Instinct

Running before work has not been successful.  Running after work has been alright though.  I replaced my shoes about 2 weeks ago after taking a look at what I'd been running on.  Every time I ran made my left calf muscle hurt more and more.  I think this is why:

Just a hunch

My orthodics are long past due for replacing as well, but they're insanely expensive.  I'm looking to get away from needing to wear them if I can.  A friend told me about a store that would be hosting a race.  Any store that hosts a race must have a few employees with solid running shoe knowledge, so I opted to check it out.  My assessment was dead on.  I could tell by the shoes that they carry that somebody there knew a thing or two about running shoes.  The selection was mostly Asics and Brooks but consisted of their top models.  I already knew my foot type and strike pattern, but I let the guy check me out anyway.  After trying on few different models I was pretty much sold on one pair.  The guy helping was trying to put me in a lesser known model from Brooks, but I wasn't having it.  Having read some reviews of this shoe, I knew what they were all about and they just didn't compare to the other models I had tried on.  It was a recent release that Brooks more or less decided to drop after it didn't receive the feedback they were looking for.  They have a great selection of running shoes and this didn't really add much to their line-up so they took it off their website.  I figured this guy was trying to get these shoes out of his stock so he could bring in a different model.  It's not uncommon for shoe stores to do this.  They will never put you in a shoe that isn't right for you, but if it's pretty close to a shoe that is right for you then they're going to push that one a bit harder to get it off their shelves.  No harm done, I just didn't want that shoe.  I walked out with a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10's.  I've run in several older versions of this shoe so I was familiar with the fit and feel.

While at the store I couldn't help but sign up for the race.  Sure, I wasn't in very good shape having not run for a month or better because of that ugly hamstring injury, but this was just for fun.  Hmmm, fun.  I didn't get much training in during the following week because of work.  A bunch of Netzsch employees, and distributors, from America came to Germany for a water treatment conference.  I went to the conference on Wednesday and got invited to dinner with our guests on three days out of out of the week.  Saturday came up fast and I had only run on Monday.  Oh yeah, I'm so ready for this race.  I woke up at 7AM to get ready and decided to take a glance at the race flyer.  The race was on Sunday.  After double checking the date against my watch and my cell phone, I hopped back into bed for a few extra hours of sleep.  I made sure not to waste the day and went out for a few miles later on.

7AM came again Sunday morning and I made sure to eat and hydrate well before the race.  My friends came to pick me up an hour before the gun would go off, and asked which distance I was planning to run.  A bit confused, I justed looked at them.  I had been thinking this was a 5k and found out that the race was set up for 7k, 14k and 21k.  I should pay more attention to what I sign up for.  I settled on running the 7k but wondered why the obscure distance.  I realized the logic once I did the conversion to miles.  21k is about 13 miles or a half marathon.  We got to the start with about a half hour until the start and the friends I'd soon be running with didn't appear too concerned with warming up.  Short on time, I went to get a few laps and some drills in before the gun.  I was really just planning to treat this race like a normal training run but when I heard that gun, instinct took over.  I strode out with the leaders for a while before settling into a rhythm.  About a mile in, the first hill appeared.  It didn't look all that bad so I approached it with liberal speed and shortened my stride a bit.  When I got the to top I realized no one was opening up on the downhill.   This was my chance to let gravity take over and move up a bit.  I kept with this strategy throughout the race and managed to work my way up quite nicely.  At the 1km to go mark I started eying up the runners ahead of me.  They didn't look much like kickers which left me wide open to pass on by.  I silently closed the gap before hittin' the throttle at 200meters.  I crossed the line at 33 minutes and feeling great.  My friend who wasn't racing told me that I had finished in 8th place.  Hmm, not too shabby.  I suspect that most of the serious runners opted for the 14 and 21k races.  My time wasn't anything to brag about but the race was fun and I was happy to be running at my normal pace again.  More training and more racing await.  Next year I'm going after the 21k!

