Dear Current Marathon PR,
This isn't going to be easy. It's been almost 13 years we've been together. But I think it's time we go our separate ways.
This is hard, I know, 12+ years is a long time to be together.
I remember when we met, Scranton, PA 1998...Steamtown Marathon.I was young, it was only my third marathon, and I'm honestly surprised it lasted this long.
There had to be times you thought we'd be together forever. When I had given up running completely....when I had a 9 year layoff from marathoning....when I struggled just to finish my first few marathons coming back.
Then I guess things started to hit a rough patch. I felt I deserved better. Things were definitely rocky when I came within a few minutes of losing you at Tobacco Road '11, and you had to have seen the signs....more mileage, lower weight, knocking out some quicker times in training.
Having said all that, I hope this isn't a surprise to you.
This is goodbye. Forever.
If it makes you feel any better, just know that this is likely just a rebound relationship, and I'll be with a new marathon PR in the fall.
-Troy
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
When it becomes....REAL
As the band Real Estate reminded us in my #5 album of 2011; "it's real".
I guess there is always a moment when any racing endeavour "feels real". For me this time, it was walking up the stairs to Dr. Josh Kollmann's office today. Last visit, last chance to work through trouble spots, final tune-up before race day.
I hadn't realized my thoughts, plans, etc about race day had been so much "inside my own head", until he started asking me about the race, and it did feel liberating to just chat on my goals, how training went, and to get final marching instructions for this week. We even talked about dry needling. Something I think sounds like some 1870's medical procedure that is carried out in a dark library by someone with a handlebar moustache, but Josh assures me it is legit and is even going to a seminar in Colorado to back up that claim. Felt beat-up, but amazing, and most importantly...felt ready to go.
I guess there is always a moment when any racing endeavour "feels real". For me this time, it was walking up the stairs to Dr. Josh Kollmann's office today. Last visit, last chance to work through trouble spots, final tune-up before race day.
I hadn't realized my thoughts, plans, etc about race day had been so much "inside my own head", until he started asking me about the race, and it did feel liberating to just chat on my goals, how training went, and to get final marching instructions for this week. We even talked about dry needling. Something I think sounds like some 1870's medical procedure that is carried out in a dark library by someone with a handlebar moustache, but Josh assures me it is legit and is even going to a seminar in Colorado to back up that claim. Felt beat-up, but amazing, and most importantly...felt ready to go.
The first step in dry needling is to blow the dust of the wooden box.
Last run at any sort of speed was knocked out over lunch....1 hr run with middle segment of 2 min "open it up", 2 min relaxed....for 6 times.
Anyways, that seems to be all for now. Goals for the rest of the week:
1) Be safe - If you are looking for a salsa partner or someone to go ice skating with this week, I've got bad news.
2) Be lazy - You know, as much will allow.
3) Be stretching - Easy runs Tuesday and Thursday just to keep moving, and to warm up for some longer stretching sessions. But not limited to just that....staying stretched throughout the week.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Top Albums of 2011
Heading into final taper week for the marathon, so I figured I'd go ahead and finally finish off my list of my top 40 favorite albums of 2011. I've been counting down the list on Facebook....but stalled @ #7...so recapping starting at #20...here's the list all the way to #1.
#20 Battles - Drop Gloss
#19 Wild Flag - Wild Flag
#18 Austra - Feel It Break
#17 Das Racist - Relax
#16 The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
#15 The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
#14 Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
#13 Kendrick Lamar - Section 80
#12 Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines
#11 Death Cab for Cutie - Codes & Keys
#10 Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
#9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World
#8 The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Decks
So here are the top #7. Why top #7? Just felt like I enjoyed these more a slight bit over the others.... top 7 it is.
#7 Cults - Cults
A fun, breezy, summery pop record that seems like it could have come out anytime in the last 50 years and 'worked'.
#6 Adele -21
#4 Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Catchy, catchy, catchy. "Just like a shotgun needs an outcome." is easily my favorite lyric of the year on the straightforward sex anthem "Get Some", but it was the softer side with songs like this one....that made me fall in love with these songs. I'll echo what I read in a review, that she is equally comfortable being the agressor or the victim.
#3 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
The smartest sad-ish record I think I've ever heard. It avoids the 'woe is me' mopiness of a Morrisey record, because it is just so damn self-aware. Every song seems so thought out, so introspective. Lyrically masterful and a vast improvement over White Winter Hymnal. I'm convinced that all of the energy I spent learning to like Fleet Foxes, balanced out my (relative) disappointment in the new Bon Iver album.
#2 Wye Oak - Civilian
Really hard to make this #2, because I loved the hell out of this record. Driving, haunting, insert whatever haughty music review language you want....this just sounds sounds amazing. As much as people (myself included)....have praised bands like The Black Keys for being able to get so much sound out of a duo, Wye Oak has the Jenn Wasner advantage. Her voice carries throughout, and add the drums of Andy Stack....and well, every song just seems so well constructed. Amazing stuff.
#1 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Simply my favorite of the year. An 80's throwback in all the right ways, and noisy when it needs to be. I'll leave it at that.
#20 Battles - Drop Gloss
#19 Wild Flag - Wild Flag
#18 Austra - Feel It Break
#17 Das Racist - Relax
#16 The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
#15 The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
#14 Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
#13 Kendrick Lamar - Section 80
#12 Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines
#11 Death Cab for Cutie - Codes & Keys
#10 Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
#9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World
#8 The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Decks
So here are the top #7. Why top #7? Just felt like I enjoyed these more a slight bit over the others.... top 7 it is.
