Mountain Monkeys - Mountain and road biking, trail running, skiing, and whatever else I do, mostly in the mountains (or hills)
 

Week 4 Day 3 of 100 Push Ups

27 Feb 2009 - Eugene I was fairly worried about pulling off today's 100 Push-ups program (week 4 day 3). It's been pretty hard. Anyway, I made it through the first 3 sets ok, fourth set was tough. Then came the max/fifth set, where you're supposed to do 40 or more. I had to pause at 20. Then continued, and could only make it to 36, whereupon I pretty much fell on the floor. So, I sat at my computer, and 2 minutes later the cooldown/completion beeper on my iPhone 100 Push Ups app went off. I said, ok, I've got to do 5 more just to sort of pretend I finished... Well, through some freak of nature, that 5 turned into 40! I can't even explain it. I don't even get it. Somehow I just kept going, and before I knew it I was to 40. I didn't even collapse after. May or may not have been able to do any more, but woah! That puts the total for the day at 196, and I finished the week relatively happy about it. I think my form is a bit weak right now though, as I probably ought to be going a bit further down on each push-up, but somehow this is where my rhythm is, so I've stuck with it. My thinking however is that I will ensure I get a bit further down this weekend when I do the "test" set (one set of as many as you can do), to see where things go from here. I know the high range is anything over 40, so I suspect I'd be in that given today's results, but I'll ensure I use truly good form and see. I still plan to do a week 4.5 though, but we'll see, maybe I'll orient the numbers closer to a "4.75" :) Was also supposed to run today, but work was crazy busy, and then I went to the Eugene "Beer & Blog" meetup that happens every Friday evening. Only the second one I've been to, and they're decent. I'm trying to meet more tech folks in town, but the numbers are limited. Will run or ride this weekend.

Posted February 28, 2009
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Fox Hollow Run on Feb 28

28 Feb 2009 - Eugene, Ridgeline Trails I ran Fox Hollow again today (also did it on Wednesday). Wednesday's run was great, no issues. Today's felt good too, and I believe I did a pace that was a fair bit faster. On Wed, one loop took 17 mins I think, and today it was 14. I did feel like I was running faster today. On Wed I went down the descent of the trail to the north of the parking lot for a bit and back up to do an even 20 mins or so. Today I ran back on the main trail toward Dillard for a few minutes and then back for about 21 or so mins total. On the trail my legs felt just a hair stressed, but barely (and that's me paying very close attention due to the (past) injuries). Upon arriving home and showering, I started to notice a bit of strain in my right leg. Not a welcome thing. However, I'm hoping it's just a bit of strain after returning to running. The location of the pain is similar to where it was in my right leg/knee area before, but not the same. Higher (in relation), closer in to the knee, and a bit of the tendon. Did my stretches after the shower and hopefully that helps. Will have to monitor things. Again, I don't know if this was due to the faster pace, or just the third day of running after not having run for a month. Will also say what the docs say this week.

Posted February 28, 2009
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Return to Running

23 Feb 2009 - Eugene Today was the first time I've run in almost 4 weeks, since my knee troubles flared up to enough that I sought help. Today was a bit lighter re-introduction to running, with 2 laps of Rexius (2 miles). I specifically wanted something flat, as I think the ascents, and particularly descents, are what exacerbate the knee issues. Plus, I wanted to ease back in, as my chiropractor said to start at about 20 minutes. Today was 17 minutes including 2 minute warm up. Things worked out really well. I felt a bit sluggish/heavy running, as I really don't have running muscles/reserves built up like I do for cycling (where riding just comes naturally regardless of fitness level). But, that said, things went well, and there was absolutely zero knee pain, not even an inkling or a notion that it could be there! Very happy about that, very happy. And, at 8 minute miles (factoring in the warmup aspect), I figure that's actually not really that much slower than I was going before. All-in-all, a good return to running. Oh, the one other total bonus - I nailed the weather window - totally sunny when I ran, yet it had been raining buckets earlier in the day. Today was also the first day of week 4 of Hundred Pushups. Ouch. This wasn't even as many as I did in my "week 3.5" that I did last week (since I wasn't happy with my week 3, I did a week that is halfway (in number of pushups each set) between week 3 and 4 as a segue way). The max/last set was basically not do-able with satisfaction. Argh. Likely this just means I'll do a week 4.5, and I've pretty much been of the mind set that I'd be doing that the rest of the time anyway, which is fine by me. I've already noticed various improvements, so that's success and I want to keep it up.

Posted February 23, 2009
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Road Ride 21 Feb 2009

21 Feb 2009 - Eugene Got a nice road ride in today. First one in the two hour range I've actually done in a while. While that's really not long at all, I just haven't had time to get in rides over about 20 miles for the last few weeks. Yesterday was great, but the last 30 mins I kinda just ran out of steam. Not a real bonk, just no punch, no power. I have been quite low on sleep (staying up until 3am doesn't help things), and had a minor cold, so I'll just blame it on that :) Aside from that, nearly perfect weather - started at about 55 degrees, was 51 by the time I got home. Was able to just wear knee warmers, Icebreaker GT 220 base and a fairly thin Pearli long sleeve jersey, Castelli gloves. Perfect. The weather was threatening rain later on, so conditions were questionable, but again, all worked out great. I wound up going out Lorane, to Territorial, back up over Briggs Hill, Spencer Creek, Lorane, and back home. I think about 28 miles. My computer has been acting up, and I think I've finally determined that the cordless wheel sensor/receiver has a low battery. I stopped on a descent, as once I hit speeds over about 25, it just stopped detecting anything. I stopped, pushed the sensor that much closer to the wheel magnet and then it worked again, but it's uber-close, no room for flex. I used RunKeeper on my iPhone as well, but the GPS on that has been pretty spotty. Looking at the results, you see good accuracy for about half the ride, then just a bunch of straight lines where there are clearly no roads, etc. So, I figure it missed at least 2 miles, if not more (based on average speed of 15+, and a 2 hour time, I'd suspect maybe even the ride was 30 miles.) I'm a bit bummed that the iPhone/RunKeeper isn't working better. I really dig RunKeeper, but the GPS of the phone or something, is just not very good in my experience so far.