Untimely Motivation

I started the weekend off by going to the beerfest in Mühldorf this weekend, spending yet another night in my proper 'German' attire.  The climax of the night had to be when my friends got me to stand up on the table with them and taught me a very interesting dance to a popular folk song.  Friends from the table across from us thought it was hilarious and captured the act with their cameras and phones.  I'm venturing that the pictures will surface on facebook eventually.  Perhaps I'll share them here, if I don't destroy the evidence first.  Some friends wanted to go again on Saturday night.  I reluctantly went along as I did not want to be out too late the night before an early morning ride.  As it turns out, my friend and I were right in not wanting to go as the entire place was packed.  Reminder: beerfests are like carnivals with all the rides and such, and they serve lots of beer in 1 Liter mugs.  Saturday is the most popular night to go and there was not one seat left in the house.  After over an hour of endlessly walking around in an unsuccessful search of a place to sit down, eat and drink, my friend and I decided we'd had enough and went home.  I didn't bother to ask him if he went back to pick them up later as he said he would.  He was pretty heated about event, as his girlfriend was the one that insisted on going and then decided that we had to find a table rather than just heading to the bar.  So I decided not to bring it up with him again.

I was happy to get home early, in anticipation of the mountain biking ride scheduled for the following day.  Sundays are the day for the weekend warrior to embark on adventure since there isn't much else to do.  No stores or businesses are open.  So aside from house work, blahhh house work, Sundays are best for getting outside.  However, after settling into bed I got a text message from my biking partner telling me that he was in dire need of a rest day.  A bit bummed, I understood completely.  Some days you just need a break.  Instead I decided on going for a run, and not a 12k.  I backed it down to 5 miles today and kept the pace down as well.  I didn't feel all that great since I hadn't eaten anything yet, but dismissed the feeling in favor of capitalizing on the present surge of motivation.  I paid the price.  Just 2 minutes into the run I could feel that my breathing was a notch faster than usual and that my stomach felt like it was imploding.  That's more or less what it was doing; eating away at every bit of fat/energy left inside me.  It was one of those runs that you just have to battle through.  Couldn't motivation have waited until after I had eaten?  On a positive note, my hamstring didn't cause me any pain today.  I didn't even notice any tension. 'Sighs of relief.'

My plan this week is to run in the mornings before work.  I always tell myself that I'm going to start running in the morning but I've yet to really commit.  I might go once or twice before concluding that I'm still too tired for this crap at 5AM.  I get plenty of sleep as I am generally in bed by 10:30 during the week, so I can't play that card.  The issue is that my body is simply used to getting up at 7, regardless of what time I went to bed the night before.  It's routine.  So I just have to force myself into getting up at 5, hmm maybe 6, until my body adapts and accepts it as routine.  Come on motivation!!!!

On a side note, I replaced the tube to my camelbak a few months ago after it was claimed by mold.  The bladder isn't so difficult to dry out as you can generally find something to stick inside it (aside from the thing that camelbak sells) to let air in.  But how do you get air into the tube without taking the valve off?  What's your solution camelbak users?  Do you hang it upside down or something?  I'd like to find an effective remedy so I don't have to replace any more tubes in the near future.  I can sense someone telling me to read the instruction manual.  But when do guys read instruction manuals?