#7 Cults - Cults
A fun, breezy, summery pop record that seems like it could have come out anytime in the last 50 years and 'worked'.
#6 Adele -21
No need to link to the songs...chances are you own a radio. Just because it is radio friendly, doesn't make it any less amazing. "Someone like You" was the perfect heartwrenching song to pair with the fantastically big and bold "Rolling in the Deep."
SIGH....relaxed, chill, precise....not sure what the right word is, but I've listened to this record front-to-back countless times, and it is magical everytime. That earns you a top #5 spot.
#4 Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Catchy, catchy, catchy. "Just like a shotgun needs an outcome." is easily my favorite lyric of the year on the straightforward sex anthem "Get Some", but it was the softer side with songs like this one....that made me fall in love with these songs. I'll echo what I read in a review, that she is equally comfortable being the agressor or the victim.
#3 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
The smartest sad-ish record I think I've ever heard. It avoids the 'woe is me' mopiness of a Morrisey record, because it is just so damn self-aware. Every song seems so thought out, so introspective. Lyrically masterful and a vast improvement over White Winter Hymnal. I'm convinced that all of the energy I spent learning to like Fleet Foxes, balanced out my (relative) disappointment in the new Bon Iver album.
#2 Wye Oak - Civilian
Really hard to make this #2, because I loved the hell out of this record. Driving, haunting, insert whatever haughty music review language you want....this just sounds sounds amazing. As much as people (myself included)....have praised bands like The Black Keys for being able to get so much sound out of a duo, Wye Oak has the Jenn Wasner advantage. Her voice carries throughout, and add the drums of Andy Stack....and well, every song just seems so well constructed. Amazing stuff.
#1 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Simply my favorite of the year. An 80's throwback in all the right ways, and noisy when it needs to be. I'll leave it at that.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
2011 Year in Review....Sorta
I started 2011 with a goal not centered on any pace, time, or distance. I wanted to (for lack of a better term) get my relative shit together. Organize....track my weekly mileage, track my mileage on my shoes, come up with more of a plan.....yeah, didn't really happen.
This partially was due to the fact that I entered and exited 2011 with my aging Garmin. In the middle of the year, I bought a 310 from my friend Diane after borrowing it through Blue Ridge Relay for $75, fell in love with it, and then (based on current intel), lost it in a hotel room in PA over Thanksgiving vacation. Suck. Now my Garmin has lost a pin, so it dangles like a pocketwatch. For my latest tempo run, I held it while it swung back and forth. I should complete the transition to olde-timey train conductor by running in overalls, and spouting off random things like "LAST CALL FOR THE DRY GULCH EXPRESS!!!".
So when other people are posting links to their runs on Garmin Connect and can give you a 2011 total with the click of a button, I have a file folder filled with notes jotted on tablet paper and backs of envelopes.
Running2win.com tells me I ran 1581.88 miles last year. It also has 120 of those miles logged on "unknown" shoes. It also has no record of me running the New River Marathon (on one of my slips of paper...no, the website didn't block this race like I did from my memory). So I would guess that total is at least 200 miles short...maybe? How many miles more did I run this year than last year? Never got around to finishing 2010.
5.2 pounds lighter than the start of the year...with a high of 165, and a low of the last day of the year, 153.
RACES:
I ran 1 8k, 1 half-marathon, 2 full marathons, and was runner #7 on the UCRR team at the Blue Ridge Relay. Signed up to run Medoc Marathon, and was a DNS with pneumonia.
Felt like I finished the year on a high note. After salvaging my Medoc training into a 1:37 finish @ Dowd, I rested a bit, but came back hard with the goal of Charleston or Myrtle Beach. Feel confident 2012 will start out with a marathon PR.
I'm saving 2012 goals/resolutions for post-Charleston....so more on that later.
This partially was due to the fact that I entered and exited 2011 with my aging Garmin. In the middle of the year, I bought a 310 from my friend Diane after borrowing it through Blue Ridge Relay for $75, fell in love with it, and then (based on current intel), lost it in a hotel room in PA over Thanksgiving vacation. Suck. Now my Garmin has lost a pin, so it dangles like a pocketwatch. For my latest tempo run, I held it while it swung back and forth. I should complete the transition to olde-timey train conductor by running in overalls, and spouting off random things like "LAST CALL FOR THE DRY GULCH EXPRESS!!!".
So when other people are posting links to their runs on Garmin Connect and can give you a 2011 total with the click of a button, I have a file folder filled with notes jotted on tablet paper and backs of envelopes.
Running2win.com tells me I ran 1581.88 miles last year. It also has 120 of those miles logged on "unknown" shoes. It also has no record of me running the New River Marathon (on one of my slips of paper...no, the website didn't block this race like I did from my memory). So I would guess that total is at least 200 miles short...maybe? How many miles more did I run this year than last year? Never got around to finishing 2010.
5.2 pounds lighter than the start of the year...with a high of 165, and a low of the last day of the year, 153.
RACES:
I ran 1 8k, 1 half-marathon, 2 full marathons, and was runner #7 on the UCRR team at the Blue Ridge Relay. Signed up to run Medoc Marathon, and was a DNS with pneumonia.
Felt like I finished the year on a high note. After salvaging my Medoc training into a 1:37 finish @ Dowd, I rested a bit, but came back hard with the goal of Charleston or Myrtle Beach. Feel confident 2012 will start out with a marathon PR.
I'm saving 2012 goals/resolutions for post-Charleston....so more on that later.
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