Posted February 22, 2009
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Rick Trujillo - Running with Elk

28 Jan 2009 To further the mythic status of Rick Trujillo, and the story that he runs with Elk, check out the "story from Runner's World about him":http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12984-1-1X2X3X4X5X6X7X8X9X10-11,00.html. The guy is one of the originators of mountain running, and is quite a character. He won the Hardrock 100 in Silverton (a friggin incredibly difficult race) eating Oreos and Mountain Dew, has broken his back, and has run over incredibly high peaks. There are other great mountain runners, and I'm certainly only learning about these guys, but Mr. Trujillo is pretty impressive.

Posted February 3, 2009
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Push Ups and Road Ride

28 Jan 2009 - Eugene Today had a few things going on. First I restarted 100 Push Ups week 2. I wasn't happy with my week 2 last week. I barely was making each day, so I'm redoing it. So far so good, did a few more than the required max at the end. Next up was visit number 2 to the chiropractor. My right leg was a bit shorter again, but only by about 1/4 inch, instead of a full inch, and I no longer failed the strength tests, so that was awesome. He's having me do some daily balance exercises as well. He'd like to see my leg length situation stabilize before I start running again. So... I headed out for a road ride this afternoon. Was an absolutely gorgeous day. 50-54 degrees during the ride, and I actually wore shorts (with knee warmers :) and loved it. Did my short loop up McBeth plus a little further. While stopped up at the top eating, a guy came by on a classic old bike, also wearing the clothes to match, but no helmet. Idiot. Idiot. I wound up catching him on the mini-climb on Chambers on the way home, and had been planning to dis him for not wearing a helmet, but wound up just riding past him with a quick hi, and continuing on leaving him in the dust. Good enough I guess.

Posted February 2, 2009
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Knee Problems and Running

28 Jan 2009 - Eugene I've had problems with pain on the lower outside part of my right knee since starting running again. I had this happen last spring in my left knee, stopped running, and it went away. But now I don't want to stop running. Yesterday I went to the physical therapist and he thinks nothing is damaged, and started me on "Bowen":http://www.boweninfo.com/how_it_works.htm technique, as well as recommended I see the chiropractor to the running stars here in Eugene (he's apparently the head chiropractor from the Olympic Trials this past summer, and seen nearly every top runner, one of the best in the country, etc.). I've never been to a chiropractor, so it'll be interesting. I'm not opposed to it (if I were I wouldn't go). Finally, the PT said I can continue to exercise (run, bike, etc.)... So, later in the day, I went for a run. Well, more of a walk. I did Blanton, one of my favorites. I wound up walking a good half of it, probably more actually. I could feel the knee pain. It wasn't bad, but it was back, and I just didn't want to stress it out. At this point, I'm just really bummed it's happening. My left leg is rock solid, no probs, and I feel like I could run forever on it. It's just really frustrating.

Posted January 28, 2009
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Matt Skis Las Leñas (video)

27 Jan 2009 My good friend Matt did some amazing skiing in "Las Leñas":http://www.laslenas.com/verano-2009/english/index.php (Argentina) this past summer. He's a great backcountry skier, based in "Silverton":http://www.basecampsilverton.com and skis as much as he can all year. "This video":http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yDDYr2a5MuI shows him loving life (aka skiing the goods) in Las Leñas.

Posted January 27, 2009
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All Comer's Meat V

24 Jan 2009 - Eugene Very delayed post. Went to the Disciples of Dirt's "All Comers Meat V" event. It's at our semi-secret stash of trails, and the weather was outstanding for the day. We did about 18 miles, and had a lot of fun. It was really cold, but we got warmed up halfway with the beer and food tent that Erik, Brock, and others set up, so cool. On the second half of the ride, we came across a guy who'd crashed, and sheered off the end of his front quick release skewer and nut. So, inspecting it, and seeing he had one of those presta-to-schrader converters on his valve, I got an idea. As they said, I MacGyvered it up and we got the guy back to the cars safely. Here's the pic... MacGyvered fix for quick release skewer More pics from the event are in that same MTBR thread, follow the link for them, etc.

Posted January 26, 2009
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Blog Redo

23 Jan 2009 - Eugene This blog, for the zero people that read it, has been moved to a new blogging system. Same URL, but likely most of the old post URL's no longer work. I've switched to a more simple and better system for me (used to use Movable Type, now it's done with Jekyll). I need to get most of the styling brought back over, but given that this is really just my personal journal of cycling, running, skiing, hiking, climbing, and other such adventures, it won't be made real fancy.

Posted January 23, 2009
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