Rob Mackay :: Notes from the edge

I am facinated by space flight and last night I rented “In the Shadow of the Moon” about the Apollo missions in the late 60’s - early 70’s. Great movie but one thing I couldn’t get over…the astronauts are really old, gray hair and all. In my mind they are young but to see them on the screen it’s almost hard to believe that they were the chosen ones (24 men who are the only humans to have set foot on another planet)

The other thing that struck me. Neil Armstrong was 38 when he touched down on the moon. 38. To be 38 and that accomplished is amazing. (I still have a few months!)

This summer is my 20 year high school reunion. I came into work this morning and there was an email message from one of the organizers… If I can make it (i.e. not racing that weekend), I’ll be there. The 10 year reunion was hilarious - no one (including myself) had changed a wink.

I’ve posted previously on why but I had a salient moment last night while lying in bed, stressing about work piling up and all of the things that needed ‘doing’. Simple and honest reason why I run. To keep from going mad.

My head is always swriling with data and I can work myself up into a storm.

Instead of storming, I use running to calm my mind. Some use alcohol, some meditation, me, I like to run a long way.

Scary thing is that if I ever get injured (i.e. not able to run), what then? Resilience is lacking so I need to find a healthy alternative.

On another topic: I finished Charlie Wilson’s War. Excellent read.

Two insights from the past 4 days in bed:

1. I listen to “As It Happens” on CBC radio every day (even when I’m not sick). Great show. The thing is that lately I’ve been checking out boingboing.net for ‘the latest’ and apparently so have their producers. Want a preview of the ‘odd story’ that they will run in the evening? Check out boingboing.net during the day.

2. We have a television and cable but don’t watch it. (the cable is for a certain family member who needs tv to function well) Being as sick as I have been, though, I have been dipping into that world. I still think tv content is pathetic and have been searching channels for semi-educational content a la Frontline, CBC Newsworld, etc. Anyway, I’m not a religous man but I’ve been finding myself ‘asking for forgiveness’ before I hit the power button! As in, ‘forgive me father, I’m about to sin…’

Two insights from the past 4 days in bed:

1. I listen to “As It Happens” on CBC radio every day (even when I’m not sick). Great show. The thing is that lately I’ve been checking out boingboing.net for ‘the latest’ and apparently so have their producers. Want a preview of the ‘odd story’ that they will run in the evening? Check out boingboing.net during the day.

2. We have a television and cable but don’t watch it. (the cable is for a certain family member who needs tv to function well) Being as sick as I have been, though, I have been dipping into that world. I still think tv content is pathetic and have been searching channels for semi-educational content a la Frontline, CBC Newsworld, etc. Anyway, I’m not a religious man but I’ve been finding myself jokingly ‘asking for forgiveness’ before I hit the power button! As in, ‘forgive me father, I’m about to sin…’

I’ve got a nasty flu bug right now. You don’t want it.  Woe is Rob.

So to cheer myself up, here are some positive aspects about having the flu:

• You get time to read. Real time, like I’ve finished 2 books in 2 days time.
• You get time to nap, during the week. Very cool.
• Being sick always reminds me of my priorities. (Health, Family)
• My pins get forced rest.  JH and I ran almost 4 hours with repeats on Findlayson on Sunday, this is a nice break.
• No weight gain! I puke it all up anyway.

See? It’s not so bad.

A few observations from the yoga class I attended last night:

1. I am tight and my midsection (abs and back) are weak.

2. My ITB’s are in good shape right now.

3. Upper body is strong compared to my body weight.

4. I could see a new addiction forming.

Seeing that it’s the day of love, I couldn’t help but writing a post on around endurance athletes and their apparent ‘hardassness’. Quotes like this one from Luis Escobar at Badwater are curious and make me smile,

“These runners are big time, hard ass, no nonsense kind of people. The extreme of the extreme. Each one has an impressive bio and a list of credentials a mile long.”

Here’s my take.

I don’t dig into the bravado stuff much these days. (I did when I was in my 20’s, probably more a result of the heavy lifting I was involved in and high levels of meat induced testosterone - I could bench press 300lbs but probably couldn’t have fought my way out of a preschool)  By ‘bravado’ I mean, the ’suck it up princess’, ‘don’t be a wuss’, etc…the vernacular of the tough guy. That said, I believe (politician technique) that endurance athletes are the ‘toughest’ athletes of all athletes.

We all use mental ‘tricks’ (sometimes knowingly) to motivate desired behaviours. Some act out the ‘no nonsense’/type A/hardass role - pre-race. This is the ‘me’ under ideal conditions: well rested, fed, warm, dry, etc. To prepare for the endurance event, we act out the hardass role to mentally tune ourselves into the task at hand. 

During the event, it’s a different story. We go from chatty, to quiet, to withdrawn. In a longer event such as a 100 miler I would guess ’despondent’ would also factor in there somewhere.  I’ve yet to see any racer playing the hardass at 60km. The bottom line is the pain. It forces everyone into a level of submission.

How does this translate to my running? My only experience in running long distance is this - if I fight the pain with a ‘kick your ass’ attitude, for a short time I win, the rest of the time I suffer. If I ‘give in’ to it, I can hang in for a long time.

PS. Immediately post race, don’t believe us if we speak of how great the race was with a big smile…it’s a cover up (mental technique) to bring us back from the dead.

On 2 accounts. One is my leg/knee, the other is me after not having run for 3 days.

Yesterday I spent at the gym working the upper body (I still think that upper body strength is not only beneficial but underrated for ultra-runners). Scott Jurek spends time in the gym…If you’ve ever run 10 miles downhill (after having already done 20 miles), you understand that upper body strength is key.

Tomorrow I am taking out my knee for a test drive. Easy 10km.

I am off for 4 days at the behest of Michael (physio). With Chuckanut 6 weeks away, it’s early enough to get on top of the knee pain, still maintain the aerobic level and compete.

I saw him on yesterday and he came to the conclusion that the fall I had at Capital Peak jarred my lower leg into a strange twisted position. On one of his “yank and pull” exercises, my knee let out a massive crack. He mentioned that was what we were looking for…the acute pain went away and it has been much better since.

(I am liking the short break from the hard training)