After Sears I knew I needed a break. I kept seeing the ICC looming on my calendar but decided that a break was more necessary than trying to sharpen up for this race. I gained some weight and only did zone 2 workouts and I simply hoped that it wouldn't really work against me come 7 December. I left San Francisco Thursday night, slept for awhile, and woke up Saturday morning…
The first time I climbed the Sears tower, I wound up not coming home for six months. I hated my job more each day and found it increasingly difficult to get out of bed. I lacked the motivation to pull myself out of this slump, not quite realizing that I didn’t have to do this for the rest of my life. One of my best friends was living in Hong Kong,…
What's Been Going on Since Aon LA? After Aon LA I decided to go kind of nuts on the bike. I put in some crazy high mileage weeks (for me), intentionally rode dirt for the first time, and always took the high road to take advantage of those stair climbing muscles. I kept saying that I wanted to lose some weight but I know I have trouble dropping weight while primarily riding,…
Presidential Towers (9 March 2014) Coming back from Vegas, I was pretty run down. Various viruses had been floating around my office, I was particularly susceptible after that race, so I opted to take it pretty easy all week. I did some easy rides to keep my legs loose (and my brain sane), spent a lot of time in the steam room trying to make peace with my lungs, and slept…
For the past few weeks I kept thinking about my Aon climb back in January. I had spent the previous few weeks regenerating all the muscle that I lost while running, moving, and traveling and had felt dead legged for weeks. I didn't feel great going to the start line that day, and five floors in my legs confirmed it as they turned to lead; at floor ten it felt like…
After racing at Sears/Willis last year I decided that I'd focus it as my goal race in 2013, working to break 20'. However, a few days later I decided to sign up for a marathon just three weeks before Sears/Willis. Bad idea, lesson learned; I'm not doing any serious distance run training until I've kicked the stair climbing bug from my system. I think I peaked about a week too early…
As many of you know, I've never been much of a runner. I ran in high school when I played field hockey and softball but I rarely ran outside of that. About two years ago I started hanging out with more runners and slowly got sucked into their world. I started with a 10k last October and, on the eve of heading off to Asia, I registered for a marathon. At…
When my training buddies learn that I teach yoga, they almost always ask me to give them a reason that they should practice. They have heard that yoga could help them improve their sport specific performance, yet no one has actually explained why that should happen. There are many reasons but I'll cover the key elements I generally tell athletes. 1. Improved internal communication Yoga provides a controlled environment, allowing for…
Last week I learned, through the student paper, that JJ is leaving campus this fall. While I only met JJ a few times, I remember thinking that he would make a very good mascot. I love Jack but JJ just has a certain presence that makes you think he was born to be a mascot. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, the administration has decided that the best course of action is to…
Bay Staters love locals who accomplish great things; they also love their sports heroes. The best example of this is Doug Flutie. If you ever want to start a fight in Massachusetts, walk into a bar and tell someone that Doug Flutie was overrated or was too short to make it in the NFL. The subject of Marathon Man, Bill Rodgers, is another figure who is among those folk heroes in…