Time to kick the plague

That ugly bruise on my hamstring has disappeared completely.  It didn't give me any problems during my last biking trip either.  Both good signs that I'm pretty excited about.  I went out for a short run last week, thinking that an easy 5km would be alright.  It probably would have if I hadn't changed my mind.  The 5k loop that I was planning on doing is 100% flat and the scenery, while a nice wooded area, is the same throughout and I wanted something a bit more interesting.  So I decided to change course and follow a trail that parallels the roadway and eventually enters a town that a friend of mine lives in.  Having made the trip by car several times I had a feel for the distance and estimated that it would take me about an hour to run out-and-back.  This run is much more interesting.  I arrived at my turn-around-point at approximately 33 minutes.  Right on target.  I had taken the pace a bit slower than usual so I could pay more attention to how my hamstring was holding up.  It was a bit tight, along with my calf, so I took a few minutes to stretch before making my way back.  I knew from the start that there was a well known hill that I would have to climb on the way back.  This was what I came for.  Still feeling OK, I decided to keep the pace down as I had on the way out.  Better not to push it too far yet.  Nearly 10 minutes later I was facing the hill.  Long and rather steep looking.  Short strides, lean forward.  No problem.  I was up the hill in no time and not feeling beat up at all.  I made it back at 68 minutes.  After cleaning up and getting dinner I logged the run at mapmyrun.com and discovered that my 5k turned into 12k (7.82 miles) and that my pace was around 8:30/mile.  Around a minute slower than usual.  Given the mileage and my usual pace, I would have normally clocked in around 58 minutes.  How bout that 1 hour estimate?

There's still a small knot lingering in my hamstring, but it's getting smaller and should be gone within another week or so.  I'm going to chance it on a bike trip into the mountains on Sunday.  I can't wait to kick this plague of injuries.  I haven't done much climbing since I've gotten here, but I'm looking to remedy that next weekend in Frankenjura.  Depending on how my finger reacts, I may opt to get it checked out.  I'm pretty fed up with not being able to climb on it.  It's about time to figure out what's wrong with it so I can do what's needed to get back to climbing status.

In addition I'm looking to get back to running status.  I've been wanting to get into racing shape for some time and I've got enough motivation built up right now to do it.  A friend of mine suggested the Leadville Trail 100 to me and it got me psyched.  This ultramarathon is in Leadville, CO and loops around 100 miles of the Rocky Mountains and climbs nearly 3,000 ft.  Although mostly known for the 100 mile mountain bike race, they also host a number of shorter races.  I'm really psyched on training for the marathon.  Not quite as bad ass as the 100, but it still looks awesome.  I figure on running it after I'm officially back from Germany, so that gives me more than a year to train properly.  I've got good opportunity to run at altitude here since I'm fairly close to the Alps.  I plan on signing up for a few road and/or trail races to supplement my training here and get used to racing longer distances again.  At this point I'm not looking to beat any specific time since this will be my first ever marathon, and a rough one at that.  This will be solely about enjoying the run, the people and the course.  I'm looking forward to training at full strength once this hamstring injury lets up.

Alps Trip Rewind

The recap of my recent trip to the Alps is a bit tardy but it will have to do.  No, Alps does not always mean snow, but it does mean AWESOME!  Netzsch owns/rents a cabin in Zillertal, Austria that houses 12 people if you follow the rated capacity (dirtball climbers could fit way more).  We rallied up 10 people, some from Netzsch along with their respective ball and chain, for a weekend full of drinking and grilling.  While most had no plans of leaving the cabin, a few of us only figured on sleeping there.  Four of us brought our mountain bikes and set out to explore the surrounding mountains.

We hit the trails, in this case paved or gravel roads, at 8AM.  Our "veteran" leader had advised us all to eat well and not drink too much or stay up too late.  What do you know, he's the one with a wicked hangover while the rest of us are ready to tear it up.  I took point with the drunkard's girlfriend and began the climb.  Starting at about 900 meters above sea level, we climbed 1000 more up to about 2000 meters at the peak.  This was my first trip riding with clipless pedals and I absolutely loved it.  Cyclists praise them for the additional power and efficiency you gain, especially while riding uphill.  I concur.  I felt much more connected with my bike (nah, really?) and felt like I had more control.  Aside from struggling to click in when starting back up, I only had one fall because of the pedals.  That's because my dumb ass thought I was slick and clipped one foot in before trying to start up again after we had paused in the middle of hill.  Well I had some trouble getting started again and the foot I wanted to put on the ground to stabilize myself was clicked in.  So down I went.  I got back up and started off again, without clicking in until I was moving steadily.  

