchen I'll send you

Calories and clean food
Are not a mix
I can't eat enough
To get my fix

Seriously, its impossible
I need that grease
Nutrition's an obstacle
Maybe my only crease

So give me a burger,a pizza
Or some fries de la french
Before I lean like Piza
And fall on your wench



I'm losing it. Lol