During water breaks we'd peer over the staggered switchbacks to see how our "leader" was doing.  Nearly to the top, his hangover began to fade and he caught up (we waited a bit).  At the top we took a break to have lunch and refill on water before tackling the downhill section.  I normally hesitate to build up too much speed on downhills for fear that a rock or root I didn't avoid in time would send me flying over the handle bars and down the mountain.  Feeling a bit more in tune with my bike that day, I decided to try ramping up the speed a bit.  Flying sounds fun anyway, so what the heck?  The only time this decision caught up with me was when two guys on ATV's came flying up the trail around a bend and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid being obliterated by one of them.  I managed to get off trail in time and stop my bike, but my body continued moving in an upward pivot around my front tire and then slammed down onto the frame once gravity took over.  I had a nice bruise from it that went away in a few days.  

After that we struggled to find this small trail that spurs off from the main one and would lead us back to the cabin.  We never found that trail and ended up going down a bit further than planned.  This meant riding back up 300 meters of steep elevation to get back to the cabin.  The way back was marked with trail signs and the group gave me the green light.  ;-}  After the long downhill section I was feeling well recovered and ready for some climbing.  What seemed like endless switchbacks finally lead me to the cabin.  When greeted by the cabin crew and asked where the others were, my only reply was "hinter" meaning "behind."  When the next member of our group came in, the cabin crew suggested that I was been back for a half hour already.  Since they were mostly drunk and I was the one wearing the watch, I say it was only 10 minutes.  I managed to snap some pictures during the ride a few pics of the outside of our cabin.  Have a look here.

Battle Gear

I came into work Monday morning intending to start some testing with the concept pump, right after sipping a cup of coffee while putzing around on the internet until 8 o'clock, per usual.  8 o'clock came and I was informed that a pump we had been running an endurance test on had erupted.  I quickly realized why I hadn't heard the normal buzzing of the pump on my way in to work.  It was not because the test was finally finished.  The pump was finished.  It hurled the ceramic slurry it was pumping all over the lab, which then began to flow outside.  I don't know the volume of the tank, but I'm sure a few pics will give you an idea of the sloppy mess that I would be tasked with cleaning up.

 The tank all covered in gooo!

The wall too

I can't show the pump, but you get the idea.  We haven't figured out what went wrong yet, but the splatter patterns tell us that a valve was likely closed and the pump started building pressure.  That pressure eventually has to go somewhere, so it found a way out.  All over the floor too.

This stuff is a ceramic compound that gets super thick and clumpy when it starts to dry.  It's almost like a clay.  This was sure to be a mess so I needed some battle gear.

 Duck boots

Coveralls

Now that I was all suited up, hazmat style, I went to work.  The first thing on the list was to get it out.  I had to get majority of the floor cleaned up before I could go to work on uncovering the pump.  Against my better judgement, I opened up the gate, grabbed the water hose and squeegee and started washing it out of the lab.  This stuff was pretty thick so I wasn't so sure it should go down the sewer drain, but that's what I was told to do.  So on with the show.

I knew this stuff was going to go all over as I continued adding water.  So I built a blockade!

My blockade, ahem! Containment barrier.

Eventually enough people got upset seeing me wash this crud down the storm drain and called the professional in.  I didn't argue one bit as most of the responsibility went from my hands to his.  A guy came with big truck capable of sucking all the crap out of the drain and cleaning off the lot.  Afterwards he blasted the pipeline with high pressure water to be sure that it wasn't clogged up.  The good news is no one was upset about the whole thing and no fingers were pointed.  Oh man if this shit happened in the US?  This would not fly.

Anyway, they had someone else come in and clean up the lab the next day.  I haven't been down to look at it yet, but I've been told it looks a lot better.  Perhaps I'll be able to do the testing I had planned sometime next week.

Full Throttle

For the past week I've been waking up scratching at bumps that weren't there the night before.  Don't get excited, I recognized them as spider bites.  I've had my fair share of them being as how I spend a good deal of time in mountainous activities and I've learned to distinguish them from other bites or forms of poison ivy.  But how am I getting all these spider bites at night?  In my apartment?  Then I saw him, the teeny tiny little critter responsible for my mysterious itching.  He managed to escape me on our first encounter, but I'll be looking for him.  I was hoping he may just decide to leave but this morning I walked through a tiny web he created across the archway into my living room.  Beware little buddy.  Authorities have been instructed to squish on site.

The bruise on my hamstring has nearly vanished but it's not quite ready for the rigors of climbing, mountain biking or running yet.  Soon enough though.  I'm heading to a cabin in the mountains of Austria in two weeks.  A few us are bringing our bikes up, so my ham better be ready by then.  The weekend after is the reschedule date of the climbing trip in Frankenjura that I had to bail on a few weeks ago.  Injuries don't really agree with my full-throttle personality but they come with the lifestyle I live.

None of my current injuries kept me off the go-kart track yesterday though.  The track was super slick from all the rain the night before, but my friends had already made the reservation and they don't let you reschedule.  So we gave it a go.  The corners were streaked with black rubber along the line that most drivers take around each bend.  On most days this a good indicator of the best line to take around the turn, but not today.  Rubber on rubber makes for horrible traction when water is involved.  So we took the turns high and wide.  Most of the time.  I quickly learned that if you tried to brake in the blackened areas of rubber while going into a turn, you were guaranteed to spin out.  And I did, dozens of times.  So high and wide, no exceptions.  By the time I got a feel for the track, the kart and the conditions, it was too late.  The race was practically over and I was getting owned by the other drivers.  It was still a ton of fun though.  The karts go pretty fast and you have to wear a full helmet.  Next time I'll know better and hopefully the conditions will be better.  I'll be out for redemption and it will be full throttle the whole way.

And the smoothies too

Before I had the chance to go climbing this past weekend, I pulled my hamstring the week before while warming up for a casual company soccer match.  Raining and somewhat cool out, I did not warm up enough before doing a few sprints before the match started.  The miscalculation cost me to sit out the game and continue to hobble for the next few days.  It wasn't until a week later that I finally noticed the gruesome bruise on the back of my leg.  It scared the absolute crap out of me.  I was familiar with the pain having injured both of my hamstrings on multiple occasions.  Such a bruise has never accompanied any of my past injuries.

Nearly two weeks after the event, the bruise has begun to fade and the pain minimized.  I can walk around and ride my bike with no pain, but I have yet to try anything much more physical.  Frequent stretching has told me that this little bastard intends to stick around for a while longer.  Being as I am not one to sit still for too long, I plan on signing up for gym within the week.  "Jim, you just said you pulled your hamstring."  Yeah yeah yeah, shut face.  I've rehabbed myself enough to know how to cross train and work other muscles when one isn't feeling up to snuff.  I've got a plan, no worries.  About this gym though.

I haven't paid a membership to many gyms other than the climbing gym, but I know that they generally hold a fairly hefty price tag.  So when I came across this gym in town offering a membership for 20 Euro per month, I had to see what was up.  Bottom line, the gym is nice.  Very good equipment.  So for 20/month (flat rate) you get basic gym usage whenever you want.  For 30 Euro per month however, you get unlimited gym usage, unlimited access to the "help yourself" smoothie bar, access to the vibraflex machines and access to the tanning beds.  You bet your ass I want the all-inclusive package.  The point that really sold me was the vibraflex machines.  I'll try to explain for those that aren't familiar.  The simplest version is a platform that vibrates about two axis.  To use the machine, you stand on the platform and do things like lunges and squats.  You can also do push ups and dips on it.  The basic principle is two-fold.  First, it forces you to balance and engages more muscles in the exercise.  Second, the thing vibrates at 30Hz.  That means your muscles contract 30 times per second.  I've used one before at a rehab facility after having surgery on a torn meniscus.  Well it worked.  So I'm pretty excited to have the same machines available at this gym at such a low membership fee.  OK, so I want the smoothies too.